What You Missed In Beyonce’s New Music: Black Parade

“Being black, maybe that’s the reason why
They always mad, yeah, they always mad, yeah”

Today is 29th of June, which means the black music month is a day from being over. Black Parade according to its lyrics is a song that celebrates black excellence. Following the death of George Floyd, which led to a mass uprising and protests against social injustice, police brutality and racism among all other issues, Beyonce took to her Instagram to urge people of all races to sign petitions to obtain justice for George Floyd. Almost a month later to our surprise, Beyonce released a track titled “black parade” which according to her in reference to black people “celebrates you, your voice, your joy.”

This isn’t the first time Beyonce would be celebrating black people and her African roots through her music. Black Parade, however is a special song especially following all the events that has occurred over the past month, this was a much needed song and you may not realize until you listen to it. This song is also so important as the proceeds of “BLACK PARADE” will go to the BeyGOOD Black Business Impact Fund. A fund which is administered by the National Urban League and will be used to support black-owned small businesses in need. In these trying times, it is important for someone of her status to bring awareness to black-owned small business to encourage other people to follow suit, she is such an inspiration to us all.

Here are some of the things i believe you may have missed from the song from my Nigerian and African perspective:

“Where my roots ain’t watered down
Growin’, growin’ like a Baobab tree”

Before these two lines she mentioned going back to the south, where most people believe she was talking about Texas, which is where she grew up as well as the place the announcement of the abolition of slavery occurred, hence, the beginning of Juneteenth. Following those lines is where she mentioned the above lines, a Baobab tree is a tree species found mostly in African sub-Saharan regions and it is also known as the “the tree of life” as a result of the fact that it was able to adapt to the African continent despite the dry and warm conditions, it adapts by absorbing and storing enough water for the dry season, hence the line, “growin’, growin’ like a Baobab tree.”

“Ankh charm on gold chains, with my Osun energy, oh
Drip all on me, woo, Ankh or the Dashiki print”

She went further to pay homage to Africa by referencing “Ankh” one of the relics often found in Africa culture. The ankh is an ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic symbol that represents the word for “life”and is also known as a symbol of life itself. Beyonce was seen wearing a necklace with the symbol on it in her Don’t Hurt Yourself video. The most interesting part of this verse is her reference of “Osun”, Osun is the goddess of the Osun River who is believed to be a very powerful woman and the only female of the sixteen major Yoruba deities. This is not the first time Beyonce would make a reference to the Ankh and the goddess Osun, infact, she mentioned both in the Lion King album “The Gift” on her song featuring Childish Gambino, JAY-Z and Oumou Sangare, Mood 4 Eva — where she said, “ Osun, Queen Sheba, I am the mother Ankh on my gold chain, ice on my whole chain.” Also, Dashiki is a colorful African printed shirt.

“Being black, maybe that’s the reason why
They always mad, yeah, they always mad, yeah”

This is definitely a stand against racism and police brutality and reminds me of the line by Nanette “D.” Massey in The Hate You Give which says, “It is impossible to be unarmed when our blackness is the weapon they fear.”

Rubber bullets bouncin’ off me (Ah)

This is has to be directed towards continuous police brutality with the use of rubber bullets which was exposed with the numerous videos recorded during protests following the death of George Floyd showing several protesters shot and injured by the rubber bullets.

Waist beads from Yoruba (Woo)
Four hunnid billi’, Mansa Musa (Woo)

This was so satisfying to hear her mention Yoruba as I am Yoruba myself. Yoruba people are one of the major ethnic groups in West Africa located majorly in Nigeria and some other parts like Benin, Togo and Ghana. Waist bead in Yoruba is commonly called “Ileke” worn by women which is used for both beauty and spiritual purposes such as: to symbolize love, rite of passage, fertility and so on. Beyonce has also been seen wearing waist beads. She also mentions Mansa Musa, who was the tenth Emperor of the Mali Empire, an Islamic West African state. He has been described as the wealthiest individual of the Middle Ages. Mansa Musa was also referenced on The Gift album mentioned earlier in the same song, “Mood 4 Eva” in Jay Z’s verse where he says, “Mansa Musa reincarnated, we on our levels, That’s a billi’, a thousand milli.” The mention of both waist beads and Mansa Musa showcases African prosperity and the uniqueness of the African Culture as well as continuity in the thriving of African people.

Now here we come on our thrones, sittin’ high
Follow my parade, oh, my parade

Finally, the use of Our Thrones in the last chorus references black people as Kings and Queens in their excellence marching towards greatness in a parade which is certainly in line with the recent events of protest and movement of Black Lives Matter #BLM.

I wrote this from my Nigerian and African perspective as I am obviously not American, so i picked some things i understood and can relate to. Also in celebration of end of slavery in the US, but I mainly wanted to focus on the celebration of the end of the Black Music Month with my own understanding of this amazing song by Beyonce, she always manages to bring us all along and we celebrate her for that. I left some links to sites where you can help sign petitions for #blm as well as the link to her official website where you can help support black owned businesses. Thank you for reading, if you liked this please give it a clap and share.

Picture from: Elle