On Wednesday (Apr. 17), Beyoncé released Homecoming, a Netflix documentary offering complete footage of her Coachella performance, behind the scenes looks at the preparation leading into the ambitious production, and commentary from the entertainer about her thoughts, intentions and reasons for the show’s concept. Lemonade examined our complexities, but Homecoming is the distilled essence of the most universal parts of us of black people when we’re in safe spaces, surrounded by others who look like us and have shared experiences. It’s a veritable black culture buffet, rather than a formal dinner. But while Lemonade was almost literary, Homecoming’s offering is more direct and accessible. Lemonade was a rich and beautiful tapestry of black iconography and imagery, and rightfully celebrated as such. But it’s still magnificent to watch her boldly and proudly make it clear to those who think of her as pop star first, black woman second, if at all. Tinas, who own beauty salons in our community. We knew because we know her story we know where she’s from. The negro-mixed-with-creole, Texas-Bama Beyoncè might be surprising to fans who came on board somewhere around “Independent Women,” or the Crazy in Love album, but the collective black “we” knew all this was in there.
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#Beyonce homecoming song list full
But Beyoncé is one of a handful of black megastars utilizing their platforms to put our cultural heritage on full display, without apology. Crossover success can be precarious for a black artist: For most of modern music history, hitting pop stardom meant diluting black sound and imaging, and moving away from black-centered spaces to choose platforms with maximum exposure. I’m the only member of my immediate family who didn’t attend an HBCU (my final school choice involved a boy), and I also spent my childhood attending college games with my family, and my college years hitting HBCU homecoming weekends at friends’ schools (to the afore-mentioned boy’s chagrin). I even passed a few years post-graduation traveling to “the Mecca,” Howard University, the college home of both of my parents, my step-father, my younger sister, and the founding chapter of my beloved Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, for the school’s legendary homecomings.īeyoncé’s been purposeful in the expression of her blackness for the last several years. Though Beyoncé didn’t go to college herself, her father is an HBCU alumnus and a member of a BGLO (black greek letter organization), so she grew up attending homecoming games and legendary HBCU battles of the bands, and probably watching Mathew Knowles and his fraternity brothers of Omega Psi Phi hop (a form of stepping) and throw up their signs and calls.
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Specifically, the energy of an HBCU band performance, which is the highlight of black college football games. Well, unlike anything most of the non-black audience had seen before: The Queen Bey presented her show as an HBCU (Historically Black College or University) Homecoming experience.
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Last April, Beyoncé staged a headlining set at Coachella unlike anything the audience had seen before.
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“When I decided to do Coachella, instead of pulling out my flower crown, it was more important that I brought our culture to Coachella.” - Beyoncé