7 Blackest moments of Beyoncé’s #BeyChella
Bey gave Coachella THE Blackest performance possible.
This year, Coachella was gracious enough to step aside and allow Beyoncé to bless us mere mortals with Beychella.
This “human” showered her fans with with nearly two hours of the Blackest, Blackity, Black musical performance ever put forth for a Coachella crowd. She not put Black sisterhood in the spotlight as she dropped it low with her sister, Solange and reunited with her Destiny’s Child group-mates, but she honored Blackness as a whole.
To commemorate this hallowed moment for the culture, here are seven of the best and Blackest bits of Beychella:
A Royal Entrance
Beyoncé opened her set looking like an Afro-futuristic royal straight from Wakanda with direct lineage to Nefertiti. Bey sauntered across the stage wielding a staff as she wore an austere head-dress, a bejeweled skin-tight leotard (natch), and a billowing cape befitting a queen.
Oh and of course, a facial expression that said “I know.”
The African Diaspora
The entrance ????❤❤? #Beychella pic.twitter.com/aGM5ZQBHNL
— Sam Junior Mbatha (@SamJunior_M) April 15, 2018
Dripping in symbols of Mother Africa, Beyoncé made sure to bring in the wider African diaspora as well. She entered the stage backed by a band of HBCU alum. The band played a rendition of “Do Whatcha Wanna” by New Orleans-based Rebirth Brass Band. It was a Wakanda/Louisiana/Yard/Egypt kind of entrance.
Dancers Snatched All Edges
Speaking of making an entrance, Bey’s dancers, dressed in one-legged leotards featuring Nefertiti’s elegant face, provided a surge of Black life force for everyone in attendance. If you’ve ever been to an HBCU half-time show, you know the kind of athletic, expert-level booty shaking that occurred. They bounced it, shook it, threw it in a circle, and told you to ask ya’ mama about that.
Lift Every Voice and Sing
Beyoncé singing the “Black American National Anthem” pic.twitter.com/oDNcOzGM6U
— J (@Veganyonce) April 15, 2018
Beyoncé did not just stick to her own tracks. She had mixes that included nods to Juvenile, C-Murder, and of course hubby, Jay-Z. But not one to stick to the expected, B stunted on everybody by belting out “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” the song commonly referred to as the “Black national anthem.”
Penned by James Weldon Johnson in 1900, most people only know the chorus and first verse, which might be why Bey kept it to that point. She slayed it nonethless and probably introduced a few youngins to a piece of Black history they were not aware of before the show.
Beyonce’s Sorority
Did. You. See. That. Crest? Perfection. The queen, the panther, the fist with a fresh manicure, and of course a bee for her Bey Hive. Beyoncé did not come to play. And yes, we will be at the interest meeting for her sorority. Paper or not, it still counts!
Step Up
First Black Woman to headline Coachella tributing Alpha Phi Alpha the First Black Intercollegiate Fraternity with steps and colors during this HBCU theme is FULL CIRCLE. Beyoncé did that #Beychella pic.twitter.com/sqGkUqmCYC
— Jeff J. (@JeffJSays) April 15, 2018
Bey took this HBCU tribute very seriously. Sis made it a moment. Beyoncé and her squad were stepping on that stage like they needed to win prize money to pay tuition in order to stay in school. Not to many things Blacker than a step show. Although Beyoncé did not attend an HBCU (or college at all for that matter), she tore that stage up like a hungry sophomore.
Brotha Malcolm
Beyoncé is the first woman to headline Coachella (which is absurd that it took this long), and that moment was not lost on her as she obliterated the stage. She is one of the most famous and revered people in the world, but she understands that underneath all the glitz, glam and shiny tights, she is still a proud Black woman and Black women don’t always get their due. To drive home that point, Bey played a snippet of a Malcolm X speech where he says, “The most disrespected woman in America is the Black woman. The most unprotected woman in America is the Black woman. The most neglected woman in America is the Black woman.”
True, but Beyoncé showed the world that Black women are goddesses.
Bow down.
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