Queen Bey: FORMATION

[Invisible Man]

Yeah, yeah, I get it, this is ILF. But this tune has some potential:

https://youtu.be/LrCHz1gwzTo

I think I love it. But is this just performative bullshit, or is it sincere? Is this another excellent pop confection, or does this thing have teeth? Seriously, this sounds a little like Beyonce has heard some Death Grips, or at least some decent hip-hop, and is attempting to step out of glam-pop, and into something more substantial--at least thematically. Maybe I'm fooling myself.

Here's some gif action so you can get a good grip on some of these images. There's some power there, for sure, and I can't figure out if her utter lack of fucks given is because she's pissed, or because she can afford to do whatever the hell she wants. Thoughts? I'm gonna teach the hell out of this thing this week, and see what happens.








Y'all haters corny with that illuminati mess
Paparazzi, catch my fly, and my cocky fresh
I'm so reckless when I rock my Givenchy dress (stylin')
I'm so possessive so I rock his Roc necklaces
My daddy Alabama, Momma Louisiana
You mix that negro with that Creole make a Texas bama
I like my baby hair with baby hair and afros
I like my negro nose with Jackson Five nostrils
Earned all this money but they never take the country out me
I got a hot sauce in my bag, swag

[Interlude: Messy Mya + Big Freedia]
Oh yeah, baby, oh yeah I, ohhhhh, oh, yes, I like that
I did not come to play with you hoes, haha
I came to slay, bitch
I like cornbreads and collard greens, bitch
Oh, yes, you besta believe it

[Refrain: Beyoncé]
Y'all haters corny with that illuminati mess
Paparazzi, catch my fly, and my cocky fresh
I'm so reckless when I rock my Givenchy dress (stylin')
I'm so possessive so I rock his Roc necklaces
My daddy Alabama, Momma Louisiana
You mix that negro with that Creole make a Texas bama
I like my baby hair with baby hair and afros
I like my negro nose with Jackson Five nostrils
Earned all this money but they never take the country out me
I got a hot sauce in my bag, swag

[Chorus: Beyoncé]
I see it, I want it, I stunt, yellow-bone it
I dream it, I work hard, I grind 'til I own it
I twirl on them haters, albino alligators
El Camino with the seat low, sippin' Cuervo with no chaser
Sometimes I go off (I go off), I go hard (I go hard)
Get what's mine (take what's mine), I'm a star (I'm a star)
Cause I slay (slay), I slay (hey), I slay (okay), I slay (okay)
All day (okay), I slay (okay), I slay (okay), I slay (okay)
We gon' slay (slay), gon' slay (okay), we slay (okay), I slay (okay)
I slay (okay), okay (okay), I slay (okay), okay, okay, okay, okay
Okay, okay, ladies, now let's get in formation, cause I slay
Okay, ladies, now let's get in formation, cause I slay
Prove to me you got some coordination, cause I slay
Slay trick, or you get eliminated

[Verse: Beyoncé]
When he fuck me good I take his ass to Red Lobster, cause I slay
When he fuck me good I take his ass to Red Lobster, cause I slay
If he hit it right, I might take him on a flight on my chopper, cause I slay
Drop him off at the mall, let him buy some J's, let him shop up, cause I slay
I might get your song played on the radio station, cause I slay
I might get your song played on the radio station, cause I slay
You just might be a black Bill Gates in the making, cause I slay
I just might be a black Bill Gates in the making

[Chorus: Beyoncé]
I see it, I want it, I stunt, yellow-bone it
I dream it, I work hard, I grind 'til I own it
I twirl on them haters, albino alligators
El Camino with the seat low, sippin' Cuervo with no chaser
Sometimes I go off (I go off), I go hard (I go hard)
Get what's mine (take what's mine), I'm a star (I'm a star)
Cause I slay (slay), I slay (hey), I slay (okay), I slay (okay)
All day (okay), I slay (okay), I slay (okay), I slay (okay)
We gon' slay (slay), gon' slay (okay), we slay (okay), I slay (okay)
I slay (okay), okay (okay), I slay (okay), okay, okay, okay, okay
Okay, okay, ladies, now let's get in formation, cause I slay
Okay, ladies, now let's get in formation, cause I slay
Prove to me you got some coordination, cause I slay
Slay trick, or you get eliminated

[Bridge: Beyoncé]
Okay, ladies, now let's get in formation, I slay
Okay, ladies, now let's get in formation
You know you that bitch when you cause all this conversation
Always stay gracious, best revenge is your paper

[Outro]
Girl, I hear some thunder
Golly, look at that water, boy, oh lord

[D.o.S.]

toothless drivel. Like Spike Lee without Do The Right Thing to give him cultural capital.

[Invisible Man]

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/07/arts/ ... .html?_r=0

Came back to post this, and to say "in before D.o.S. with something snarky to say."

But damn.

Anyway, not quite sold on toothless drivel. There's a lot going on here--how do you account for this? She's taking some big swings, for sure, but it's not clear if she doing so from a place of activism and anger (ILF), or a place where she recognizes a cash cow of a trend (Black Lives Matter). Sometimes good anthems do both.

[D.o.S.]

well, let's be clear on what we're talking about.... Bey is not doing this in a vacuum. Far from it. There's some baby + bathwater arguments to be made here, but I am leery of someone who functions at that level of a brand being given singular authorship over anything.


Have not had coffee yet. Need coffee. May reverse my feelings over coffee but those are my first impressions.

[Invisible Man]

You're thinking baby/bathwater, I'm thinking 'belly of the beast.' Realistically, very few people burst through the carcass of pop culture, but...maybe she's weary of the same kind of ultimate power she's wielded for a while now, and is looking to form culture rather than exist inside of it. This looks to me like someone stepping out, but, as you say, this isn't happening in a vacuum. She's creating something reactionary here, but the iconography is so striking and powerful that it's gonna sway a lot of people (myself included). Yeah, that might just be the influence and power of 'branding,' or propaganda at worst, but pop/propaganda is a razor-thin distinction already. That's what can be tough to discern.

But she's a black woman from the South. I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt for a while. And she's talking about her blackness, femaleness, and her Southern heritage. If that's at all genuine, then this could do some interesting work on some of the stuff that's percolating.

[D.o.S.]

you're still ascribing singular motivation to this for no real reason, though?

I think of this as basically on the level of Madonna's wedding cake routine (no doubt there are other, better examples but that was the first that came to mind), just updated with 30 years of what's shocking.

[neonblack]

I just keep thinking of all the times we went to red lobster as a kid.

[Invisible Man]

Not sure I follow you.

No, if I understand 'singular motivation,' I hadn't thought about that as such. She might not be completely aware of what's happening, or able to articulate why this looks/acts the way it does, but does that matter?

Red Lobster is gonna see a revenue bump in a minute. Post-coital sub-par seafood. Such is the power of the Beyhive.

[Chankgeez]

I haven't listened to the song, but my first thought is "Red Lobster did good with their product placement".

Also, Big Freedia is one awesome bitch.

[neonblack]

Also I love her bayou goth aesthetic.

[Muff_Diver]

Track sucks. Video is provocative. Tryina hop on that Yeezus style 2 years late smh.

[Invisible Man]

Haven't done a lot of reading about this, but didn't Beyonce perform in an 'X' formation (Malcolm X) with her dancers at the Super Bowl? Decked out in Black Panther 'costumes'? She definitely runs the risk of ventriloquizing legitimate political movements and ethnicities (see: Redskins controversy, blackface, American history), but this feels a hell of a lot more subversive than MIA's middle finger a couple years ago. Which was embarrassingly devoid of vitriol.

I'm probably pushing on this harder than I should, but it's really interesting to think about wrapping incendiary politics in massive media events. This seems to run against the grain of a lot of what we are collectively interested in 'round these parts, but we can't just dismiss everything that happens outside of our tiny little community as being worthless or bankrupt.

Waiting for 'bayou goth' to spawn a thousand bands.

[gnomethrone]

Waiting for 'bayou goth' to spawn a thousand bands.

yes please

I think it's neat that she's packaged up and commodified people's outrage. It's like if Pepsi told cops to stop shooting people. The palpable butt hurt from oldwhitepeoplemedia folks is pretty entertaining too.

[Invisible Man]

It's like if Pepsi told cops to stop shooting people.

Well said. But I guess that's what I'm curious about...we're so accustomed to pop stars and other corporate bodies being utter pieces of shit...It this just a kind of reverse/positive collateral damage?

[D.o.S.]

I would kill for a Beyonce cover of Bela Lugosi's Dead.