In Formation, Beyoncé embraces a political self that consumers of her music haven’t often seen prior to the release of the song. Formation is music that is by a Black woman, and that speaks to the Black community—especially Black women. She is using language that is part of Black culture and honors Black features: “I want my baby hair with baby hair and afros, I want my Negro nose with Jackson 5 nostrils.” In just these lyrics, Beyoncé is doing multiple things at the same time. She is pushing against critics of her Black baby, Blue Ivy and against Eurocentric ideals of beauty—her husband, Jay-Z has often been touted as unattractive by mainstream White media because of his classically Black features, including his full lips and broad nose; …show more content…
Though this can be heard through the lyrics, it can also be traced musically. The song begins with words from Messy Mya, a popular figure in New Orleans—which takes center stage in the music video. Messy Mya opens with "What happened at the New Wil 'ins / Bitch I 'm back, by popular demand.” This situates the song as political from the start; the catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina and the vicious and racist treatment of Black New Orleans residents both during and after the Hurricane hit can be connected to this opening line. What did happen in New Orleans? Directly after, Beyoncé’s first lines are heard with just a minimalistic, echoing beat under them, which is retained throughout the entire song. Though the beat remains simple, we can hear a marching band come in during the chorus, which connects listeners to New Orleans jazz—the birthplace of jazz in the United States—and the big bands that originated there. In this decision, Beyoncé is honoring the history of New Orleans and all the Black people and music that originated from the city. Beyoncé is choosing to celebrate Blackness and bring Black bodies to the center who are not normally seen or …show more content…
She links her hair—and by extension all Black women’s hair—to her identity and culture: “Don’t touch my hair, when it’s the feelings I wear. Don’t touch my soul, when it’s the rhythm I know. Don’t touch my crown, they say the vision I’ve found…” In these lyrics she is rejecting the fetishization of Black hair and therefore Black bodies, while also celebrating the beauty of Black hair. By likening Black hair to soul, to royalty, and to feelings, Solange is drawing a straight line to the notion of Black is Beautiful, and pushing the celebration of Black hair. Within this, she is situating herself, her music and this song, as a refusal of respectability politics and being kind and respectable to people who disrespect her and her
On the night of December 13, 2013 Beyoncé, released her fifth self-titled album on ITunes. The album caught many people by surprise because Beyoncé did not set a date for the album, nor did she use any promotion; she did release a video on her Instagram asking her followers if they “were ready”. The buzz spread through social media like a wild fire. With no promotion or no warning, Beyoncé album took the world by storm and made it for her audience and critics to take in the album and it contents. Many people loved the album for not only its catchy songs, but also the growth and “looser” conservative Beyoncé. On the other hand many people did not feel that her album was growth, but a way to catch up to the overly sexual generation. Beyoncé has always been aware of her sexual side, pop side, and feminist side; this has been documented through her four previous albums. Yet, a lot of people have questioned if Beyoncé a feminist because of the content of her newest album. In order to answer that a person must ask him or her self; what is a feminist, why some people believe she is feminist, why others do not believe she feminist, and whether or not Beyoncé think she is a feminist.
Nina Simone used music to challenge, provoke, incite, and inform the masses during the period that we know as the Civil Rights Era. In the songs” Four Women”, “Young Gifted and Black”, and Mississippi God Damn”, Nina Simone musically maps a personal "intersectionality" as it relates to being a black American female artist. Kimberly Crenshaw defines "intersectionality" as an inability for black women to separate race, class and gender. Nina Simone’s music directly addresses this paradigm. While she is celebrated as a prolific artist, her political and social activism is understated despite her front-line presence in the movement.
Jazz is referred as “America’s classical music,” and is one of North America’s and most celebrated genres. The history of Jazz can be traced back to the early era of the 20th century of the U.S. “A History of Jazz” presents From Ragtime and Blues to Big Band and Bebop, jazz has been a part of a proud African American tradition for over 100 years. A strong rhythmic under-structure, blue notes, solos, “call-and response” patterns, and
Marching Bands: Brass Bands spread through out the area of New Orleans making this the birthplace of this original sound. Many would gather just to hear the smooth melodies that these bands had to play. Many bands were composed of such talented artist that eventually went on to make their own music. These musicians went on to play their distinct instruments in such a profound way that spoke to the soul. They played melodies and added vocals to speak on certain things within this time. Hence the birth of early jazz. Marching Bands take origin from as far back as the Civil War. During this time ...
New Orleans is the acknowledged birthplace of popular jazz. Despite being in the south, it had a liberal attitude towards pleasure and self indulgence. Being a major navy port, many sailors would need some relaxation when they came in from sea. They liked to go to dance halls, listen to music, and dance with women. Some sailors weren't as conservative and went to one of the hundreds or bars and brothels in a district of New Orleans, nicknamed Storyville. The city was also very racially tolerant. African American musicians were given jobs because they were good. Times are always changing. When World War I began, alert, healthy, and focused sailors were needed. Storyville was closed down.
In the early 1900’s African American musicians from various European cultures created a new style of music, known as Jazz. New Orleans is known as the birth place of Jazz with the French and Spanish migrants shaping early New Orleans’ culture. Settlers from other European countries including Italy, England and Germany combined Blues, Ragtime and Big Band Music to create what we now call Jazz.
Imagine you are walking the streets of New Orleans. You are standing right where jazz was established in the United States of America. Jazz wasn’t just about music, it also affected the culture involving social, economic, artistic and jazz leaders.
The roots of jazz music are quite complex and intertwined. New Orleans is considered by most to be the birthplace
By the end of World War I, Black Americans were facing their lowest point in history since slavery. Most of the blacks migrated to the northern states such as New York and Chicago. It was in New York where the “Harlem Renaissance” was born. This movement with jazz was used to rid of the restraints held against African Americans. One of the main reasons that jazz was so popular was that it allowed the performer to create the rhythm. With This in Mind performers realized that there could no...
In her essay, Brown uses a Creole term, “gumbo ya-ya”, which is at the essence of jazz, to weave a musical metaphor to explain that history is comprised of many rhythms played simultaneously, and which must be brought together to form a complex narrative, which is both multiple and asymmetrical. She sees African American culture as a means to rethink history and politics in an inclusive way.
Not only is it nearly impossible to pinpoint jazz’s conception in time, many locations are accredited with its origin, the United States allowed for jazz to start gaining popularity and leading into the change it had to the music scene. When jazz is brought up, many first think of its birth place being New Orleans, Louisiana. New Orleans has always been a big musi...
As it mentioned above, the title itself, draws attention to the world-renowned music created by African Americans in the 1920s’ as well as to the book’s jazz-like narrative structure and themes. Jazz is the best-known artistic creation of Harlem Renaissance. “Jazz is the only pure American creation, which shortly after its birth, became America’s most important cultural export”(Ostendorf, 165). It evolved from the blues
Don’t touch my hair: this should be a sentiment simple enough to understand. However, for many black women this establishment of boundaries can be broken repeatedly and without any regard for personal space. Solange Knowles’ song “Don’t Touch My Hair” and accompanying music video takes this declaration of self and creates an anthem for the empowerment of black women and dismissal of microagressions, white beauty standards, jealousy and appropriation. Her lyrics emphasize the emotional connection that black women have to their hair. But, beyond this pride is an act of self-love militant and radical against white standards of beauty; or is this self-love subscribing to the notion that black women’s hair is an object detached from their personhood- objectifying themselves to other’s gazes and not subverting them? In order to answer this question, theories from Helen
It has been played in many other countries and is listed in many major hit charts in those countries. It became one of her best-selling singles. Beyoncé has been singing about women’s independence since she was in the hit group “Destiny’s Child”. Many of her songs support women’s lifestyle and keep cheering up girls with her powerful and expressive vocals (Armstrong). In addition to her songs and lyrics, her beautiful appearance fascinates many female audiences and influences from teenagers to grown-ups as if she was a role model. A negative side of the video is that the video gives the impression that men are always to be blamed and women are always “victims” of the relationships, which is not
In the modern era, one of the first big movements in music was jazz. Jazz was an evolution of music that brought together traditional European harmonies with blue notes and improvisation which are usually associated with traditional African music. This music, in its earliest and most basic form, was played and began to become personalized all over the world. However, there are places in the United States that are generally considered the ...