I am so used to listening to Beyonce’s love songs from back in the day her songs would simply be relatable to any lady. I would listen to her music and think that she took a page from my own life. Though recently her music has been changing since when she released “Drunk in love” with her husband Jay Z, her music has been more hip-hop and has an edge to it; though her newest song is the one that startled me. I first heard about Formation on the radio and there was a fuss about it as she released it a day before she performed in the super bowl. Soon after the publicity of her performance I went on youtube and searched formation lyrics then watched the video.
Subtlety was definitely not a part of the song. No one would have thought that Queen B would have a song that would openly condemn racism. The video amused me when I saw a wall that read “Stop shooting us” with a young boy against a line of riot police and all he does is dance. When the song begins, Beyonce is standing on top of a police car that is immersed in floodwater. The song is very unapologetic to her success as a female black woman and everything that she has with rumours that her fame is because of Illuminati. For a while now people have hated afro’s and her daughter’s afro as well but she has a perfect response when in her first stanza she says “I like my baby hair, with baby hair and afros”. It’s also a known fact that Jay Z’s nose is made fun of a lot and it cannot be more obvious when she says “I like my negro nose with Jackson five nostrils”.
The song blatantly takes all the accusations against black people in the USA, though I personalized it as an African being and felt like Beyonce represented all of us. Our cultures have often been diminished from our hair to our weight, successes and all that we are has been stripped off one by one. With Africans wanting to be lighter, have a smaller nose, and have extremely straight hair all these features about us are the same struggles that African Americans go through. The song has without a doubt caused a lot of conversations all around with memes showing white people shocked at this song. She knows it will cause a stir when she sang “You know dat bitch when you cause all this conversation” at the end of the song. “Formation” sounds like a response to all racists out there and has made Africans proudly own whatever they have as she says “Always stay gracious, best revenge is your paper”.
If you haven’t heard this song yet I strongly suggest you do. From the beats to her husky voice, there is nothing not to love about it. At the end of the day, her point of view is for the minority in USA which are the blacks but as a Kenyan as an African it’s best that you listen to a song that gives power to what are considered as African flaws and as Beyonce said keep slaying.
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