Opinion Sunday: Beyonce's Formation

Am I late to the party?  I suppose so, but that's okay. Beyonce doesn't need my opinion anyway. She's kicking it. She's slaying it.



Can I just say that Beyonce's video for Formation is fucking masterpiece? The amount of heritage, racial identity, anti-police, anti-racist, tragedy, religion, music, hip hop as a weapon, packed into four little minutes of video. There are entire films that haven't done justice to this many things at once.

By the way, White People's (Trademark) reaction to Beyonce and this song and her super bowl performance? The definition of racism. Absolutely. There's no one who was mad about that video that wasn't supporting the Confederate Flag nine months ago. Plain and simple. There is no dividing line between politely racist and angry racist.

I think where White People always lose themselves is in comparison. But when you aggressively attack things that represent that identity... that AMERICAN identity, it comes off as trying to erase the past, and that's the only thing that attitude will accomplish.

But more importantly, Beyonce is, and in many ways always has, been a pointed feminist in her music. Her female identity reeks out of all her music, and Formation is perhaps one of the best examples of it. What did we do to deserve Chi-raq, Mad Max, Ex Machina, and this in roughly a single year?

And really what this underlines to me is the importance of the variance of art forms. I meet so many people (all of them incredibly white) who continually say that Rap is bad. And in some ways the genre earns that reputation. Thug Life, Constant real life dissing between artists, absolute misogyny rolling in, it makes the art form look bad.

But listen to Pop music nowadays. Listen to how much of Rap's bones have inspired lyrics and beats. How electronic is everything?

Furthermore, look at Straight Outta Compton, one of the most popular films from last year. Rap, especially the misogynistic hateful rap that came out of it, was such a gigantic middle finger, such an important piece of art that showed that you don't have to become a victim, of your circumstances or of the white society all around you. To criticize that is to criticize Mookie in Do The Right Thing.

There's no doubt that Formation is a straight up Pop song, but what's important about that is that it's a straight up Pop song. It's a Pop Song by a black woman, it's absolutely about black lives and heritage, it's very much about music, dance, and how to celebrate your success. What's important about Formation is how damn much of it shakes in your face everything that Beyonce has ever represented in her life. It's practically a celebration of herself... it's kind of like Rap.

Plain and simple, Formation is incredibly important. And if you don't recognize that, just take Beyonce's word for it. "You know you that bitch when you cause all this conversation."

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