Felicity Linville

Senior year of high school was a rough time for me. I struggled keeping up with college applications, working a part time job and being in a relationship that was one sided. This song was everything for me, it incorporated all my feelings at the time into one song. I listened to it over and over. Even one time I drove in the pouring rain, with no where to go trying to figure out what I wanted to do in my life.

Relationships are hard when you’re young, I think we as a generation feel that connecting with someone is hard because we have no guarantee on how the future will turn out. I was planning on going off to college while he was planning to enlist in the military. He was convinced we wouldn’t be together after high school, but we stayed together for so long after we had that conversation. I should have ended it there, but I was I love. My freshman year of college he ended it, saying he needed to escape. I never understood why he wanted to escape me. I internalized this disaster and almost failed one of my classes because of it. A month later he called saying it was a mistake and wanted to get back together. He had hurt me so bad though and I needed to escape him. It was impossible to do that though with social media, and all our mutual friends.  Cage the elephant turned into my escape. I didn’t want to be depressed anymore but still need to feel something. I wanted the past to change, for the choices we made to be different, but I began to realize how toxic it was. The emotions that I feel in the song are longing for the past and wishing things could have been different. But in reality, looking for peace of mind is really what you’re doing. So sweet with a mean streak was a line that stuck with me, emotional abuse disguised as caring was something I didn’t realize was happening until after the relationship ended. My friends were my rocks while going through this and I helped them go through their own rough break ups.

The genre of alternative rock was so popular among my friends and I at the end of high school. I think we all needed a vent for all the mainstream culture that was being pushed down our throats by social media. We were all tired of the heavy expectations that were placed upon us to succeed. I just wanted to be able to relax. Music was a break from the stress. It remined us of our middle school days when these songs first came out. When we didn’t have to worry about the tests we have to finish, the applications we must submit, and the money we have to make to support ourselves.

As I stood there in the pouring rain, I was able to find the peace of mind. This sweet song played as I was able to have the strength to say that I will be fine. I will be okay. I don’t have all the answers, not even close to a clue but I do know that everything will be okay. That I was fine. That I would find someone else. That I would be happy.

Song: Cage the Elephant Cigarette Daydream. 3:31 long

By Sarah Byron

Whether you listen to her music or not, it’s tough to deny the immense power and influence of Beyoncé. With her most recent musical and visual album release Lemonade, Beyoncé has utilized her fame and notoriety to bring a spotlight on political and social issues, as well as to redefine the black southern antebellum woman.
In “How #BlackLivesMatter Started a Musical Revolution,” Daphne Brooks explains that Beyoncé’s music (especially Lemonade) and her performances challenge us to engage and fight against political and social injustices. She writes Beyoncé, “provides us with a global stage on which we can get in formation with her…to withstand the brutality of repressive law enforcement in our daily lives.” Beyoncé brings this issue to the forefront, charging us to become active protesters against the racial and cultural injustices that permeate throughout our society.
On The Record, Regina Bradley and Dream Hampton discuss Lemonade and how it redefined southern black women. The two agree that in Lemonade, “the antebellum south serves as an entry point for Beyoncé to recognize the historical and cultural horrors of black womanhood while reclaiming the survival techniques passed down over time.” In this way, Beyoncé is redefining the black southern woman, revitalizing her image and extolling her ability to endure, reclaim and prosper.
In addition to her incredible musical talent, Beyoncé’s political activism will continue to propel her into the center of societies spotlight.

The videos attached showcase other examples of black activism by other artists. This goes to show that the sentiments Beyoncé shares in her music are echoed by many other artists.

Since music became a ubiquitous commodity, it has been a form of protest and activism. In recent years, musical artists have been championed for their bravery in expressing feminist and LGBTQ-inclusive ideology. So a few feminist and LGBTQ icons have entered the mainstream. That’s great, but there are still systemic barriers in music that promote the straight, white, rich, male narrative.

The assumption in most music, as Mimi Nyugen explains, is that the default person in existence is “whitestraightboy” (2). In much of popular music, deeper political issues that disproportionately affect POC, female, and LGBTQ on a daily basis are not represented in the mainstream. It is hardly ever addressed that, “some people –white, heterosexual, middle-class, male– often travel in more comfort than others –nonwhite, queer, poor, female)” (Nyugen, 2). So often, popular/mainstream music and the latest hits fail to represent the majority of the population. THE WORLD IS NOT JUST STRAIGHT WHITE BOYS. But in mainstream music, it tends to appear that way.

Music is still a powerful platform to allow those oppressed groups to speak out about the issues that are not being addressed in their daily lives, and create a community with each other even when the mainstream won’t listen. Ann Powers writes about the role musicians played in publicizing and combating the AIDS epidemic of the 80s and 90s. Through the 80s,  music addressing AIDS was mostly contained within the gay community, pop music not taking notice of the deadly disease until much later. However, at the time, “The epidemic’s realities did increasingly inform the music of scenes where gay men were more audible,” (Powers, 254). Through musicals like Rent and men’s choruses, awareness of AIDS spread, but knowledge of this disease was barred from the mainstream for too long, and there is systemic homophobia and fear of other narratives to blame.

Today, we are lucky to have easy access to music outside the mainstream. Streaming is wonderful in that sense! And, artists of all backgrounds are beginning to rise in the mainstream (Beyoncé, Frank Ocean, Troye Sivan, Cardi B, to name a few). But there is still a very straight and very male dominance in popular music today, and LGBTQ-inclusive feminist messages have yet to dominate popular music.

Related Songs

Below are examples of LGBTQ artists addressing the harmful impact of a heteronormative society’s influence on same sex relationships, and how that forces the people involved hiding their true feelings and who they are.

• What I Need (feat. Kehlani) by Hayley Kiyoko
• Straight Boy by Shamir

References

Nyugen, Mimi. “It’s (Not) a White World: Looking for Race in Punk.” Punk Planet 28. (PDF)
Powers, Ann. “Oh No, It Hurts: AIDS, Reagan, and the Backlash; New York, San Francisco, Seattle, 1977-1997.” Good Booty: Love and Sex, Black & White, Body and Soul in American Music (New York: Harper Collins, 2017). (PDF)

by Griffin Blum

Punk music was created as a combative voice where people can tackle societal subject in a way that reflects how the performers feel about it. This is articulated when E.K Garrison said, “’Grrrl’ puts the growl back in our pussycat throats. ‘Grrrl’ is intended to recall the naughty, confident and curious ten-year-olds we were before society made it clear it was time to stop being so loud and playing with boys, and concentrate on learning ‘to girl.’” (Garrison, 2010) She emphasizes the frustration women face when they don’t conform to how society thinks girls should behave. Punk is an avenue for repressed emotions and urges to come out and make them known. I believe punk music is popular because others who may not have the courage or platform to vocalize these feelings can relate to what is being said, and can echo their support of expressing your true self regardless of what is “acceptable.” Mimi Nguyen shares a similar sentiment of showing your true colors, and not being ashamed of the person you are because of other people. “So if you’re white, own your whiteness. Don’t assume whiteness describes the world…Challenge what others do.” (Nguyen, 1998) It’s so important nowadays for everyone to be able to freely express him or her, and the world will thus become more accepting of everyone’s differences. Punk has been a controversial avenue of this, as older generations tend to frown upon it, calling it “loud” and “invasive,” but I’d argue that it’s essential to ensuring that everyone has an equal voice and will be respected.

Works Cited

Garrison, Ednie Kaeh. “U.S. Feminism-Grrrl Style! Youth (Sub)Cultures and the Technologics of the Third Wave.” Feminist Studies, vol. 26, no. 1, 2000, p. 141., doi:10.2307/3178596.

Nguyen, Mimi. “It’s (Not) a White World: Looking for Race in Punk (Nov/Dec 1998).” Thread & Circuits, 29 Apr. 2011, threadandcircuits.wordpress.com/2010/03/14/its-not-a-white-world-looking-for-race-in-punk-1998/.

My two songs displaying a refusal to society’s norms are “We’re Not Gonna Take It” by Twisted Sister and “Welcome to Paradise” by Green Day, as both songs reflect a refusal to give in to what other people see as what they should be or do. Both bands aggressively and sternly stand by their image, regardless of what others think.

By: Dalia Perez

The music genre “Punk” has given women a voice to express themselves about important issues involving politics, race, and violence against women. Punk has given women the ability to fight back against issues like sexual harassment. An example of this involves the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas sexual harassment case. Based on this case Ednie Kaeh Garrison states in her article titled U.S. FEMINISM-GRRRL STYLE! YOUTH (SUB)CULTURES AND THE TECHNOLOGICS OF THE THIRD WAVE, that it forced “many young women to “acknowledge that we live under siege.” But it also encouraged them to fight back” (Garrison, 147). Basically, cases like the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas case made women acknowledge that women are surrounded by injustices which they need to fight against. One-way women did this was by using their voice and all their stored-up anger in creating punk music. Women are not the only ones that express important issues through punk music. In the article Its (Not) a White World: Looking for Race in Punk, Mimi Nguyen states that “You (and I mean everybody now) can be accountable to your social location. Interrogate and historicize your place in society, punk, whatever, and be aware of how you talk about race, gender, sexuality – it’s political… Recognize power in all its forms, how it operates” (Nguyen, 9). By making this statement Nguyen makes it clear that everyone has the power to about important issues like race in punk, but they must be aware of the way they talk about these issues because people are affected by issues differently.  

Two songs that relate to these articles in terms of violence against women are GateKeeper by Jessie Reyes and Man Down by Rihanna. Though these songs don’t express that aggressive sound like that of punk music. The song Man Down expresses the harsh reality of what occurs when society continues to let violence against women go unrecognized which leads to women taking matters in their own hands. The song GateKeeper expresses the harsh reality some women in the music industry, movie industry, etc. Go through because they are told that if they are told to do, they will not progress in their industry.   

Felicity Linville

Punk music is a way in which youth can tackle political subjects in a way that makes sense to them. I think punk challenges the power structures and dynamics of society and create an environment for social change. In her piece “Its (Not) a White World: Looking for Race in Punk” Mimi Nguyen says proposes action from a racial perspective “You (and I mean everybody now) can be accountable to your social location. Interrogate and historicize your place in society, punk, whatever, and be aware of how you talk about race, gender, sexuality – it’s political… Recognize power in all its forms, how it operates.” She addresses how people can take a stance in punk by addressing issues of race and to not ignore it, not seeing color is a big negative in her work. Ednie Kaeh Garrison in her piece “U.S. Feminism-Grrrl Style! Youth (Sub)Cultures and the Technologies of the Third Wave” addresses feminist political subjects and uses the Riot Grrrl movement as a tool to look at how they provided spaces for youth centered conversations about politics. She says it is important to “Recogniz[e] youth (sub)cultures as political spaces and refusing to separate political consciousness from subcultural formations.” Riot Grrrl is built around the idea that young girls are seen in society as not caring about being political and being loud and countering that. They gave a medium in which girls could have a safe space in the male dominated punk sphere and use that to talk about the power structures of society. Both Nguyen and Garrison encourage punk as a way for social change through a critique of the racism, feminism power structures, and other social issues.

Two songs I want to bring to the table that enhance the most important aspects of these readings are Improvised Weapons by War on Women and Feel by SATE. War on Women is a strong feminist hardcore punk band whose songs attack sexism and institutionalized patriarchy. SATE is a beautiful black woman making punk music, she is a part of the Sistas Grrrl Riot movement. The movement was formed back in the 90s when black girls felt they didn’t fit into the Riot Grrrl movement because it was too white and wanted to have a space for punk women of color.  

By Sarah Byron

Hip-hop has long been a genre controlled by men. As we saw in Byron Hurt’s documentary Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes, hip-hop perpetuates this idea of what black and latino manhood looks like. To hip-hop, women are to be conquered and possessed. Hardly, if ever, are they seen as musical contributors to the genre. When discussing the rise of hip-hop in Seattle, Kyle Fleck describes in detail the many (male) rappers still in the game today. When he does mention a female rapper – Nicki Minaj – it’s in passing, stating that, “Nicki Minaj can reinterpret [Sir-Mix-A-Lot’s “Baby Got Back”] into one of the biggest rap singles of the past half-decade, with “Anaconda.”” It’s only when we look to LaBennet Oneka’s “Histories and ‘Her Stories’ from the Bronx: Excavating Hidden Hip Hop Narratives” do we finally see examples of successful female rappers in full. Oneka writes about Patty Duke, Lah Tere and La Bruja. These women have made names for themselves despite how androcentric hip-hop has become and remains to be. Oneka argues that, “Bronx women’s creation narratives, as they relate to hip-hop’s early incarnations, have remained largely hidden and their roles in developing hip-hop culture in the contemporary context have been marginalized.” I certainly agree; the contributions of women in hip-hop need to be recognized.

For those who have never heard of these women, here are samples of Lah Tere and La Bruja’s work. Lah Tere’s work resembles more of what we consider “typical” hip-hop but La Bruja’s work is a different flavor. Although her style is more spoken word, the beat and rhythm of her presentation is like that of hip-hop.

As the most popular genre today, hip hop has huge potential for promoting social change in the current culture. Female hip hop artists like Cardi B are vocal on social media platforms like Instagram and Twitter about women’s rights and feminism. Aisha Durham et al. acknowledge that, “It is hip-hop feminism that is uniquely able to move women from the sidelines of the stages we built, and from the cheering section of audiences that our public pedagogies have made space for, to claim an unapologetic place at the center as knowledge makers and culture creators” (734). Feminists in hip hop use their platform to empower women and other marginalized communities, flipping the popular narrative of hip hop as an exclusively heteronormative and misogynistic genre.

Women in hip hop often face criticism of their personalities and professional merit. For example, Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, and cupcakKe are often provocative in their performance styles and not taken as seriously in the hip hop community as their male counterparts, which encourages the hypersexualized slutty rapper narrative. In the Kanye West song, Monster, Nicki Minaj directly addressed this, rapping, “So let me get this straight, wait, I’m the rookie? / But my features and my shows ten times your pay? / 50K for a verse, no album out”.

Additionally, when these artists experiment musically, it is not accepted. Jennifer Lena describes this criticism, “Musicians often do not want to be confined by genre boundaries, but their freedom of expression is necessarily bounded by the expectations of the other performers, audience members, critics, and the diverse others whose work is necessary to making, distributing, and consuming symbolic goods” (7). Though Beyoncé raps on many of her (and other artists’) songs, it took years for the hip hop community to see her as more than a girl group R&B singer. Hip hop feminism is a platform with the power to change the world, especially via the fanbase, but takes longer to reach the general hip hop community because female artists are not taken seriously in their artistry.

Related Songs:
The songs below include contributions from underrepresented minorities within the rap community (transgender, female, hispanic) and how their identities and beliefs affect how they interact with society.

Wish You Would (feat. Princess Nokia) – Mykki Blanco

LGBT – cupcakKe

Brujas – Princess Nokia

Durham, Aisha, et al. “The Stage Hip-Hop Feminism Built: A New Directions Essay.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, vol. 38, no. 3, 2013, pp. 721–737., doi:10.1086/668843.

Lena, Jennifer. “Music Genres”. Banding Together: How Communities Create Genres in Popular Music, pp. 1–26.

It is difficult not to be biased in writing this because I intentionally chose an album that I love: Puberty 2 by Mitski. It is “indie” or “alternative” music, but is comprised of a variety of elements from other genres, especially punk, which separates her sound as distinctly, well, Mitski.

[DISCLAIMER]: I’m not sure I buy unto this whole “genre” thing. I appreciate their function in categorizing and talking about music, but there has been too much trouble caused by these useful categorization tools becoming over-glorified devices for gatekeeping music. As Jennifer Lena points out, “genres are numerous and boundary work is ongoing as they emerge, evolve, and disappear” (Lena, pp.7). Genres are loosely defined and change over time, and Lena suggests that debates over the criteria that make or break a genre, “serve not only to sort bands and songs into groups but also to identify those who are aware of current distinctions from those who are outsiders or hapless pretenders” (Lena, pp. 7). People need to loosen the boundaries of genre when critically discussing music, especially for an artist like Mitski, who borrows from many genre sources in writing her “indie” music. The racialized political economy continues to affect music categorization today. As a female Asian American artist, Mitski has been pushed out of the mainstream music narrative, lumped into this non-genre of indie rock that doesn’t get to break into the mainstream of popular music. Her position on the outside of the mainstream parallels that of Memphis Minnie, who was erased from the rock narrative early on. After watching her performance, Langston Hughes wrote, “But Memphis Minnie’s music is harder than the coins that roll across the counter” (Hughes, pp. 4), describing the power her music had to affect people on a deeper level than monetary. As sad as it is, that is the reality that many artists, Mitski included, face today as the mainstream and major labels continue to dictate which genres and who “makes it” in the business. [End disclaimer]

On Puberty 2, Mitski explores the fragile intensity of love and sex from a so often overlooked (especially in “indie” music) female perspective. In this exposé of female sexuality, Mitski is the active character, the one seeking and enjoying the sex rather than as an object of male enamorment. This album largely focuses on lyricism strewn with cutting and emotional imagery, which sits atop the platform provided by the instrumentation. Because of this, some of her songs, like “Once More to See You” and “I Bet On Losing Dogs”, are instrumentally simple for the majority of the song. But she still drags raw emotion from these songs, reminiscent of how blues artists used vocalization to draw the listener in to hear their (often lyrically repetitive) stories.

Her blend of musical styles is risky, but comes together in ways that keep the listener engaged, captivating their emotions through their ears. On “Once More to See You”, Mitski strips down the beats of the 60s groups that were derived from the clave to command the song’s bass and drum lines, layering background vocals and synthesizer to yearn for a lover once more. With scratching, frantic strumming, static buzzing, and vocals progressively moving toward spitting the words out viciously, “My Body’s Made of Crushed Little Stars” borrows from punk style. In addition, the lyrics express the artist’s perceived stagnance in her life as compared to her desires to see the world, utilizing work-life metaphors to scream about how she wishes she were dead: “I should tell them that I am not afraid to die… I work better under a deadline… I pick an age when I disappear”.

AND NOW! Your Best American Girl: The platform Mitski uses to discuss the tradeoffs she makes in her personal life as an Asian American woman, grappling with more than just unrequited love.

Mitski’s work doesn’t quite fit into the usual love and hate narrative that (white male) rock artists do. We live in a society that has been deeply affected by Rockism for decades, and Mitski exploit the stolen sounds of rock in her own critique of white male behavior on “Your Best American Girl”. In her punk style, Alice Bag transforms cancíon ranchera’s estilo bravío, which Habell-Pallán describes as, “the wild and rough vocal aesthetic in which women sing with aggressive, fearless, and bold expression, appropriating so-called masculine traits” (Habell-Pallán, pp. 250). Mitski uses similar transformations of estilo bravío throughout the album. Although “Your Best American Girl” starts as a slow, almost lullaby to an unrequited love, the songs builds up to the chorus in volume and instrumentation. Once she reaches the chorus, she employs these bold vocalizations in estilo bravío, singing, “Your mother wouldn’t approve of how my mother raised me / But I do, I think I do / And you’re an all American boy /  I guess I couldn’t help trying to be your best American girl”. In this chorus, amplified vocals and electric guitar screeching with feedback crash together in an emotional exclamation of the artist realizing that no matter how hard she tried, her heritage will never let her be that idealized version of an American girl that her love wants.

A large part of Alice Bag’s performance style is her stage presence, her “jerks, jumps, and twirls” and “frenzied dance” as she projects her raw energy to the crowd from the stage (Habell-Pallán, pp. 254). When I saw Mitski, she moved to convey the energy of each song. While her music and stage persona are not exaggerated to the extent of Alice’s, she carries that connection to the audience. When I saw the clip of a live performance of “Gluttony” in class, it reminded me of Mitski’s performance of “Drunk Walk Home” from her album prior to Puberty 2, Bury Me At Makeout Creek, as shown in this clip: https://youtu.be/0O0RboqC0So?t=116. I love how Mitski performs this song. On the studio recording, Mitski screams over the beats; it’s raw and full of emotion, just like Alice’s performances in estilo bravío. In the clip, she gives the audience space to unleash their own screams while she carries that raw energy in her turbulent movements across the stage. Mitski is not Your Best American Girl. She is so much more.

References

• Habell-Pallán, Michelle. “Death to Racism and Punk Rock Revisionism.” Pop: When the World Falls Apart: Music in the Shadow of a Doubt, 2012, pp. 247–270.
• Hughes, Langston. “Music At Year’s End.” Chicago Defender, 9 Jan. 1943.
• Lena, Jennifer. “Music Genres”. Banding Together: How Communities Create Genres in Popular Music, pp. 1–26.

Critical ModelS

• Hilarious Greta Van Fleet Review https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/greta-van-fleet-anthem-of-the-peaceful-army/
• Girlpool’s Harmony Tividad Reviews Fall Out Boy’s MANIA https://www.talkhouse.com/harmony-tividad-fall-boy/
• Ali Koehler Reviews Hinds’ I Don’t Run https://www.talkhouse.com/hinds-has-good-instincts

Sarah Byron

Lemonade is an album of emotional discord and marital meltdown, from arguably the world’s most influential celebrity. It’s also a major personal statement from one of the most respected and established artists in the pop game. All over these songs, Beyoncé rolls through heartbreak and betrayal and infidelity, but underneath the rage and devastation, there lies a subtle but important statement – one that attempts to rewrite the narrative of today’s popular music genres. Beyoncé utilizes her influential music to regain ownership of genres like rock and roll, country and pop; genres that have long belonged to the white majority even though these genres were created by black musicians. Lemonade reclaims ownership of rock and roll, country and pop, effectively rewriting the narrative of these popular genres and highlighting the history of love and theft that shaped music’s histography.

The first track on the album, “Pray You Catch Up”, is a melancholy piano-led lamentation on her suspicions about her husband. “Hold Up” follows, taking up a different beat. In this calypso song, which harkens to a Trinidadian style of music, Beyoncé insists that nobody can love her husband the way she does. However, in “Don’t Hurt Yourself”, Beyoncé takes a sharp left turn into rock and roll. In a vicious, rage-filled track, pushed forth by a frantic tempo, Beyoncé threatens to leave, or even get revenge on her husband in this stomping rock anthem (with even a hint of punk).

The album continues, following the rock beat through “6 inch”, but again takes a different direction in “Daddy Lessons”. “Daddy Lessons” is a country song, featuring a New Orleans jazz intro that quickly turns into a fast-paced country riff. Again, we see Beyoncé pull from an unexpected genre, but one that has been hotly contested as having roots in black American musicians.
In the songs that follow, from “Love Drought” through “All Night”, Beyoncé returns to a much more familiar genre to black Americans: gospel. These songs are grounded by solemn piano cords, soulful trumpet notes, and authoritative drum beats, but propelled by Beyoncé’s undeniable vocal range. The whole album depends upon Beyoncé’s raw talent, and she more than delivers. Her vocal talents are undeniably on display, but underlying that talent is a political and cultural awareness that drives the additional purpose of the album.

Beyoncé created this album to regain the ownership of music genres that have historically belonged to the white majority even though the roots of the genre stem from lesser-known black musicians (like rock and roll, country and pop). Beyoncé uses songs like “Daddy Lessons” and “Don’t Hurt Yourself” to take back rock and roll and country. In “The Write to Rock”, Daphne Brooks explains the concept of love and theft: how “white (musical) masters and the (always) black, (most often) men that they admire and desire…continue to hold center stage in the critical imaginaries of performance studies and rock music histories alike” (Brooks, 2008). These musical masters take songs, or elements of songs (and performances) from vulnerable, black musicians, effectively owning the music produced by these black musicians. At the same time, this theft eliminates any evidence of their talent and contribution to the genre. Maureen Mahon adds to this last point in “Rock”, explaining that black musicians “had a continuous presence in genres, making significant contributions while influencing white men [and] white women” (Burnim, 2015). Despite this influence, the contributions of these black musicians hardly ever received proper acknowledgment. This concept of love and theft permeates throughout music history. Beyoncé recognizes this – the music she chose to include in this album supports this notion.

Beyoncé’s incredible position provides the platform on which she makes her statement regarding love and theft. In “Listening for Willie Mae “Big Mama Thornton’s” Voice”, Maureen Mahon describes her frustration with the “marginal position black women occupy in mainstream histories of genres” (Mahon, 2011). Beyoncé recognizes that she holds an incredible amount of power in the music industry, power that seldom, if ever, is held by a woman, let alone a black woman. In light of the cultural and musical thieving that has occurred, and continues to occur even today, she uses her music to rewrite the narrative of rock and roll, country, and pop music. Her album is a statement, one that demands attention and consideration. Rock and roll, country and pop music did not come from the white majority – these genres originated from black musicians.
Lemonade may be a powerful story about marital betrayal and eventual reconciliation but rooted in the heart of this album is a dissection of cycles of violence against black musicians. Lemonade serves to remind us of the loving and thieving that shaped and shapes the music industry and aims to reclaim ownership of the genres that black musicians created and developed.

Citations
Brooks, Daphne A. “The Write to Rock: Racial Mythologies, Feminist Theory, and the Pleasures of Rock Music Criticism.” Women and Music: A Journal of Gender and Culture, vol. 12, no. 1, 2008, p. 55.
Burnim, Mellonee V., and Portia K. Maultsby. African American Music: an Introduction. NY, 2015.
Mahon, Maureen. “Listening for Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton’s Voice: The Sound of Race and Gender Transgressions in Rock and Roll.” Women and Music: A Journal of Gender and Culture, vol. 15, 2011, pp. 1.

• https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/how-beyonce-and-jay-z-defy-western-art-tradition-in-apeshit-video-665915/
• https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/21867-lemonade/