Disney and singer Beyonce release Black is King with the hit single Brown Skin Girl

[tier9]

Beyonce and Disney put out a new album/movie type of thing, titled Black is King. It features all blacks. Her hit single is titled Brown Skin Girl.

Here's two articles about the album and then the song. Lots of quotes in here, that's for sure........

Beyoncé's Black is King is a breathtaking celebration of Black empowerment | Candice Frederick

The visual album is a reminder that Black power comes from within – not as something that is granted to us by someone else

www.theguardian.com

Beyoncé's Black is King is a breathtaking celebration of Black empowerment
Candice Frederick
The visual album is a reminder that Black power comes from within – not as something that is granted to us by someone else.

At a time when police can kill an innocent Black woman in her home (and face no criminal charges) and a pandemic is inordinately impacting Black and brown people, the notion of a “Black supremacy” seems astounding.

But that is the hill that Terry Crews is apparently willing to die on. The Brooklyn Nine-Nine actor recently sparked a social media backlash with a series of tweets that seemed to suggest that Black liberation is somehow synonymous with white degradation.

Contrast Beyoncé’s new visual album, Black is King. Her project is a breathtaking celebration of Black empowerment. She embodies images of Black regality as a means to combat anti-Black oppression. Black is King has been met with universal praise. Why? Because it affirms, not divides.

To be fair, it is probably worth discussing what Crews is in part trying to address – that is, the policing of Blackness within the Black community and the fact that Blackness is not a monolith. Black people belong to a variety of political parties, have many different skin tones, and inhabit countries all around the world. And no, we don’t always agree on things. But then there is the other part of what Crews said, that “defeating white supremacy without white people could create Black supremacy”.

First of all, defeating white supremacy without white people has already proven to be impossible, which is one reason why white supremacy is still thriving. Second, defeating white supremacy isn’t about forming a new supremacy; it’s about uplifting Black people and creating equality for all people of color.

While Black is King draws fans’ attention to ubiquitous symbols of decadence – mansions, gold grills and convertibles – she also highlights cultural opulence dating back generations throughout the 90-minute video compilation. Black people prevailing isn’t just about having more money, homes and diamonds. It’s about understanding the kind of cultural richness that our African ancestors had – goats, cattle horns, kanaga masks and cowrie shells that are all emblems of celestial power and currency.

It’s an intangible type of fortune that doesn’t need to be authorized by a white establishment in order to be accepted
Black is King is a reminder that Black power comes from within and is our cultural birthright – not something that is granted to us by someone else. It’s a hard realization now when so much of the narrative is about how a system built by other people has failed us and what we need from them to be successful.

“Let Black be synonymous with glory” is what Beyoncé says in Black is King. She – along with co-writers Yrsa Daley-Ward, Clover Hope and Andrew Morrow – points to the kind of flourishing that is innately within us as descendants of actual kings and queens, those who weren’t given because they already had. It’s an intangible type of fortune that doesn’t need to be authorized by a white establishment or require an eagerness to align with whiteness in order to be accepted.

White allies are necessary to defeat white supremacy, but Black is King emphasizes that they are not fundamental to our self-worth. We don’t need to see ourselves through another person’s gaze in order to personify what is already ours. “The royalty in you is there,” Beyoncé sings. She is not referring to the kind of majesty that is exemplary of making other people feel inferior. Rather, she is pointing to what we’ve already inherited and what too many have forgotten amid a racist system that spans cinematic image, literature and even statues erected in honor of oppression.

It’s why Beyoncé can still maintain legions of white fans while very specifically affirming that Black people possess a power that can never be ripped from us, no matter how hard some may try. It’s the kind of self-assurance that people of all backgrounds can’t help but find magnetic and inspiring. With that knowledge, Black people should no longer feel less than or that we need to seek value from those who can subjugate us.

Black is King celebrates the joy of self-ownership and realizing that we already possess what we often look for from others: love, honor and power. That’s not a step toward supremacy; it’s just fact. And we should all get behind it.

Here is the hit single.



Lyrics:

Brown skin girl
Your skin just like pearls
The best thing in the world
Never trade you for anybody else
Singin' brown skin girl
Your skin just like pearls
The best thing in the world
I never trade you for anybody else, singin'
She said she really grew up poor like me
Don't believe in nothin' but the Almighty
Just a lil' jeans and a pure white tee
She never did forever be nobody wifey, yeah
So while I may not pretty boy, your heart is a miss
Play it like a villain 'cause she caught in a wave
Tonight I am walkin' away
Lined up my mind, on the grind, yeah, yeah
Tonight I might fall in love, dependin' on how you hold me
I'm glad that I'm calmin' down, can't let no one come control me
Keep dancin' and call it love, she fightin' but fallin' slowly
If ever you are in doubt, remember what mama told me
Brown skin girl, ya skin just like pearls
Your back against the world
I never trade you for anybody else, say
Brown skin girl, ya skin just like pearls
The best thing in all the world
I never trade you for anybody else, say
Pose like a trophy when Naomi's walk in
She need an Oscar for that pretty dark skin
Pretty like Lupita when the cameras close in
Drip broke the levy when my killas roll in
I think tonight she might braid her braids
Melanin too dark to throw her shade
She minds her business and winds her waist
Gold like 24k, okay
Tonight I might fall in love, dependin' on how you hold me
I'm glad that I'm calmin' down, can't let no one come control me
Keep dancin' and call it love, she fightin' but fallin' slowly
If ever you are in doubt, remember what mama told me
Brown skin girl, ya skin just like pearls
Your back against the world
I never trade you for anybody else, say
Brown skin girl, ya skin just like pearls
The best thing about the world
I never trade you for anybody else, say
Oh, have you looked in the mirror lately? (Lately)
Wish you could trade eyes with me (Because)
There's complexities in complexion
But your skin, it glow like diamonds
Dig me like the earth, you be giving birth
Took everything in life, baby, know your worth
I love everything about you, from your nappy curls
To every single curve, your body natural
Same skin that was broken be the same skin takin' over
Most things out of focus, view
But when you're in the room, they notice you (Notice you)
'Cause you're beautiful
Yeah, you're beautiful
Them men, them gon' fall in love with you and all of your glory
Your skin is not only dark, it shines and it tells your story
Keep dancin', they can't control you
They watchin', they all adore you
If ever you are in doubt
Remember what mama told you
Brown skin girl, ya skin just like pearls
Your back against the world
I never trade you for anybody else, say
Brown skin girl, ya skin just like pearls
The best thing about the world
I never trade you for anybody else, say
Brown skin girl, ya skin just like pearls
The best thing in all the world
I never trade you for anybody else, singin'

Here's what Beyonce had to say about the song:

Beyoncé Drops 'Brown Skin Girl' Video Featuring Naomi Campbell, Lupita Nyong'o, Kelly Rowland

Track includes her daughter Blue Ivy Carter, WizKid and Saint Jhn

www.rollingstone.com

On the heels of her visual album Black Is King, Beyoncé has shared the stunning video for “Brown Skin Girl.”

The track features her daughter Blue Ivy Carter, WizKid and Saint Jhn. For the video — directed by Jenn Nkiru — they’re joined by Naomi Campbell, actress Lupita Nyong’o and Kelly Rowland, Beyoncé’s fellow Destiny’s Child.

The striking visual clocks in at just over six minutes, featuring debutantes in elegant gowns. “Pose like a trophy when they Naomi walking/She need an Oscar for that pretty dark skin,” Beyoncé sings. “Pretty like Lupita when the cameras close in/Drip broke the levy when my Kelly’s Rowland.”

Beyoncé dropped the video on Good Morning America on Monday, accompanied by a statement. “It was so important to me in ‘Brown Skin Girl’ that we represented all different shades of brown,” she said. “We wanted every character to be shot in a regal light — Jenn Nkiru came up with the black debutantes. It was important that we are all in this together and we’re all celebrating each other.” Added Nkiru: “My greatest inspiration comes from black people, specifically black women.”


The 85-minute Black Is King arrived on Disney + last month. Based on the music from The Lion King: the Gift (the soundtrack to the 2019 remake of The Lion King), it marks Beyoncé’s third visual album, following 2013’s Beyoncé and 2016’s Lemonade. Ahead of its release, she dropped the video for “Already,” which features Major Lazer and Shatta Wale.

 

[kel]

Subtle.

A shame that black people are stuck with being given empty, corporate feelgoodism to sell trinkets as empowerment. Not that this is really aimed at black people, anyways.

 

[kazz]

Blackety Black Black Mc Black, Black in the new Black.
I'm Black yo and I'm proud about dat yo.

LOL, that took me under a minute to write. "artists" what a fucking joke.

 

[andy dufresne]

Can you imagine a world where an artist like 'Kid Rock' would release and album 'White is King'?

We're living in a white hate world.

 

[tier9]

Can you imagine a world where an artist like 'Kid Rock' would release and album 'White is King'?

We're living in a white hate world.

The quotes in those two articles that I posted are absolutely mind boggling when you consider the double speak and word play that are at hand here. Just look at these quotes and imagine if the word black was switched with the word white:

breathtaking celebration of Black empowerment

Black power comes from within

Black power comes from within and is our cultural birthright

It was so important to me in ‘Brown Skin Girl’ that we represented all different shades of brown

She need an Oscar for that pretty dark skin

My greatest inspiration comes from black people, specifically black women

I saw a comment somewhere regarding that music video for Brown Skin Girl and they said something similar to you about what if a white person did a song like this, but someone like Kid Rock is appealing to a different audience. This is geared towards black girls. So the equivalent of Black Is King by Beyonce would be White Is King by Taylor Swift targeted to white girls.

Switch the word black for white in the above quotes and tell me what kind of reaction this would get. Black power? Black empowerment? Complete with images of black people holding up the black power fist in the air? This is literally supremacist language that's being used by a company catered to children and termed as "black empowerment" rather than "black supremacy." It's complete double speak.

I actually just noticed something. In the Guardian article (the first one I quoted), it's written by someone named Candice Frederick. A black woman from a quick google search. She capitalizes the word black even when it's not grammatically necessary and lower cases the word white.

The thing about this is, if "black is king" than what is white? Or Asian? That surely means we are "lesser", because what is higher up in the hierarchy than a king?

 

[Mr Gibbs]

“Brown skin girl, ya skin just like pearls”
Wtf aren’t pearls White?

 

[Papaya]

Ever notice how no one ("with a chip on their shoulder")'s chip is actually visible?

A lion knows its a lion without ever looking in the mirror

If they actually deep down believed it themselves they wouldn't write about it.

 

[911]

No mention of Black fathers or Black family in her lyrics, which would be the only way out for them. It's all wanton narcissism from Disney keeping them in their victimhood plantation.

 

[Gradient]

The white man already made a song in praise of black women:

 

[Lionheart]

The complaints of racism are projection. They only wish they had numbers over whites. See South Africa.

 

[Dusty]

Kaingz

To quote John Derbyshire: blackity blackity Black Black Black

Black self absorption and narcissism is something to behold.

 

[MusicForThePiano]

We wuz perrls n diamunz n shieetttttt

nom' sayin?