Latest / The imuRgency Room / Can We Stop Being Weird About Black Art? (Beyoncé, ‘Sinners,’ and Black Americana)
Transcript
- 0:00Hello and welcome to the rodeo. Actually, wait, be honest and I
- 0:03kind of give him Black Doug Dimedome, owner of Dimsale
- 0:05Dimedome. That's besides the point.
- 0:07Hey guys, it's up to emergency Walker.
- 0:08I'll come back to my channel today.
- 0:10If you couldn't tell by the title, we're talking about all
- 0:13things country kind of sort of well, I guess less so solely
- 0:18country and more so about the conversation around black
- 0:21creatives, the conversation around Americana and black
- 0:24Americana and why it seems like y'all.
- 0:26Well, that's aggressive. Maybe not like you specifically,
- 0:29maybe you specifically, I don't know, but the general public
- 0:31seems to hate or how like unnecessarily poignant discourse
- 0:36and critique around when black creatives actually create and
- 0:40especially when the things that these black creators create have
- 0:43a message that is the needle forward in culture and towards
- 0:47resistance. Now, if you're new here, hi,
- 0:49nice to meet you. I'm Rumi.
- 0:50You should definitely subscribe if you haven't already and
- 0:52follow me on my social side emergency and make the video and
- 0:54all that. But if you are not new here and
- 0:56I've been watching the channel for a while or just generally
- 0:59have been living out in the world, I don't have to tell you
- 1:01that we've been living through some very turbulent times as a
- 1:03country and as a culture. And oftentimes through these
- 1:06moments of hardship do we see some of the best art come out.
- 1:10And by art, I mean all things written, visual, painted,
- 1:12filmed, whatever. But in the in case of this
- 1:15video, I am talking about films and sang and performed.
- 1:18But art has always been used as a tool for creative expression,
- 1:22escapism, and especially to advocate through storytelling.
- 1:25Art is inherently a form of resistance.
- 1:27And in this video specifically, we need to talk about two
- 1:29specific pieces of art and put them in conversation together.
- 1:31Because I think the two of them happening at the same general
- 1:34time does tell a story. And especially the reactions and
- 1:37pushback specifically to these two pieces of media really are
- 1:41telling for where we are as a society and a culture,
- 1:43specifically when it has to do with black creatives.
- 1:45And I'm talking around the point these two things are the recent
- 1:48movie Sinners and Beyoncé is Calgary Carter Tour.
- 1:51And yes, for those of you that have been asking for a while
- 1:54now, the first half of this video is going to be kind of
- 1:56sort of a movie review. I know all like 3 people just
- 1:59screamed right now. I know y'all have been asking
- 2:01for it. I know I've seen the comments.
- 2:04But to start this conversation, let's talk about Sinners.
- 2:07So is Sinners. This movie was truly a
- 2:09masterpiece. It needed to come out exactly
- 2:11when it did and it covered so much history, specifically of
- 2:14the history of the South back in the 1930s, but also was very
- 2:18much so applicable to present day.
- 2:20Maybe you've not seen the movie by now.
- 2:21I highly recommend you do because there will be spoilers
- 2:23ahead. I'm telling you right now it is
- 2:25a great black vampire thriller. I've seen it three times and I
- 2:28hate rewatching things, so that should tell you all you need to
- 2:30know. Let's actually talk about the
- 2:32film in the real world for a second because I think that the
- 2:34production lore of this film is actually just as interesting and
- 2:38does really speak to the quality of the movie.
- 2:40Because one really cool fact about the production of this
- 2:42movie is that the director, Ryan Coogler, who if you have not
- 2:46seen his movies, he just generally does a good job
- 2:48specifically when it comes to telling black stories, struck a
- 2:50very rare and important deal with Warner Bros Studios.
- 2:53After a bidding war between studios for the script of
- 2:56Sinners, Coogler end up striking a deal with Warner Bros Studios,
- 2:59which included the final cut of the movie first.
- 3:01Stellar gross. Which means that Coogler would
- 3:03begin seeing profit from as soon as the movie hit box offices,
- 3:07meaning that he doesn't have to wait for the production to turn
- 3:09a profit first. As well as having the rights of
- 3:11the movie turned back to him in 25 years.
- 3:13Which is an insane deal for a director period, but also for a
- 3:16black director if you're aware of the history of black IP, not
- 3:19just from directors being stolen and exploited.
- 3:22According to CNBC, Coogler requested future ownership of
- 3:24Sinners because the movie, specifically the two
- 3:26protagonists fight for ownership of the Juke joint and the Jim
- 3:29Crow S was directly inspired by his family's history.
- 3:32And it's very important that Coogler made this one a
- 3:34priority. And two, was intentional about
- 3:36this deal, especially when considering the subject matter
- 3:39of the story as well as the themes of ownership of art and
- 3:41reclamation in the movie. And although Coogler said this
- 3:43request was very specific to this particular movie and
- 3:46doesn't plan on making it a norm for his future deals, this
- 3:49disruption in the way that deals are made between directors and
- 3:52studios will have ripple effects and really disrupts the way that
- 3:55deals are normally made and demonstrates the power that
- 3:58storytellers have over their own stories.
- 4:00And in the film world, especially considering how well
- 4:02this movie did, a deal like this can set the precedent for other
- 4:04directors and storytellers to come.
- 4:06Thus showing whether he intended to and realized it or not,
- 4:09activism can show up in many different ways.
- 4:11And this definitely pushed the needle forward, which is really
- 4:13important for directors and talent across the entertainment
- 4:15industry. Because we recently saw how
- 4:17everything played out with the actors and writers strikes a
- 4:19couple of years ago. And specifically when it comes
- 4:21to Black storytelling and Black creatives, that there is a space
- 4:23for these stories and that these stories and these creatives have
- 4:26power and leverage in negotiations.
- 4:29Because again, we've also been seeing a mass installation that
- 4:31in a major step back away from movies, television, just general
- 4:34media centering black stories and black voices.
- 4:37According to an article from Ink, the entertainment industry
- 4:40is in a rare moment when platforms, audience attention
- 4:43and IP ownership shifts have given storytellers unprecedented
- 4:46leverage and options and how they mature their careers.
- 4:49Intellectual property. This deal with Warner Bros is
- 4:51also the latest signal that traditional media gatekeepers
- 4:54are weakening. Technology has lowered the
- 4:55barrier to production and distribution.
- 4:57Audiences are finding and sometimes even funding the
- 5:00stories they believe in. Now to actually get into the
- 5:02meet and padays of the movie itself in relation to
- 5:04everything. Quick Plot Summary.
- 5:05If you have not seen it, it's not going to do the movie
- 5:07dresses. So again if you have not seen it
- 5:08definitely go see it. OK.
- 5:11The movie features 2 twin brothers, both played by Michael
- 5:14B Jordan. Smoke and Stack will open a Juke
- 5:16club in Jim Crow Mississippi and their musically talented cousin
- 5:19Sammy comes along with them to play for opening night.
- 5:22Eventually, the whole thing goes S when vampires show up to turn
- 5:24everyone, especially Sammy, into vampires.
- 5:28And the story is laced and weaved with nuanced racial
- 5:31dynamics, including those of Asian Americans, Native
- 5:34Americans, and black Americans at the time, as well as Irish
- 5:36and Italians, and also music throughout it.
- 5:39Like it's really touching on a lot and you should go watch it.
- 5:41But I'd say that the main themes of this movie have to do with
- 5:43freedom, ownership, and the reclamation of culture, which
- 5:46really does bring us into the main point of this video.
- 5:49Because I do think that these three themes in relation to the
- 5:52media that has been put out recently, specifically between
- 5:54this and Beyoncé's tour, have been under a lot of scrutiny
- 5:57because of their ways of portraying and as some may say,
- 6:01propagandizing the whole concept of Black Americana.
- 6:04And I don't know if I'd say that it's necessarily doing that.
- 6:06I think that there is a bit of nuance here that is being missed
- 6:09in that conversation. And we're definitely going to
- 6:10get into that more as we talk about Beyoncé's tour.
- 6:12But it's just something to know and keep in the back of your
- 6:14head as we're going through this.
- 6:15One of the things that this movie got criticized for was
- 6:18because of its inclusion of vampires and the demonic.
- 6:22And let's just talk about vampirism really quick.
- 6:24What? Are you using?
- 6:27Vampirism to represent. I mean, the film is the film is
- 6:30actually about about the human condition.
- 6:33And I think the vampires represent an escape and also a
- 6:36trap in this movie. Absolutely.
- 6:38It's like tempting to. Absolutely.
- 6:39I mean out of all of the the genre genre characters, you
- 6:43know, zombies, werewolves, vampires most represent.
- 6:45Temptation and seduction. So we can kind of lean in the
- 6:47tad in the film. But yeah, straight out of the
- 6:49director's mouth. Vampires in general and also
- 6:52vampires in the movie are both an escape and a trap.
- 6:54It's the promise of forever and unity and taking from and of
- 6:57each other and like the hive mind kind of way.
- 7:00But that isn't true freedom. It's a solution for some of the
- 7:02problems that the characters face.
- 7:04Yes, one namely being married because of her mother passing
- 7:07away. Vampires are seductive in trying
- 7:08to sell a dream to trick people into turning sending this
- 7:11fantasy of greatness of eternity that all your problems will go
- 7:14away and you'll be living the life that you want if you follow
- 7:17this path and do this one thing which can sound familiar to some
- 7:20dreams that are sold to us at least in this country in real
- 7:24life if you catch what I'm saying.
- 7:26But as one of the characters in the movie Annie mentions, the
- 7:28empires are the worst because it's not like being possessed or
- 7:31having a sphere take over you. Your very soul is trapped and
- 7:34suppressed under evil, which is why they still have the
- 7:36knowledge and traits of the humans they were before.
- 7:38Essentially meaning that your soul gets trapped in the quest
- 7:41for escapism. Vampires are also just like
- 7:44leeches and in the case of this movie are essentially culture
- 7:48vultures like they are culturally colonizing everyone
- 7:50that they turn. There's a point in the movie
- 7:52where Remic the main empire says that like one of the benefits of
- 7:55him turning people is that he gets all of their memories, all
- 7:58of their thoughts and they share them all because he wanted to
- 8:00connect to something in his past because the reason why he was
- 8:02able to speak Chinese after turning bow.
- 8:04And also on the interpretation of like culture brochure, the
- 8:07song of the vampire sing at first, like pick poor Robin
- 8:09clean or whatever. The song is a story about being
- 8:13a culture vulture. Like the actual song comes from
- 8:15that era for the 1930s. But it's a sense to talk about
- 8:18the desperation that one will go to, to do whatever it takes to
- 8:21survive, to satiate that hunger, like picking poor Robin clean so
- 8:25you could survive. And also another fun fact about
- 8:27the movie. It's really interesting that he
- 8:29chose that song and that they sang that song because it
- 8:32speculated that they chose to sing that song because that song
- 8:34was really popular because they knew that that's a song that
- 8:36most black people would know in that era.
- 8:38And the way that they even sing it versus like, if you've heard
- 8:40any actual rendition of someone singing that song, song is just
- 8:43inherently soulless in comparison to the original
- 8:46version, thus showing the lack of soul and genuine emotion
- 8:50around replicating something without the culture.
- 8:52Like Remic wanted Sami to join the vampires because of the
- 8:56power of his art and wanted Sami's connection to something
- 8:58deeper, as well as wanting back what was taken from Remic by the
- 9:02same colonizers that then went to go and oppress Sami's people
- 9:05or black people. And it's really interesting
- 9:07because you can apply all that to today and the history of
- 9:09music, the conversation we have so often over The Pioneers of
- 9:12music genres and how all the popular music genres that are
- 9:16out now that are all thought to be white or pioneered by white
- 9:19people actually being, if you look back, historically, being
- 9:22pioneered by black people. That's why we've been seeing a
- 9:25big reclamation by artists to spread the knowledge that like,
- 9:28yeah, these genres were pioneered by black people.
- 9:31Like when we talk about country, when we talk about rock, rap,
- 9:34the Blues, like, yeah. And one more thing really good
- 9:37about vampires before we move on, the old concept of like
- 9:39vampires in assimilation. It's interesting because the
- 9:41movie draws parallels talking about how you have to give up
- 9:43parts of yourself to join the overarching whiteness with the
- 9:46false promises of being a part of it.
- 9:48I want to talk about how Ryan Coogler uses vampirism as an
- 9:52allegory for assimilation. In order to talk about this, we
- 9:54have to get into some historical context.
- 9:57Ryan Cooler making the lead vampire Irish was completely
- 10:01intentional. As you know, during the early
- 10:02creation of America, the Irish and the Italians were not
- 10:05considered white. Whiteness was only exclusive for
- 10:08white Protestants, people who came over from England, and
- 10:11those who are familiar with Irish history knows that for
- 10:13years the Irish were oppressed and tortured by the British.
- 10:19This oppression and manufactured famine forced a lot of Irish
- 10:22immigrants to come over to the Americans.
- 10:24And when they got over to the Americas, they were not treated
- 10:26like white people, they were treated like dirt.
- 10:29However, after the Civil War, in the days of indentured servitude
- 10:33were over, the Irish and the Italians were accepted into the
- 10:36horde of sea. But there's a catch to being
- 10:39accepted into you have to give up your culture and cultural
- 10:42practices in order to assimilate into a whiteness and overarching
- 10:47whiteness. We can see this with the use of
- 10:49vampirism in Sinners and the creation of the character Remic.
- 10:52I believe. Like Sammy, Remic had the
- 10:55ability to commune with his ancestors through folk song, and
- 10:59after he was turned into a vampire, he lost that ability,
- 11:02which is why he covets it so much.
- 11:04Remic, now as a vampire, no longer has the fellowship of his
- 11:07people, so he's constantly trying to seek it out and build
- 11:10his own horde. But it's a hive mind.
- 11:13It is only him. There is no individuality.
- 11:15We can see this when he performs Rocky Road to Dublin, a song
- 11:19from his homeland. He's singing passionately,
- 11:21sharing with the hive mind, practicing cultural dances,
- 11:25looking up to the sky, hoping to connect with his ancestors, and
- 11:28he fails. This is presented in real life.
- 11:31When you assimilate into whiteness, you are giving up
- 11:34pieces of yourself. You are giving up your culture.
- 11:36This is why when we see white Americans today, they'll say,
- 11:39oh, I'm this person Irish, I'm this percent Italian, Blase
- 11:43blase. But we don't see them
- 11:44participating in cultural practices because it's lost to
- 11:47them. And Sammy, if turned into a
- 11:49vampire, would have met the same fate.
- 11:51He would have lost his gift. See in itself is an insatiable
- 11:56need to devour, to consume, to always be the majority.
- 12:00So in an effort to get others to assimilate, it gives false
- 12:03promises, fellowship, love, acceptance, at the cost of your
- 12:07very being, at the cost of your culture.
- 12:10Ultimately, at the end of the movie, Sammy chooses himself.
- 12:12He doesn't choose the vampires, he doesn't choose the church.
- 12:14And he realizes that his art, his music was never inherently
- 12:17evil or tainted. In fact, that was his greatest
- 12:19power, his sign of rebellion and his sign of resistance.
- 12:22And he continued to chase what made him feel free, which I
- 12:24think is beautiful in a great way to end the story.
- 12:27Now, let's talk about the convergence of music and
- 12:28spirituality for a second. I think the movie makes very
- 12:31interesting critiques from around how oftentimes the arts
- 12:33are demonized to benefit things like because at the beginning of
- 12:37the movie were shown these ancient paintings of people
- 12:39explained to be historians, storytellers and musicians and
- 12:42respectively Irish, indigenous and in West African culture.
- 12:45Going further to explain that these storytellers actually
- 12:47played crucial roles in their cultures and were thought to
- 12:50have spiritual connections and could call upon these spirits
- 12:52through their art. And with that said, in the
- 12:54movie, Sammy, based on how things played out and
- 12:56specifically that scene where he was playing his guitar and all
- 12:59of these spirits from the past cave and we're dancing together
- 13:01could be seen to be one of those people.
- 13:03And it's also this performance that calls Remic and the other
- 13:06vampires to them. And there's a line in the movie
- 13:07said by Delta Slim that says like Christianity is them, the
- 13:11Blues is US. Sammy's father in the movie
- 13:13calls the Blues devil's music, which are similar sentiments
- 13:16that can be seen today in real life in ethnic religious
- 13:19communities. That being that the things that
- 13:20bring you closer to your ancestors, spirits and cultural
- 13:23community like things like music or in the movie and as hoodoo
- 13:26are demonized when that's not necessarily the case.
- 13:28Which brings about the conversation the historical
- 13:31cultural implications of religion in ethnic community
- 13:34communities. And how oftentimes that specific
- 13:36version in use case of religion to demonize certain forms of art
- 13:40or expression have historically been the tools of white
- 13:43supremacy to demonize and dissuade people from ancestral
- 13:46cultural practices or free expression to move people
- 13:49farther and farther away from their culture and from free will
- 13:52and closer to whiteness and social control.
- 13:54And if you look back, weaponized Christianity was a tool used by
- 13:57white supremacists. And we can see this drawn out
- 13:58for us in the movie at the end when Sammy is in the clash with
- 14:01Remic, and he's about to turn Sammy into a vampire.
- 14:03And Sammy turns to prayer and Remic, the vampire, starts
- 14:06reciting the words with him. He says, when those men took my
- 14:09father's land, they forced those words onto us, too.
- 14:11But they still bring me comfort talking about the white people
- 14:14who forced the Irish to assimilate and use those words
- 14:16against everyone that they exploited or oppressed, showing
- 14:19the Sammy in the movie that these words would not be his
- 14:21salvation and that colonizers weaponize religion against the
- 14:23people that they oppress. And you've seen that time and
- 14:25time again throughout history with Indigenous people, Irish
- 14:27people, Black people and more. And in the case of the movie,
- 14:30Sammy is presented with different options, like the
- 14:32vampires and Sammy's preacher father are giving him two
- 14:35alternatives, making him use his music for different things or
- 14:37not at all. But in the end, Sammy ends up
- 14:39choosing neither and plays Blues as his sense of freedom and
- 14:42salvation. And like I said, that's one of
- 14:43the major themes of the movie, like freedom.
- 14:45And since we're on the topic of religion, let's talk about the
- 14:48criticisms of the movie and specifically about this satanic
- 14:50panic that has gone around about this movie.
- 14:53There have been a lot of people coming online to talk about how
- 14:55the movie Sinners is dark sided and how people believe that it's
- 14:58a religious attack. Like there were a bunch of
- 14:59videos, but one of the more popular ones was that like
- 15:01someone walked out of sinners because it was too evil and that
- 15:05they had the urge to pray after. And I'm not going to tell anyone
- 15:07how to express their own religion.
- 15:08And religion is something that's always tricky to talk about
- 15:10because everyone has different beliefs and it's personal.
- 15:12But when it comes to the specific movie, I have to ask,
- 15:15did you read the movie's title? Did you read the Plot Summary?
- 15:18Like not saying the movie actually is dark sided or
- 15:20anything like that, but if you are someone that does take your
- 15:23religion at that level, why would you go and see a movie
- 15:25called Sinners? And again, there's nothing wrong
- 15:26with being religious, but I'm just saying that like out of
- 15:29everything in the movie, thinking that the supernatural
- 15:31tones and the vampiric tones of the movie wasn't in fact the
- 15:34evil and dark sided part of the movie in a movie that takes
- 15:37place in the Jim Crow S is a choice.
- 15:39Like I just think like in that case, we're worried about the
- 15:41wrong form of evil and dark sidedness, you know?
- 15:44And rightly so. As we debriefed previously, the
- 15:46movie does have themes that explores the differences between
- 15:48Christianity and spirituality. And that's always going to be a
- 15:51difficult conversation to have in art.
- 15:52But we can't deny that historically, especially with
- 15:54what the movie is trying to say, that like that organized
- 15:56religion was put on and forced upon different communities
- 15:59throughout history and that weaponizing a religion was a
- 16:02tool of white supremacy to get people to conform.
- 16:05And of course, on said, this is all religion.
- 16:07But we've seen this happen time and time again throughout
- 16:09history and even today if you look at different parts of the
- 16:11world. But I'll leave that at that.
- 16:12I just wanted to talk about that for a second.
- 16:14But All in all, I feel like this film really did capture the
- 16:16intentionality and the nuances of the Jim Crow S very well, as
- 16:19well as the themes of music, spirituality, religion and
- 16:22freedom, as well as Black liberation in a way that I don't
- 16:24think that we've seen before. Like, do we see why it's
- 16:26important for Coogler to eventually have his ownership
- 16:28back of this movie? Like as a Black creative, a
- 16:30Black director himself, it's important for him to have
- 16:32ownership over a story like this.
- 16:34And I think the way that Coogler uses this movie to tell the
- 16:36themes of blackness and specifically Black Americana are
- 16:39really important historically and also culturally.
- 16:41Moving from 1 controversial example of art is resistance to
- 16:44another. Let's talk about the Beyoncé
- 16:45Kabe Carter tour because there have been a lot of think pieces
- 16:48about this album and especially for the tour that has started
- 16:50recently about its roll out. It's very present and prominent
- 16:53American iconography and most recently the visuals and set
- 16:56list of the tour. Now Kabe Carter, the album is a
- 16:59concept album and Beyoncé herself sees the album as a
- 17:02journey through a reinvention of Americana, spotlighting the
- 17:06overlooked contributions of Black pioneers to American
- 17:08musical and cultural history. And when the album initially
- 17:11dropped and all of the visuals, that being not many, the photo
- 17:14shoots and such came out around this album.
- 17:16And specifically, when the Beyoncé Bowl happened and
- 17:18Beyoncé performed the album for the first time on Christmas, a
- 17:21lot of the conversations around like Beyoncé being an American
- 17:24propagandist started flourishing online because at that time and
- 17:27historically, America had not and has not been seen as the
- 17:30most fair and just place and a representation of the people's
- 17:32wants and needs. With oftentimes, especially
- 17:34nowadays, the heavy American imagery, the American flag of it
- 17:37all being seen as a symbol of one side of America rather than
- 17:41the other. And I know we usually get into
- 17:43it on this channel, but I'll leave it very broad at that for
- 17:45right now. And these critiques heightened
- 17:46even more so once Beyoncé started her Cowboy Carter tour,
- 17:49namely because of the opening sequence of the tour, the big
- 17:52screen that you see when you first walk in, before the show
- 17:55even starts, it's a big American flag.
- 17:56And one of the first songs that she starts off singing is what
- 17:59seems to be the American National anthem.
- 18:00And if you just see it and leave it at that, it can't be seen as,
- 18:03like, American, probably, yeah, like, go America, we're so
- 18:06great, blah, blah, blah. But I think a lot of these
- 18:08critiques are missing the nuance in one Beyoncé is doing and to
- 18:12the whole concept of Black Americana itself.
- 18:15In my opinion, the tour and the album are the video and audio
- 18:19representation to a cultural critique and of American
- 18:21culture, both in country music and to the general black
- 18:25experience. Because when we want to talk
- 18:26about her singing the American anthem, the national anthem,
- 18:29she's singing Jimi Hendrix's version.
- 18:31Which if you're unfamiliar, Jimi Hendrix sang that version of the
- 18:34Star Spangled Banner at Woodstock, which was seen as a
- 18:36turning point in the counterculture movement of that
- 18:38time. At the time of Hendrix singing
- 18:40that version, it was, it was apparent to be a protest of the
- 18:41war happening in Vietnam at the time, with it both embodying the
- 18:44hope and the fear of a nation grappling with conflict.
- 18:46Which while this scene is different from the times back
- 18:49then, a lot of the themes of hope and fear around the nation
- 18:52at conflict are the same nowadays.
- 18:54And the fact that she follows it up with her song Freedom and
- 18:56talking about the contrast between the concepts of freedom
- 18:59and the traditional American sense versus like what the
- 19:01reality is for a lot of Black America.
- 19:03We'll also call it perseverance, solidarity and resilience from
- 19:07specifically Black Americans to resist and to stand up.
- 19:10And I think that this is sort of the cornerstone of the
- 19:12conversation. It's not that this tour and that
- 19:14this album is meant to promote or propagandize the American
- 19:18dream in the traditional sense. No, there's a difference between
- 19:21representation in the Black American experience and the just
- 19:23general traditional American experience.
- 19:26And to me, it feels like the whole point is to exemplify that
- 19:28and to show how culturally the experiences are so different and
- 19:31coming from different places. Whereas American culture is
- 19:34based on colonialization, oppression, and exploitation,
- 19:37the Black American experience is the experience of the oppressed.
- 19:40It's of resilience. It's of the ingenuity, the
- 19:42creativity, and the audacity to find and spread those pockets of
- 19:46joy and somehow fighting the ability to thrive in spite of
- 19:49the oppression, in spite of the exploitation and violence of
- 19:51this country has built itself off the backs of.
- 19:53And I think that that has a space to be celebrated.
- 19:56And I think that as a creative, and especially as a Black
- 19:57creative, it's even more important when your art has a
- 20:00message like that and it's trying to convey a message of
- 20:02resistance because that's essentially what it is.
- 20:04It's a resistance to what is going on right now and what has
- 20:07been going on historically throughout this country.
- 20:09This album was made partially out of spite because the country
- 20:11music industry would not acknowledge Beyoncé for putting
- 20:13out a country song because she wasn't country enough.
- 20:16So she released a whole country album to 1 reclaim and spread
- 20:19knowledge around the black pioneers of the genre and also
- 20:22the highlight and platform current Black.
- 20:24That country artist, because it's the same as centers with
- 20:26Blues music, like black people belong in these genres because
- 20:28they pioneered it. They are some of the originators
- 20:30of these genres, but throughout time have been pushed further
- 20:33and further out and descended from the conversation to the
- 20:36point where a lot of people think that Blues and country are
- 20:38white people music. And I went to the tour and saw
- 20:41it for myself. And I think one of the things
- 20:43that really stood out to me, like she had so many visuals,
- 20:45but one visual that was really impactful was this one frame
- 20:49where she has the text that says never ask permission for
- 20:51something that belongs to you. And I think that that is so
- 20:54impactful and so real because I think that that can mean so many
- 20:57things, especially now with the you being you, but also the
- 21:01people, also the culture and also the government.
- 21:04Like it's multifaceted in the sense that as we talked about in
- 21:06country music, the world of country made Beyoncé feel like
- 21:09she had to ask permission to make country music and to be
- 21:12considered in the world of country.
- 21:14And often Times Now a lot of non white country artists have to be
- 21:17allowed into these spaces and are treated like guests to a
- 21:20space that was originally pioneered by them.
- 21:22Like I think back to when Lil Nas ex debuted with Old Town Rd.
- 21:25where everyone was initially really shocked because he was a
- 21:27black man making country music and that hadn't been mainstream
- 21:30or popular in forever. And they were treating him as
- 21:32this anomaly and a true guest in the industry.
- 21:35And I remember he didn't really have legitimacy in the country
- 21:38space until Billy Ray Cyrus hopped on his song.
- 21:41And it really gave him legitimacy to get some awards
- 21:43and recognition in the country music industry, which is insane.
- 21:47Again, giving the history of country music.
- 21:49And he shouldn't have to ask permission or be granted
- 21:50permission for something that already belongs to him, slash
- 21:54his people. But this phrase, quote, whatever
- 21:56you want to call it, expands so much farther than Black Country
- 21:58and even black culture. Like it expands to so much and
- 22:01relates to so much to the real life injustice going on in
- 22:04America right now that the art is directly looking to critique.
- 22:07Will there be things like your own citizenship, your own bodily
- 22:09autonomy, your right to exist? And I think that this specific
- 22:12statement looks to empower and implore you to never ask
- 22:15permission to be allowed to be something you already are or
- 22:18something that already belongs to you.
- 22:20I feel like it's a direct shot at the feelings of hopelessness
- 22:22and desperation that are running rampant right now as a result of
- 22:25everything going on in the country and the world.
- 22:27And the reason I feel like this is such a good critique is that
- 22:29it's not only something that's relevant right now, a common
- 22:32saying, but it's been a common theme since this country's
- 22:35inception as a proponent for social and political change.
- 22:38And this is not to say that anyone is above critique.
- 22:40There are definitely the critiques to be had, but I think
- 22:42when it comes to this specifically, I do think of the
- 22:44art that Beyoncé specifically is trying to present to people and
- 22:48package to people through this show.
- 22:49And the visuals of this show are impactful and in their own way,
- 22:52proponents of resistance, of course, arguments whether or not
- 22:55this is enough can be had. But I do think for what the show
- 22:58is and for what the album is talking about, I did think that
- 23:01it was well done. Especially considering Sinners
- 23:03coming out and this tour starting around the same time
- 23:05with very similar themes around black liberation, around
- 23:08freedom, around knowing your history and your in your culture
- 23:11and the power within that. Specifically relating to like
- 23:14how American history, American culture and black culture, black
- 23:16history intersect while still educating and pushing the needle
- 23:19forward. I just think that it's not great
- 23:21when it comes to things like this when you have messages like
- 23:23this by black creatives, actually creating a try and push
- 23:26the needle to try and start a conversation and to try and
- 23:28create art and by putting out art and projects that act as a
- 23:32form of resistance. There are so many critiques
- 23:34around everything but the messaging.
- 23:35Because while yes, there can always be more done to push the
- 23:37needle farther, it's still important to have art that is
- 23:40existing saying to push the needle somewhere, you know, like
- 23:43I feel like people are always asking for black creatives to
- 23:45actually create things, to actually make art, to make
- 23:47products, to make music or whatever.
- 23:49When they actually do, people find things wrong with it, hate
- 23:52on it, call it demonic, whatever, what have you.
- 23:54And a disproportionate way to any other forms of art that
- 23:56aren't necessarily productive and or encouraging to future
- 23:59creatives wanting to take their stab at putting their stuff out
- 24:02into the zeitgeist to then push the needle even farther.
- 24:05So I think that there is a conversation to be had around
- 24:07that, but there might be a video for a different day.
- 24:09For right now, I will leave us at that, but now I want to turn
- 24:12the mic over to you. What did you think about
- 24:14Senators? What do you think about the
- 24:15Carter tour? If you've seen it or have seen
- 24:16clips or have heard the album, I love to hear all your thoughts
- 24:19on the comments section below. Again, if you knew, then
- 24:21definitely subscribe. We like in this video and follow
- 24:23me on my social emergency on Instagram, Tick Tock and
- 24:25Twitter. Other than that, y'all I've been
- 24:27emergency and I will see you in the next video please.