1995 — D’Angelo, Brown Sugar
1996 — Maxwell, Urban Hang Suite
1997 — Erykah Badu, Baduizm
1998 — Lauryn Hill, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Four years. Four timeless albums.
Neo Soul wasn’t just a genre — it was a revolution.
In 2016 I took part in an 8 day building occupation at Columbia to demand fossil fuel divestment and my punishment was writing apology letters. Last month I got suspended for 2 years for joining a teach-in for Palestine. my op-ed about the Palestine exception at Columbia:
honored to co-write this op-ed in the Guardian with my amazing father. “Columbia’s leadership has transformed the institution into an international laughingstock, a rudderless ship, poorer in every way – from its balance sheet to its moral vision.”
Cowboy Carter is not my favorite Bey by quite some distance but I'm beyond thrilled she's finally received this honor, not only because she's the greatest pop star of the century, but because she's the one who has most powerfully made the case for the value of the album format.
Thinking about Robin James’s piece “How not to listen to Lemonade: music criticism & epistemic violence” here —
“‘(By the way, it’s powerful ,and feminist, and unapologetically black… and groundbreaking.) But hey: Is the music any good?’ This framing defines ‘the music’ as…
…something distinct and independent of the album’s black femininity, as though black women’s and black feminist musical traditions didn’t infuse the album’s music… or, to the extent they do, they don’t count as ‘music.’”
This one is for Hip Hop.
I felt heavily inspired by the lineage of Hip Hop and how it contributes to who I am today. This is my first self choreographed performance and one of the most important things I wanted to highlight was my connection to black women through Hip Hop. With the help of hair artist Malcom Marquez, we were able to make this symbolic art performance come to life in just a short week.
A special s/o to some of my inspirations; the incredible @solangeknowles @carlota_guerrero and @mfdoom (rip)
A special s/o to my stylist @sam__woolf for nailing this look and translating my take on hip hop through clothing !
This is my take on the future of Hip Hop. This is blackness. This is luxury. This is history.
Thank you to the @colbertlateshow team for having us on your show! And thank you to my true fans for always showing up to every performance and sharing my music 🐊 SWAMP4L