#WednesdayWisdom #011: Is Beyoncé’s ‘Formation’ the new ‘Say it Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud’?

FINALLY! I’ve been waiting for one of our mega-popular R&B, pop, or rap stars make a song that speaks to the racial, social, and political problems ailing the African American community.  I’m glad it was the biggest diva of them all.

Beyoncé performed her new controversial single, ‘Formation’, at the Superbowl. Her video, which was release the Saturday before the Superbowl, touched on her country-bama roots, the Black Panthers, Hurricane Katrina victims, police brutality, women’s power, and #BlackLivesMatter. Now the world is awash with Beyoncé supporters and new-found-haters alike.

During the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s-70s, A-list artists were highly vocal about the struggle for civil rights for black people. Sam Cooke (Change Gonna Come) and Marvin Gaye (What’s Going On) felt compelled to artistically speak to the climate of injustice. When James Brown, the biggest name in the game at the time, came out with ‘Say it Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud’, that lit a spark to the Pro-Black movement.

In the 1980’s, my era, Grand Master Flash & The Furious 5 had a culturally relevant hit, ‘The Message’, that opened my suburban-eyes to the socio-economic struggles of poor black people living in the city. I mean…I didn’t live in a jungle – so I never had to wonder how to keep from goin’ under. Then, Public Enemy dropped ‘Fight The Power’, and changed the whole direction of Hip Hop for the next 5 years.

But since then, the whole culture of popular black music shifted to…‘look at me, look at what I got, and look at who I’m doing’. Not hating…just chronicling.

Given the current resurgence of racial and political discrimination going on in America, it’s been-time for one of our popular black music artist to drop a socially relevant song that calls a community of people to action. We’re seeing it in the movies, like Selma…and the soundtrack ‘Glory’ by John Legend and Common. But not strong on the pure music side.

Personally, I’m not over-the-moon about the song…but I don’t dislike it. It’s fair to say I do like it. I’m just glad to see Beyoncé come out with a socially provocative (juxtaposed to her normal sexually provocative) song that has haters and supporters across the country all talking about the more pressing issues of the times. Now it’s time for other big name artists to join the chorus.

This week, my #WednesdayWisdom comes in the form of a question.

#WednesdayWisdom

Should top-tier music artist now mimic artists of the past and drop songs confronting the racial, social, economic, and political injustices black Americans are facing?

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