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Saturday Night Beyonce shut the pop culture universe down with her hour-long film, Lemonade, a part of her visual album, also titled Lemonade.

The film first aired on the night of Saturday, April 23rd on HBO and is now available on iTunes and Tidal.

I think we can all agree that Lemonade was a masterpiece. Powerful, poetic, empowering, and devastatingly beautiful. In fact, Beyonce’s Lemonade is a series of firsts for me: the first time i’ve ever purchased an album and the first time i’ve ever listened to in its entirety at one time.

The Bey-Hive has been buzzing since the release of the album. Lemonade is artful, heartbreaking, and relevant in so many ways. The relevance of this piece, however, has become something of a problem for people whom it is not meant for.

This is something you may or may not want to hear, but Beyonce’s “Lemonade” belongs to Black Women.

Since the release of Lemonade i’ve witnessed backlash from people who have taken offense to this simple concept.

This is not to say that we who are not black women cannot view, consume, and appreciate the film; this is to say that the message is by black a woman, featuring black women, for black women. It is empowerment for black women and it is the epitome of #blackgirlmagic.

Furthermore, unless you are a black woman, your analysis, critique, and suggestions are unwarranted. Do not offer your 2 cents, do not deconstruct the piece, and do not explain how it is relevant to black culture when it is not your culture.

This may seem harsh, but it is necessary. It is critical that we all understand that this art was not meant for me or you. We are outsiders looking in on this historic piece of art.

While we may relate to the story of love and betrayal, we must respect the history, culture, and power displayed in this film as something for black women.

We can support, we can cheer this movement on, but what we cannot do is pretend it’s ours. Because we, as non-black women, can never fathom what it’s like to be a black woman.

#CarefreeBlackGirl

IG:Yes_Honey_Yes

We ain’t dead. We ain’t strung out on lean. We ain’t calling the plug and we ain’t the plug. We ain’t in jail. We ain’t on t-shirts. 

Some of us are on dean’s lists. Some of us are on the honor roll. Some of us got accepted to Ivy League and some of us got degrees, whether they be AA, BA, BS, BFAs, MDs or PhDs. We got em all. Some of us outchea balling. Entrepreneurs. Giving back to the community. Some of us working hard to get to that level so we can give back too.

Some of us love our wives and esteem our women and are faithful in all our relationships. But mostly…

Yacouba Sawadogo is an exceptional man – he single-handedly managed to solve a crisis that many scientists and development organizations could not. The simple old farmer’s re-forestation and soil conservation techniques are so effective they’ve helped turn the tide in the fight against the desertification of the harsh lands in northern Burkina Faso.

Over-farming, over-grazing and over population have, over the years, resulted in heavy soil erosion and drying in this landlocked West African nation. Although national and international researchers tried to fix the grave situation, it really didn’t really make much of a difference. Until Yacouba decided to take matters into his own hands in 1980.

Yacouba’s methods were so odd that his fellow farmers ridiculed him. But when his techniques successfully regenerated the forest, they were forced to sit up and take notice. Yacouba revived an ancient African farming practice called ‘zai’, which led to forest growth and increased soil quality.

There’s been a documentary about him, too

Audre Lorde (via stories-yet-to-be-written)

I get a lot of compliments and questions about my hair, i.e. “what products do you use…” “how long did it take to grow out…” “are you completely natural…” “your hair is slayeddddd…” etc. So I thought I’d finally let you guys in on a little secret…

This hair right here…

Its a weave. 

Thats right.

This is weave.

I decided to make this post because there are a lot of beautiful natural girls on this website who have inboxed me asking about how I care for and grow out my hair, and to be honest, I don’t like being deceiving. Especially to people who are so giving in their compliments and generally interested in natural hair. I also wanted to help make fellow natural hair girls aware of this company in particular because they are able to customize textures in order to match your own hair. This can come in handy for women (or men) who have just big chopped but are looking to have a protective style that can still match their desired aesthetic. When I decided to go natural, I really wanted to stick to this particular look of big, curly hair while growing out my own. So I did some research on hair, had some other trial and error with different hair companies, and ultimately came across Boho Exotic Studio hair company which I absolutely love and adore. 

This hair is 1 ½ bundles of the Jamaican Envy Curl texture in 14 and 16 inches. I purchased it in August of 2014, and here it is over a year later still working its magic and slaying life. It is definitely one of the best investments I’ve made in terms of hair because of the longevity of the hair and the versatility in textures that are offered by this company. I’ve had about 4 different installs with this same hair for 2-3 months time period each install and have yet to have any complaints about it. On top of that, they have a referral program that allows you to make a commission off of family or friends that may purchase from them.