Beyonce's: Blackness + Feminism

Beyonce Homecoming Performance will forever be iconic. Beyonce was the first Black woman to headline Coachella. Beyonce headlined both Week 1 and Week 2 of the outdoor festival.

The theme of the performance was Homecoming at an HBCU (Historical Black College University). Beyonce hired majority of black people to resemble what an HBCU looks like. Beyonce included a black band, black background singers, black backup dancers, and members of the Devine 9 (the first 9 black fraternities and sororities that were founded).

Beyonce’s dedication to uphold her body is like no other. Usually a woman in Beyonce’s tax bracket would take the easy route and get different surgeries to look the way she does. Beyonce did not take the easy route, after giving birth to her new born twins, Beyonce put herself on a strict diet consisting of no carbs, no sugar, no bread, no meat, and no fish. She workout with a trainer as well as 12 hour dance rehearsals to get her body to bounce back.

The performance highlighted certain aspects that is in HBCU culture, like probates, stepping, battle of the bands, and majorette dancing. “I studied my history, I studied my past, and I put every mistake, all of my triumphs of my 22-year career into my two hour homecoming performance” Beyonce said in her Netflix documentary. 

Coachella has a predominately white audience. Beyonce bringing HBCU culture to the mainstage of the biggest outdoor music festival was monumental. Usually Coachella is private, meaning that people who weren't able to go would never get too see the artist perform. Beyonce made history again by being able to stream the performance live for everyone to enjoy. Beyonce also negotiated a deal with Coachella by only paying her 4 Million dollars, with exclusive rights to the performance. She later sold her performance to Netflix for 160 Million dollar,  3 project deal.

Beyonce been seen countless times wearing the headwear of Queen Nefertiti. Queen Nefertiti was “an Egyptian queen and the Great Royal Wife (chief consort) of Akhenaten, an Egyptian Pharaoh. Nefertiti and her husband were known for a religious revolution, in which they worshiped one god only, Aten, or the sun disc. With her husband, she reigned at what was arguably the wealthiest period of Ancient Egyptian history. Some scholars believe that Nefertiti ruled briefly as Neferneferuaten after her husband's death and before the accession of Tutankhamun, although this identification is a matter of ongoing debate. If Nefertiti did rule as Pharaoh, her reign was marked by the fall of Amarna and relocation of the capital back to the traditional city of Thebes.” - Wikipedia 

This is Bell Hooks on a panel speaking at Eugene Lang College. 

If you fast-forward the video to 37.18, she and the other panelist began to discuss Beyonce. Bell Hooks describes Beyonce as a “super rich, very powerful, black female” and saying that she and team uses it “in service of imperialist, white supremacy, capitalist, patriarchy.” Janet Mock (The woman in the middle) contradicts Bell Hooks by saying she can't take aways Beyonce agency of having final cut approval, and being in charge of her own image/career. Then Bell Hooks countered her statement seeing it in a deconstructive point of view by saying she “colluding the construction of herself as a slave”. Marci Blackman (sitting on the far right side) chimes in by pointing out that “maybe she’s using the same images that were used against her and us, for so many years. She’s taking control in their saying ‘if y'all are going to make money off of it, so am I’. 

This is the #BanBossy campaign. Growing up young girls hear the words “stubborn”, “pushy”, and “bossy”. Bossy is usually a term referred to, as a woman in power, often given the name by men. While men are applauded and praised for doing the same. Beyonce teamed up with feminist activist women like Jane Lynch, Jennifer Garner, and Sheryl Sandberg. “Girls are less interested in leadership than boys...and thats because they worried about being called bossy.

They want to #BanBossy by encouraging young girls to “be ambitious”,”listen to your own voice”, there are no limits” and to “be brave and be you”. Women being labeled bossy by society put a negative stigma on women everywhere. Words matter and by them getting big named entertainers try to bridge the gap of men and women in lordship positions by asking to remove the word bossy in our vocabulary. 

This video clip is explaining why Beyonce turned down Reebok. Beyonce is planning on re-launcging her athleisurewear clothing brand ‘Ivy Park’ sometime late this year. Beyonce had meetings with Reebok, the Jordan Brand, and Under Armour. 

Chloe x Halle are two young artist from Atlanta, GA. Chloe x Halle are also sisters. They started singing at a young age, their father taught them how to write and the basic song stricture. “The first few songs we wrote were horrible,” and  “But as time went on, they turned into something beautiful” they told RollingStone. When Chloe was 13 and Halle was 11, they started doing song covers on YouTube. 

Chloe x Halle’s most viewed video on YouTube were covers on Beyonce’s “Best Thing I Never Had” and “Pretty Hurts”. Their covers gained a lotto traction and eventually Beyonce noticed the covers. “Beyoncé saw our YouTube video online, and that’s because so many people shared it, and it created a buzz,” Chloe told RollingStone. Chloe x Halle were offered a 1million dollar contract with Beyonce’s company, Parkwood Entertainment.