Pan African's Love Remember the Time... But not Black is King!

Over 40+ designers from Africa were involved in creating her looks for the film and their lives were changed dramatically as their demand increased overnight.

Financial Figures are hard to accurately source.

However Beyoncé created a stunningly seminal artwork and shifted the world view towards Africa's already thriving Afrobeats genre with her Love Letter to AFRICA project, single-handedly declaring the doors 'officially' open to the domination of the charts.

Her mission was obvious to me and I loved the many Easter eggs laid out for us all to find as she was showing the world, LOOK!! I AM A PAN AFRICAN! I AM PROUD OF MY ROOTS! LET'S KNOW OURSELVES and VALUE THE ROOTS of OURSELVES. Know THYSELF - as spoken by the multi-hyphen ancient Egyptian Imhotep.

But not just music and fashion alone were key to the execution of her plan; film too. The visuals of the movie were created in a multi-directed collaborative way that showcased the incredibly gifted, phenomenal creators coming directly from the continent of Africa itself.

This project was a true demonstration of Pan-Africanism as African Americans and various countries within Africa came together to curate a masterpiece devoted to the great story of The Lion King told through Beyoncé's eyes. Just go through the full list of the cast and crew and understand the magnitude of this year-long production.

We saw 4 official releases from the album. Brown Skin Girl featuring Wizkid and Blue Ivy, then a little apple in her mother's eye. Bigger, Spirit and King Already. The visual album was released exclusively on Disney and streamed on its release night. All iconic moves and groundbreaking achievements in themselves.

The story, written by Yrsa Daley-Ward alongside Beyoncé, is about the main character Folajomi Akinmurele, who is exiled from his kingdom after the death of his father. He is then guided back to a place of strength through the guidance of his ancestors to return to his rightful position on the throne, led by love and internal memory as his rich heritage is celebrated and pronounced all around him. The visuals within each song are a beautifully balanced mix of all the diverse cultures that make up our Pan-African petri dish. From ancient, esoteric, spiritual, extravagant and humble to surreal... the collages of each song work much like DNA memory. A reminder of the deepest roots reaching far down to the oldest people still living today found in Namibia, and sprouting with flames under the feet of the siren and Mami Wata hips of Beyoncé herself. In many ways she herself is King.

Creating a large-scale movie is about creating a whole ecosystem. So many people will be employed to play vital roles and, at the Virgo Pisces level that Beyoncé would be looking for to execute her vision, only the best of the best were hired to get the job done. Names like Blitz Bazawule, Adut Akech, Asake, Yemi Alade, Kendrick Lamar, Nija and Tiwa Savage were the calibre of those who got involved with this film. Movies are made to emotionally shift. To propagate and influence and to impregnate ideas into the world. Hollywood's first idea it laid before us all was Birth of a Nation. Black Is King (already a powerful poetic message in its title) was the antithesis of the racist ideas of that stab into oneness consciousness as it delivered not only in its storytelling but also in the achievements made by being a majority African cast and crew, for a movie all about Africa and demonstrative of the ways in which art can create a vision for people to see the infinite possibilities.

Michael Joseph Jackson did something similar with Remember the Time. A huge-budget mini movie for his release of the song from his Dangerous album, showing predominantly Black Egyptians and correcting the false images that films such as Cleopatra and others showed of mainly white Egyptians in ancient times. This was groundbreaking and he had director John Singleton (Boyz n the Hood) direct the game changer and a very young 22-year-old Fatima Robinson choreograph the iconic dance routine.

Another moment like this was Coming to America. Eddie Murphy was dedicating himself to cleaning up the mess that Hollywood's stereotypical movies were relentlessly showing about Africa and Africans, as well as African Americans themselves. Coming to America gave the world a chance to see the greatness of Africa in a comedy cast that gave the nuances of all the Black shades.

All these things are what I believe would have instilled pride in a younger Beyoncé as she built her connection with the Motherland over the years. I know for sure that they 100% influenced me to better love myself and have an interest in exploring more about my roots rather than being ashamed of them as Western propaganda had led me to do.

Beyoncé was also co-producer of a Fela Kuti theatre musical I saw twice when it got to Sadler's Wells. The story goes that Questlove had written the musical and sent it to her and Jay-Z, who ended up producing it alongside others after Beyoncé was moved to tears upon reading it. EPIC... but I also say that to insert some understanding of Beyoncé's deep love of Africa and why she would have been pulled to commit to such a huge undertaking with a project like Black Is King. That was in 2011 - the play originally broke records on Broadway when it came out in 2008... Beyoncé released Black Is King in 2020...

As a commercial artist, I have no doubt that every frustration possible would have been fired at her from the label executives as, for them, the message of African empowerment is less than a priority. The gatekeepers have been so set on leaving the continent in the dark despite the natural aura that emanates from it, as it's impossible to contain a supernova star forever.

Beyoncé was strategic in her choices. The Lion King in 2019 was a great way to smoothly transition into this visual album. Something B has mastered since the drop of her epic celebration of Black women and Blackness via the Kahlil Joseph-directed Lemonade in 2016.

So when this was about to land, we all were shook. Weak... fainting like MJ fans. I was soooo happy. Much like the feelings that Ryan Coogler gave me when Black Panther came out depicting a possible non-colonised, untouched African country allowed to fully develop using its precious minerals to work in cohesion with nature for and by the people. That same joy danced through my soul as I watched a meteor, or more like an explosive travelling star, penetrate the earth's surface and reveal Beyoncé on the white sands of somewhere, nowhere and everywhere at once, magically and spiritually inviting us to cosmically find our ways back home as the Dogon masks guide us all on a journey we live through a young boy's innocent eyes.

Black Is King was beautiful... I know one day the world will unearth it from the archives and admire this ode to the interstellar divine feminine and her nurturing of the precious jewel of the world which is Africa, from which all things are derived.

Beyoncé created a time shift and some of the world was not ready to accept its inevitable force. But it had been done and, in July of 2020, Beyoncé journeyed to and arrived home.

Peace by Stella Bee 💓