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Beyonce’s ‘Black is King’ is a Masterpiece

When Beyoncé dropped The Gift in 2019, in conjunction with the live remake of “The Lion King” she blessed our ears with a heavily afrobeats album, partnering with some of West Africa’s finest musicians, in Yemi Alade, Tiwa Savage, Mr. Eazi, Burna Boy. Every song was a vibe, some were anthems and allll were ear worms. It was a musical affirmation.

Now, she circles back one year later with a visual album to go with it, in Black is King, and I am in awe. I said this about Beychella, and before then, Lemonade. And I say it now, knowing I might say it again about her next thing. Black is King is the best piece of art that Beyoncé has put forth yet.

Black is King Main

No one piece can capture everything worth discussing about Black is King. This one is no different. I sat down to write this and was like “where do I even start? What part do I tackle?”

Is it the costumes which were so ridiculously lush and luxe that I kept yelping every time I saw a new look? Zerina Akers and her team really SNAPPED on this.

Is it the makeup which made her skin look like it ODed on vitamin C from the intense glow? WHAT WERE THESE PRODUCTS USED?!? I mean, if your face is as fierce as Bey’s, the canvas is already bomb. But CHISOS her makeup was outstanding. Shoutout to Sir John and his team on that.

What about the hair story? Bantu knots, long braids, flowing tresses. SO GORGEOUS from scene to scene.

Is it the dancing, which literally kept me unable to sit still as I watched? The movements were mesmerizing and it made me swoon, because the way Black folks tell stories with our bodies is a thing to behold.

Oya, give dem!

Is it the locations, which seemed like built film sets because they seemed out of this world and not real but are actual places on God’s green Earth? The landscape sang as she twirled through it.

Is it the visuals and cinematography, which kept my eyes dancing the whole time? I spent the 90 minutes trying to drink in as much as possible. My pupils were put to work, because it was a visual masterpiece. My corneas were like “BITCH THIS IS WHAT WE CAME FOR.” Kwasi Fordjour and the team deserve awards!

Is it the collaboration of Black creatives, from stylists to dancers to visual artists? Over 1,000 people worked on this project. How do I know? I sat there and watched through the end credits, being like THESE ARE SOME BLACK ASS NAMES. This project ATE but so many people are gonna be able to EAT because of it. Whew. It’s a Black Parade indeed and I love the cooperative economics that is being modeled here.

Beyonce Stars Black is King

ALL of those things and more deserve their own pieces. In fact, a book could be written about this film. If there is an anthology for it, I would like to put in dibs now. Put me in the game, coach! Fun fact: I’ve already contributed to a Beyoncé anthology. It’s called Queen Bey: A Celebration of the Power and Creativity of Beyoncé Knowles-Carter.

So what am I talking about? I wanna talk about what touched me the most about the messaging of Black is King, and why I think I walked away from it with such deep respect of this storytelling masterpiece.

Black is King is mythical, biblical, historical. It’s futuristic and magical but rooted in the Earth. The themes of home, water and Blackness are intrinsically linked and she walks us through it in this film that is both timeless and incredibly timely.

At a moment when we are experiencing the largest state of civil unrest that the United States has seen in 60 years, this interrogation could not be more relevant.

The film begins with Beyoncé invoking the story of Moses, whose mother puts him in a basket and sets him out on water, after Pharaoh commanded that all first born sons be killed. Jochebed figured Moses had a better chance of survival in the river, than on land. It was his greatest chance to live.

Beyonce in Black is king

It’s the story of Black mothers who send their kids out into a world, not sure whether they will return. They make the ultimate sacrifice time and time again, in a world where home offers very little protection.

This resonates as the catalyst of this latest uprising is the death of George Floyd, a man whose last words are him calling for his mother, as the knee of a racist cop took his last breath. Maybe she was ushering him into the spiritual realm, in her final act before he became an ancestor himself. As we yell “Black lives matter” in a country that is supposed to be home, we do it to affirm ourselves that our lives mean something even as they’re taken meaninglessly. What is HOME when it doesn’t offer sanctuary?

Warsan Shire, whose work is regularly quoted in Bey’s work, has a poem called “home” which is my favorite of hers.

no one leaves home unless
home is the mouth of a shark

you have to understand,
that no one puts their children in a boat
unless the water is safer than the land

So what is this home we speak of? What does it look like? How do we find it?

“You can come home to yourself.”

Beyoncé says it early on in Black is King and it is what I hold on to as the story she’s telling behind the costumes and the opulence and the scenery.

How do you do that? You do it by knowing who you are and what you are connected to. You find roots that are so deep they cannot be pulled out. You go back to the earth and understand that the circle of life depends on you understanding your own role. But what happens when the circle is broken? The back drop of The Lion King is right for this, as that story is of a prince who is forced out of home, forced to leave his lineage behind and convinced that he does not deserve the crown that is his birthright. And the reason he was given was a lie, told to him by Scar, who is the real enemy.

It is not dissimilar to the story of Africans who were forced into slavery, taken across the world and told that they are three-fifths of a human when they arrived in the place that was supposed to be their new home. The journey to break skinfolks continues today and we must return home to heal. Home isn’t necessarily a place but a spirit heartening.

Black is King is a poem, a parable and a pleading.

What can help us? What can we tap into? The healing of water. But we fear it and think of the trauma it’s caused.

“Water signifies life. Water signifies purity. Water signifies hope and the ability to be reborn.”

Beyonce water

Water also signifies the trauma of being robbed of home. At the bottom of the ocean dwells the bodies of countless Black folks who lost their lives in the transatlantic slave trade. How could this thing that is the elixir of life bring us so much death? How can it wash us anew when it’s taken so much of our breath?

That kept coming up for me, as I watched Beyoncé honor the water throughout Black is King, knowing how much water induces fear and pain in skinfolk both on the continent of Africa and here in the US. Water either took our loved ones away or killed those we loved, or scarred us on the journey through the Middle Passage. Centuries after, we still carry the scars and the DNA memories of an ocean that has punished us time and time again. We joke about “Black folks don’t swim” knowing it’s a trauma response. Whether we are descendants of enslaved people, or African born and bred, we harbor disdain for the ocean. You’ll be hard-pressed to find buildings on the coast of West Africa that face the water. They usually face inland, turning their backs on the memories of mistakes made, families lost and ancestral anguish.

To continue the tie to water, Beyoncé isn’t subtle about being draped in yellow in this film, invoking Osun, the river goddess in Ifá. It’s a continuation from Lemonade.

Oshun Beyonce Black is King

Osun is also the orisha of fertility, rebirth, and love. In this film, she tells us “I am the Nala, sister of Naruba, Osun, Queen Sheba, I am the mother.” EH HEH, ORIKI OF LIFE. I see you! It’s like she’s asking “How do we heal from the past, without water to cleanse us?”

Beyoncé’s use of Yoruba language and symbolism from the Ifá religion was unapologetic. Throughout the film, she pulls from the tradition of Ifá, using imagery, paying homage to edge of water rituals, face adornments. Towards the end, we hear “Oluwa, so kale” (God, come down) sang as a prayer and form of worship. The demonizing of things misunderstood is part of the reasons why white supremacy has flourished. Black folks have been taught to question the place we come from and the practices we might have had. Bey, a woman of Christian faith, embracing this traditional religion openly in her art feels like a reclaiming by looking back and seeing where we might have been before Christianity became a global force. Her using Ifá imagery is a home coming, of sorts.

It’s a lot. I kept being like THE LAYERRRRSSS. Slay us! Scattah us! Peppeh us!

And Blackness. She says it’s king but it isn’t about ruling others. It’s about tapping into the royalty that we possess, given to us through all this beautiful melanin. It’s about community, deep pride for it and an obligation to take care of each other. We must affirm each other, especially when the world wants to beat us down. We must celebrate even when folks don’t want to give us permission, because our joy is a form of revolution. We must double down on dopeness during the darkest days as a form of diasporic demonstration.

“Let Black be synonymous with glory.”

Yes, this form of Blackness is through the lens of royalty and opulence. Yes, Blackness is not monolith and it is on a spectrum but why can’t we view it through the lens of extravagance as a form of resilience as the world tries to dip us in struggle rivers? The gold chains. The sequins. The diamonds. The bright colors. The lush estates. The velvets. The thrones. The extraness. It’s counter to what we are constantly fed cuz we don’t need to be defined by conflict. And this project is inspired by Lion King, which is a story of a child of royalty displaced from home. It makes sense for this film to be through those optics.

Young Simba Black is King

Young Simba, fiercely played by Folajomi “FJ” Akinmurele

To be Black in an anti-Black world is to be an asterisk they cannot get rid of. And that is to be celebrated without apology. This film is a bridge.

Black is King shows deep reverence and appreciation for the Motherland. I watched it and was continually moved by the intentionality. She isn’t a voyeur, but instead is a student, who tries to honor the land. From the life size Ludo game floor they had in one of the scenes, to interludes in Xhosa and Zulu to shooting at National Theater in Surulere (Lagos) to the countless other references that were nods to how seriously she took this. She wasn’t wearing costumes, but paying homage. She doesn’t bring mud in the house but wipes her feet at the door and bows to the elders. It’s an adoration, elevation and a love story to the diversity of Africa, the cradle of civilization. This Naija girl whose first name has “Oluwa” in it, feels seen.

The best art welcomes debates, and asks for conversations. Often, they’re controversial. I ended up in a three hour discussion with friends about this film. On top of all that, the best art is the one that moves us. When the beat dropped on “Don’t Your Jealous Me,” I jumped out of my seat to gwara gwara with Yemi Alade. At one point during “Brown Skin Girl” tears fell from my eyes. I think it was when I saw Blue Ivy, a girl who at 8 years old, has been on the end of more vitriol than others will get in 3 lifetimes, over how she looks, as the professional Black girl that she is. Imagine us all having a song we could listen to when we were 8, telling us our skin is amazing just as it is.

Blue Ivy Brown Skin Girl

This beautiful brown skin girl. ????

And listening to the concluding “Spirit” made my heart swell. I was moved. Over and over again.

There comes a point in an artist’s life when they create work that is bigger than themselves. Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter has had a career that is full of those. She’s brought unforgettable music moments to us over and over again, and keeps finding ways to top what she last did.

Black is King is a love story, an ode and a bridge to the diaspora. It is a conviction and an affirmation. It’s a query and demand. It is boisterous and humble. It is the best thing she has done professionally.

Black is King is Beyoncé’s transcendence into The Greats, beyond argument and beyond doubt. If Beyoncé decides today that she is done with music, and making art and running shit, and she won’t release anything else, she can do so knowing that she has cemented herself as one of the greatest entertainers that has ever graced this Earth. How does it feel to know that you have made your ancestors, descendants and God this proud? How does it feel to know that you have done that thing only .00005% of those who walk this land will do, which is to make sure when you leave this plane, your name will never forgotten? How must it feel to carry the weight of the crown of fulfilling your purpose, without letting the pressure crush you?

Beyonce Makeup Black is King

However it must feel, she is the right one to bear it, because she makes it look deceptively weightless.

I don’t know how to not fall deeper in respect for a woman who insists on showing what growth looks like every time she creates. I’m not sure how to not praise her when Bey insists on constantly conquering her own self as an artist. And I don’t want to fight the urge to salute her endlessly when she proves over and over again that she has no ceilings.

Black is King is art. It’s love. It’s joy. I’m so gahtdamb inspired. Beyoncé ọmọ (child of) Tina ati Matthew. Aya (wife of) Shawn. Mama Blue Ivy, Rumi, Sir. You’ve done well.

Black is King is a masterpiece.

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22 Comments

  1. August 3, 2020 at 1:08 am

    Love this! Thanks Luvvie

  2. August 3, 2020 at 1:10 am

    You left no more mics to drop. You left no more damns to give.
    On purpose. Through mission. With passion and compassion!

  3. Uju
    August 3, 2020 at 2:16 am

    Omo Luvvie you yourself are a masterpiece! Chineke me! You finish work here o! Nothing left to be said! Nothing! Beyoncé should kuku hire you to do her PR!! Whatttttt!!! Beautiful!
    One day surely I will meet you in this Chicago ????????

  4. Vicki
    August 3, 2020 at 4:28 am

    Everything you just said! I’ve watched it 6 times and you have pointed out things I need to take another look at! Beautiful writing!

  5. L.
    August 3, 2020 at 7:00 am

    This was beautifully written and captures this masterpiece perfectly.

  6. Jélae
    August 3, 2020 at 8:57 am

    Reading this brought tears to my eyes as did the film itself! I was in awe! I hollered! I cried! I fell in love! We are truly a magical race and we should be celebrated 10 times and over!
    Nina Simone said “an artist job is to reflect the times” and King Bey did just that my only wish is the naysayers look beyond their ego and realize it is a love letter! Ase-o

    • Ejiro
      August 3, 2020 at 11:50 am

      Wow Luvvie, well done! I aspire to write like you do. You have beautifully captured the layers, attention to details and complexity of this piece of art that is Black is King.
      As a Nigerian born and bred and in the past few years a Nigerian in the diaspora, this film felt like a love letter, no disrespect in her approach at all. Her only competition is herself.

    • Denise
      August 4, 2020 at 9:05 pm

      Okay…i need to read this when I watch again b/c fr fr….i didn’t get all of this. Visually, it WAS stunning and it was awesome to showcase African artists. And, I LOVE the appreciation of US, but to be honest, I didn’t love the whole thing. Some stuff Beyonce does just feels contrived to me. I feel like i would have authentically gotten it more if this had been Solange.

  7. Alison
    August 3, 2020 at 9:02 am

    I have a few serious questions that anyone can answer – do we know that every person who appeared in the movie was fairly compensated? I noticed that in the credits, the list of performers was short compared to the number of people who appeared on screen. Also, do we know that none of the rituals, garb, and sacred articles used were used or portrayed in a disrespectful manner? I don’t know the answer to this so while I watched it and was awed by the art, I felt that I needed to be able to confirm that the art truly paid respect to the motherland and her customs before I could fall in love with it. The part where Beyoncé is putting some sort of chalk or paint on the boys face, I was wondering if that had some ceremonial significance and if she was “allowed” to do that or if this was just something done for show. I’m really struggling here. I love Beyoncé but I had so many questions due to my lack of knowledge about all of these customs and I wanted to make sure I wasn’t just enjoying “Africa chic” but something that even those on the continent are proud of.

    • Yolonda
      August 15, 2020 at 5:29 pm

      Alison,
      I’m married to an African man, however I too wasn’t quite sure myself. This is why I’m going to defer to Luvvie on her opinion about it since she is Nigerian and obviously understood the cultural significance of everything done. Therefore if Luvvie says, ‘she loved it and that no harm was done’, then I believe ‘no harm was done’.

  8. Adrienne Qualls
    August 3, 2020 at 10:45 am

    I think this is my favorite writing of yours thus far! It’s beautifully written, and the analysis and connections you make throughout are thought-provoking and mind-blowing. Love your work, and I salute you for the masterfully crafted words you continue to put out there.

  9. Tinu Akeredolu
    August 3, 2020 at 11:22 am

    Omo! I’m reading this and I’m gagging!!! Yes yes yes and yes. Beyonce is the greatest to have ever done this, and deserves all the accolades.

  10. Darlena Slate
    August 3, 2020 at 11:25 am

    This is beautifully written, Luvvie. You’ve said so much and I feel like there is still so much to express that can’t even be put into words!

    • patricia p.
      August 3, 2020 at 5:35 pm

      Luvvie, this article took my feelings and joy after watching Black is King and transferred it eloquently in black and white..the irony…Black is King was amazing…our ancestors were dancing and praising!! Thank for your great writing..I relived it again through your article!! ????????????????????????????????????????????????✊????✊????✊????????????????????

  11. Asian
    August 3, 2020 at 12:53 pm

    I had chills reading this. It took me back to the film all over again. Thank you for putting this down. Our Black is King!!

  12. obiioutloud
    August 3, 2020 at 3:12 pm

    This is why I always direct people to your website. You have floored me with this writing. Thank you Luvvie, ọmọ Àjàyí.

  13. whitney
    August 3, 2020 at 3:41 pm

    Ashe and amen! Thank you Qween Luvvie! <3

  14. Nikki
    August 3, 2020 at 5:10 pm

    Love your review and analysis! Thank you for explaining.

  15. Ariel
    August 4, 2020 at 1:01 am

    Luvvie, you beautifully stated what I have been struggling to put into words. More than anything, I am grateful to Beyonce for gifting us with Brown Skin Girl. I honestly can not make it through the song with our crying and chills of honor and reverence. This visual album is her best yet, but honestly if she never gave us another piece of her self after Brown Skin Girl, I wouldn’t complain. The lyrics of that song speak golden light into generations of not feeling pretty enough, not being seen or having anyone to see, of being told your hair wasn’t “good”, or your skin was too dark, or of never seeing yourself reflected! How blessed are we to have been given those lyrics to sing and say to our daughters, sisters, nieces, cousins, aunties, and mothers?!?! I am blessed by this display, and I am blessed by your words!!

  16. Shawda’ Love
    August 4, 2020 at 2:48 am

    This was beautifully written. I am such a Beyoncé fan and your words blessed me but also spoke truth. Blessings in your journey as an entrepreneur, wise soul and creative ❤️

  17. Oluwatobi
    August 5, 2020 at 8:39 am

    I love how you ended this article with “you have done well”. ????????

  18. Rhonda
    August 5, 2020 at 8:44 pm

    This is all just so wonderful… ????????????????❤️