No One Can Do It Like Beyonce
I often say I’ve been riding with Beyonce for a LONG time. I saw Destiny’s Child open for Jon B. as a high schooler in Flint, MI. It was one of the first concerts I covered as a burgeoning entertainment journalist. At the time that was my chosen career, but as we all know, life has a funny way of rearranging your plans. Fast forward 20 years, and I’m still riding with Beyonce, now a member of the Beyhive, navigating this blog life, and watching a living legend formulate her legacy in real time. Watching a black woman walk into all of her greatness, woke-ness, woman-ness, motherhood, heal her wounds in front of the world and rise like a phoenix; inspiring us to look beyond what we see. To look into greatness.
I stayed up to 3 AM to behold Beychella live and in living color. I took in the sheer blackness of the event that was on full display. They couldn't look away if they wanted to, and Beyonce knew this.
The long awaited Netflix Film Homecoming: A Film by Beyonce pulls back the curtain on not only one of the most talked about performances of Beyonce’s career, but of the year and honestly beyond. There will be many papers written, and classes conducted about the significance of this performance; because as we watch it unfold, this performance is a love letter to all things black excellence, from our beloved HBCUs to our Black National Anthem, “Lift E’ry Voice and Sing”. Not only was that night in the desert a history lesson for some, but a reminder to many that the words black excellence are not just words to adorn Facebook pages, t-shirts, and tote bags. Black Excellence is us.
Homecoming: A Film by Beyonce lets us see how Beyonce recognized the gravity of being the first black woman to headline at Coachella, and how she would shape this narrative incorporating a variety of characters as she calls them, to put together a picture perfect picture. The 8 month process to get us to Beychella seemed to be both challenging and fulfilling and through behind the scenes footage we see Beyonce struggle with coming back to her grueling rehearsal schedule. All in preparation for what could be considered the performance of her career, while re-energizing from the love of her children, Blue, Rumi, and Sir; and husband, Jay Z.
Footage of the performance and rehearsals are also interspersed with quotes that seek to express the importance of HBCUs. There is also usage of an interview with Nina Simone that in my view speaks to the importance of the black experience and acknowledging our own greatness, against all odds.
Beyonce always seems to swoop in when we need her. I remember Lemonade being released not long after the death of Prince, when we were all in mourning, but the black community in particular dealing with the loss of our Prince. And, as we grapple with continued violence against black men, racism, sexism, all the -isms; she seems to have known that this is what we needed at this time. Something to provoke thought, action . . . something to simply enjoy, that allows us to breath for a moment, but seek to fight another day.
