Header Ads Widget

Ticker

6/recent/ticker-posts

“Spotify's Dissect Debuts “Black Is King” Limited Series Special — A Reclamation of Black Heritage - RESPECT.” plus 2 more

FoxJuliedde Mayıs 08, 2022

“Spotify's Dissect Debuts “Black Is King” Limited Series Special — A Reclamation of Black Heritage - RESPECT.” plus 2 more

Spotify's Dissect Debuts “Black Is King” Limited Series Special — A Reclamation of Black Heritage - RESPECT.

Posted: 25 Jan 2021 01:12 PM PST

Image Credit: Spotify

A five episode mini-series special to commemorate the prolific Beyoncé project that took the internet (and Bey-hive) by storm: Black is King. With the global movement of Black Lives Matter, the intent of the film encouraged the powerful reclamation of Black heritage.

As you might be familiar, Dissect is a serialized music podcast hosted by creator Cole Cuchna available exclusively on Spotify. The podcast series takes an academic approach to analyzing iconic albums that has had an undeniable influence on music and hip-hop culture.

In this surprise drop, Cole is joined by special guest co-host, Dr. Titi Shodiya (Dope Labs) to dive into an in-depth exploration of the lyrical metaphors, historical anecdotes and nods to African spirituality embedded all throughout the project. The series breaks down BIK's commentary on White supremacy proliferated through Western religion; spoken word poems like Joshua Abah's "Uncle Sam" featured in the project, and its uncanny parallels to featured rappers' work like Kendrick Lamar's "Wesley's Theory"; and the story of how one Black female artist's stolen and appropriated work led to the smash hit, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" while becoming the key reason behind Beyoncé creating Black Is King.

You can check out the first episode entitled, "BLACK IS KING (Part 1)" HERE.   

Episode 1 Highlights:

  • Beyoncé acknowledges that some Black individuals may feel insignificant because of a few words in a Bible verse. She's likely referring to the ways in which Western culture has historically taken words from the Bible out of context and used them to justify slavery, White supremacy and other forms of dehumanization. One example of this is found in the early 1800s, when White Protestant Christians in the South began to appropriate the biblical story of Ham by making the unsubstantiated claim that Black people are the cursed descendants of Ham and White Europeans are the descendants of Noah's favored sons. This blatant misuse of a Bible verse thus became one of the primary arguments that White Christians in the South used to justify enslaving Black Africans prior to the Civil War…Over time, after everything had been stolen from us, our memory and our reality became an amalgamation of falsehoods. The system works to maintain those falsehoods and you try to just…survive. Surviving in a system designed for your destruction. The line "life is your birthright they hid that in the fine print" is a reminder to us all that with life comes our right to live, freely and equally. Our existence is not a political statement: it is our right.
  • When Beyonce says, "this is how we journey far and can still find something like home," she offers the remainder of the film as a blueprint for her audience that are descendents of the African Diaspora to celebrate their own beauty and power through connection to their ancestors, pride in their traditions, and rediscovering the stories of their people. By remembering the ancestors and the past that colonizers suppressed, it can be possible to begin to recover what had been lost.

Episode 2 Highlights:

  • The potential of women to guide boys into manhood then seems to highlight that Simba now faces a dichotomous choice in how he will think about women. If he follows his inclination to use sex as a coping mechanism, Simba will begin to see women and their bodies as objects for his sexual gratification. However, if he recognizes the significance of being born from the body of a Black woman, he can look to Black women to provide the guidance he desperately needs to heal and recover his royal identity.
  • As we see the final two shots of the procession and the group of women, we hear an audio clip of a spoken word poem titled "Uncle Sam." The poem was written by a Nigerian-American named Joshua Abah ("AH-bah"). The longer form of the poem recounts how Joshua was born in America after his parents immigrated from Nigeria. From the time that he was born, the pressure to succeed in America forced his parents to focus on teaching him English rather than their native language from the Idoma (Ee-doh-ma) tribe from the lower-Western region of Benue State rather than their native language from the Idowa people of North Central Nigeria. As Joshua got older, he began to lament how American culture and academic knowledge had displaced his connection to his family and culture from the African motherland. Along with this loss of connection to family and culture, Joshua realized that he was losing his connection to his true identity. The realization is summed up in the final lines of the poem, where Joshua says that if he never learns to speak his native language he will never know himself. And if he never knows himself, America will never really know him.

Episode 3 Highlights

  • When we looked at the symbolic use of the Nile River, we discussed how living in the denial is a common way for Black people to cope with the generational troubles caused by slavery and colonialism. Here in Simba's dream, colonialism seems to be symbolized by a chauffeur wearing an African mask while driving a Rolls Royce, which is one of the most iconic symbols of British wealth and power. Rather than address the systemic injustice caused by British colonialism, Simba dreams of simply using an African aesthetic to cover over the symbol of colonialism. This symbolic use of the leopard print Rolls Royce was highlighted by the scene's director Blitz Bazawoolay. In an interview with Now Magazine, Bazawule said, "The Rolls Royce was one of our best ideas, I feel. We're talking about a kid living his Hakuna Matata moment. If we peel off that leopard, it's still that oppression that has wreaked havoc on the world." The influence of White American culture is immediately on display as the following shot shows JAY-Z's Rolls Royce parking in front of a Beverly Hills mansion…This regal, European-style mansion is officially known as "The Beverly House"…one of the most iconic symbols of the Hollywood lifestyle that dominates portrayals of fame, wealth and power in American culture. Within the context of Black Is King, the Beverly House is a clear indication that Simba is quite literally experiencing the American Dream – the same dream that Uncle Sam has been using to tear African immigrants away from their identity. However, much like the Rolls Royce covered with leopard print, Simba dreams of covering over the European style mansion with an African aesthetic. Or in the words of Black is King's creative director Kwasi Fordjour, Simba's dream aims to "re-face the whole old hollywood glamour and make it Black as fuck."
  • This is "Mbube," a song written and recorded by South African singer Solomon Linda in the 1920s…became a hit in the 1940s as the record sold more than a hundred thousand copies throughout the African continent and led to the development of an entire genre of South African vocal music. However, outside of Africa, most people never heard the original version of the song. Instead, most people only know the English version "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," which is the version sung by Timon and Pumbaa in the Lion King…Beyoncé's choice to use Solomon Linda's original version seems to be part of a much larger strategy to expose how White Europeans have repeatedly exploited and appropriated African art without properly crediting or compensating African artists…This rendition was then performed by a teen group named The Tokens and became a worldwide hit in the early 60s… In fact, learning about Solomon's story is what inspired Beyonce to create Black Is King in the first place.

Suggested Articles:


Posted By

Ayana Rashed

a dedicated sneaker + sports + music writer who will keep you updated with the latest news. Email: Imajrashed@gmail.com

More from New Music
Editor Picks

To help heal racial wounds, Black national anthem would become America's hymn under proposal - USA TODAY

Posted: 12 Jan 2021 12:00 AM PST

CLOSE

The Black national anthem was born more than a century ago, but the popular hymn within the African American community called "Lift Every Voice and Sing" has resurrected a beacon of hope during nationwide protests in recent weeks. (July 3) AP Domestic

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., wants a song about faith and resilience long revered in the Black community to become the national hymn and help unite the country after centuries of racial turmoil.

Clyburn, the House majority whip, plans to introduce a measure as early as this week that would make "Lift Every Voice and Sing," known as the Black national anthem, the national hymn and give it a special place alongside the country's anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner."

"To make it a national hymn, I think, would be an act of bringing the country together. It would say to people, 'You aren't singing a separate national anthem, you are singing the country's national hymn,'" said Clyburn, the highest-ranking Black American in Congress. "The gesture itself would be an act of healing. Everybody can identify with that song."

The song is an important part of African American culture and history. For decades, it has been sung in Black communities at school plays, awards programs, graduations and church services. Clyburn said it's time for it to be sung in other communities.

The push comes at a time of social unrest, particularly protests over police killings of unarmed Black men and women, and the devastating impact of the novel coronavirus on communities of color.

It also comes on the heels of a deadly attack by supporters of President Donald Trump on the U.S. Capitol last Wednesday that sent lawmakers scrambling to secure locations and police clamoring to protect them. Five people, including a Capitol Police officer, died. 

Some experts and historians said the legislative push is more about symbolism and would do little to address systemic problems plaguing communities of color.

"It's symbolically notable for Black people, but in the larger scheme of things, this isn't going to put food on people's table, it's not going to increase people's pay," said Michael Fauntroy, a political scientist at Howard University in Washington.

Fauntroy said he worries some people, particularly African Americans, can overstate the importance of symbolic victories and substitute them for more structural changes. "I don't want that to happen here,'' he said.

Clyburn said the effort is far more than symbolic, saying he aims to add weight to it as a national hymn. "It's a very popular song that is steeped in the history of the country," he said.

More: How civil rights leader James Clyburn helped Joe Biden and Black America win the White House

Song comes out of history of pain

"Lift Every Voice and Sing" was written as a poem by James Weldon Johnson, an NAACP leader, in 1899 and put to music by his brother, John Rosamond Johnson. It was first performed in public by school children in 1900 at a birthday celebration honoring President Abraham Lincoln, according to the NAACP.

The NAACP adopted it as its official song.

Clyburn said, "I've always been skiittish" about its early label as the "Negro national anthem."

"We should have one national anthem, irrespective of whether you're Black or white," he said. "So to give due honor and respect to the song, we ought to name it the national hymn."

The song was written during another tumultuous period for African Americans, said Howard Robinson, an archivist at Alabama State University and a member of the steering committee for ASU's National Center for the Study of Civil Rights and African-American Culture.

Black Americans were being lynched. Jim Crow laws were entrenched.

"The song does not romanticize America's past," Robinson said, referring to lyrics such as "full of the faith that the dark past has taught us."

Robinson also noted optimism in lyrics such as "the hope that the present has brought us."

"This song speaks to the people who suffered through the chastening rod," he said. "I think that the song is a different look at America, is a more critical look at America while at the same time being optimistic about our present and future."

More: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DS60luWpBe0

'No better time than now'

Making the song a national hymn for all Americans is one way to acknowledge the plight of African Americans and the systemic racism they face, advocates said.

"There's no better time than now," said Robinson, noting how Black Lives Matter protests over racial injustice and inequities resonated last summer in America and around the world. The song was sung at some of those protests.

The NFL announced last year that it would play "Lift Every Voice and Sing" and "The Star-Spangled Banner" before Week 1 games. Alicia Keys performed the song in a video. 

Over the years, many celebrities, including Beyoncé, have performed the song. The Rev. Joseph Lowery, a civil rights icon, quoted some of its verses when he delivered the benediction at President Barack Obama's inauguration in 2009.

Adopting it as a national hymn is an important step toward normalizing and codifying it as a central part of our history, said Nolan Williams, a composer, producer and cultural curator.

"It really should become a piece that we as a nation recognize and honor for what it means, not just for African Americans, but for Americans," Williams said. "The plight of African Americans is a central part of American history."

Clyburn had to build up the nerve

Clyburn said he considered the measure for decades. Last month, he asked his staff to craft legislation. The four-page bill, obtained by USA TODAY, cites the song's history and calls it a "beloved hymn."

"Ever since I've been in the Congress, I've been trying to come up with enough nerve to introduce a national hymn," Clyburn said this month during a Journal-isms Roundtable, a private discussion for journalists of color. "I hope I can survive and see it passed."

Since 1973, six bills have been introduced in Congress to designate songs, including "God Bless America," and "America the Beautiful" as a national hymn, but none of them passed into law, according to the U.S. Senate Historical Office.

"The Star-Spangled Banner" was officially adopted as the national anthem in 1931. Anthems are often patriotic songs. Hymns are more religious songs of praise.

Williams said that although he appreciates what "The Star-Spangled Banner" symbolizes, he recognizes flaws in the song, including verses that reflect entrenched racism that has plagued the nation.

"Maybe what Clyburn is doing is pushing our country to have yet another inconvenient conversation about a subject matter that is just so hard for us to grapple with," said Williams, who composed and directed a voting rights anthem, "I Have A Right To Vote," released last summer.

Clyburn said his measure is not intended to take away from the national anthem, which he said he sings and still remembers the good feeling of playing it long ago on his clarinet. 

He noted that "Lift Every Voice" is known outside Black communities. He recalled years ago standing next to former President Bill Clinton who "knew every word of that song. ... He sang it better than anybody in the room."

In a letter to colleagues, Clyburn said making it the nation's hymn would recognize an important part of the American experience and the possibility of unity. Clyburn said he hopes for "extensive" bipartisan support in both chambers.

Robinson, of Alabama State University, said he would be surprised if the effort was well received by lawmakers and a majority of Americans. "For the whole nation to embrace this (song) as a way to understand our collective history … that's a tall order," he said.

CLOSE

Negro spirituals were among the few means of open expression allowed to slaves. USA TODAY

Still, Robinson said, the nation is in a period of reflection, which might generate more support.

Some people are "more receptive to looking at the past, not from rose-colored glasses, but through a prism that sees elements of the past as both painful and exploitive, but also (one that) produced heroes and resiliency," he said.

If that happens, all Americans could soon sing along to the lyrics:

Lift ev'ry voice and sing,

'Til Earth and heaven ring,

Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;

Let our rejoicing rise

High as the list'ning skies,

Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.

Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,

Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;

Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,

Let us march on 'til victory is won.

Stony the road we trod,

Bitter the chastening rod,

Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;

Yet with a steady beat,

Have not our weary feet

Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?

We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,

We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,

Out from the gloomy past,

'Til now we stand at last

Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

God of our weary years,

God of our silent tears,

Thou who has brought us thus far on the way;

Thou who has by Thy might

Led us into the light,

Keep us forever in the path, we pray.

Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,

Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;

Shadowed beneath Thy hand,

May we forever stand,

True to our God,

True to our native land.

Follow Deborah Berry on Twitter @dberrygannett

Autoplay

Show Thumbnails

Show Captions

Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/01/12/black-national-anthem-jim-clyburn-pushes-song-national-hymn/6560250002/

10 Brilliant Beyoncé Songs You’ve Probably Never Heard Before - British Vogue

Posted: 30 Oct 2020 12:00 AM PDT

We all know — and love — the big Beyoncé hits: "Baby Boy", "Crazy in Love", "Halo", "Run the World (Girls)", "Formation", "Drunk in Love" and "Single Ladies", to name but a few. The formidable singer and songwriter from Houston, Texas, has a back catalogue built from bangers, ballads and big number-one singles (10 on the US Billboard chart to date). She also has an arsenal of moments that many of us might have forgotten. We celebrate her appearance on three special covers of the December 2020 issue of British Vogue by remembering some of Queen B's lesser-known remixes, guest spots, hidden tracks and bonus songs.

'Say My Name' (Cyril Hahn remix), 2012

This superlative remix of the Destiny's Child classic by Swiss-born, Vancouver-based producer Cyril Hahn transforms the 1999 megahit from a crisp R&B classic into something instantly familiar yet eerily alien at the same time. Pitching Beyoncé's vocals all the way down and throwing on some spacey synths, this remix threatens to take you to a whole new dimension. Perfection.

'Party', 2011

Despite selling over 1.5 million copies in the US alone, Beyoncé's fourth solo album, 4, became euphemistically described as 'critically acclaimed', which is generally a polite way of saying 'commercial flop'. While it may not have done the massive numbers Bey is known for, 4 is a superb album. Ignoring the EDM dominating the charts at the time, the album was emboldened by '70s soul, bracing funk and backed by a 20-piece all-female band during live performances. It's hard to pick just one song from such a great record, but the soulful smooch of "Party" is pretty perfect. Produced by Kanye West, and featuring a Slick Rick sample and an outstanding Andre 3000 verse, this song should be mentioned in every single 'Best of Beyoncé' list ever.

'Sweet Dreams' (remix), 2009

This unofficial collaboration, recorded for Lil Wayne's 2009 No Ceilings mixtape, was released at the height of his fame and established Nicki Minaj as the most exciting new name in rap. Arguably one of the best remixes of all time, Bey's memorable chorus graciously makes way for Minaj's scene-stealing verse that, in approximately 70 seconds, covers BMXing, Louisiana, Minaj's superior sexual prowess and her superpowers as a rapper. Lil Wayne's appearance arrives by way of a flickering lighter and a promise that he'll "turn nuns into tricks". Both a sweet dream and a beautiful nightmare all round.

'Nothing Out There for Me', 2002

An obscure album track found on Missy Elliott's fourth record, Under Construction, this skittish song produced by Elliott, Nisan Stewart and Craig Brockman presents as a phone conversation between the pair, with Elliott trying to persuade B to ditch her boyfriend and come out partying instead. Featuring gorgeous backing vocals from Elliott's then-protege Tweet, this inventive cut sounds as great in 2020 as it did in 2002.

'Dangerously in Love', 2001 / 'Dangerously in Love 2', 2002

Originally found on the end of Destiny's Child's Survivor album, B returned to this mega ballad a year later to name her debut album in its honour, so granted it's hardly a long-lost number. But can we take a moment to appreciate this flawless five minutes in all of its vocal glory?

It's a song that rarely makes the live set these days, but Dangerously in Love (or Dangerously in Love 2, as it became on the solo album) packs a powerful gut punch. Starting with an insouciant Spanish guitar, the song builds to a crescendo of impossible harmonies and audacious ad-libs as Beyoncé sings her whole heart out reminding everybody — as if we'd forget — that she is a really, really good singer. So good, in fact, that this song won a Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.

'Through With Love', 2004

Slipped in towards the end of Destiny's Child's swansong, Destiny Fulfilled, this marvellously menacing banger was written by Beyoncé and produced by the multi-talented Mario Winans. Winans pushes the harmonies to the forefront as Rowland, Williams and Knowles wrestle (vocally and lyrically) with self-esteem and self-worth, ultimately finding redemption through religion.

'Until the End of Time', 2007

Beginning life as a solo Justin Timberlake album track, Bey teamed up with JT on the deluxe edition of Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveSounds with this rather sublime futuristic funk duet written by Timberlake, Danja and Timbaland. Essentially a take on Imagine or All You Need is Love, the pair propose that all the world really needs is that little four-letter word.

'Dreams', 2014

One of the first records that producer, songwriter, rapper and singer Jordan Asher Cruz (also known as Boots) worked on was Beyoncé's self-titled fifth album. He ended up writing and producing on nine of the album's tracks, including "Drunk in Love" and "Partition" and by way of returning the favour, Beyoncé featured on this relatively obscure song from his debut mixtape, 2014's Winter Spring Summer Fall, which also featured contributions from Sia and Kelela. Boots hasn't released his own music since 2018, but he's still working behind the scenes, with recent cuts on Phantogram and Run the Jewels releases.

'03 Bonnie & Clyde', 2002

The best Jay-Z and Beyoncé collab is, of course, this one. Based on Tupac's 1996 single Me and My Girlfriend and the lead single on Jay's The Blueprint2: The Gift & the Curse album, producer Kanye West upped the volume on the Spanish guitar and added two killer verses from him and a beautiful chorus from her. It not only gave Beyoncé her first top-10 single away from Destiny's Child, but it allowed us all a glimpse into the couple's life, which seemed to consist of B sitting round watching Sex and the City re-runs, eerily predicting how life would become for us all in 2020.

'Savage' (remix), 2020

If "Sweet Dreams" is the best remix ever, then Beyoncé's take on Megan Thee Stallion's TikTok smash is a close second. Meg rewrote her whole verse in Bey's honour, but nothing could match Beyoncé's savage, classy, bougie verses: "If you don't jump to put jeans on, baby, you don't feel my pain." And with that, the game was done, over, finished.

The December 2020 issue is on newsstands 6 November.

More from British Vogue:
Tags:

Yorum Gönder

0 Yorumlar