Beychella Did It All for the Culture

Tbh, we’ve never really paid any attention to Coachella — it just never seemed to be for … us. But Saturday night/early Sunday morning (April 14/15, depending on your time zone), Coachella got some culture.

Making history as the first Black woman ever to headline this annual Cali concert marathon, Beyoncé blessed the fest with two hours of utterly unapologetic, undiluted Blackness. Here are five moments she repped her set the hardest.

 

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1) She brought that HBCU homecoming fire.
Led by an all-female drumline, followed by a dance squad decked out in leotards emblazoned with King Tut’s likeness, Beyoncé was revealed wearing a black cape with Nefertiti’s bust on its back, plus her own Nefertiti crown. It was announced that this was “Beyoncé Homecoming 2018”, and there was no doubt she was letting everybody know that her set time was game time. Her first full song, “Crazy In Love”, set the tone for what was to follow — performances amid a backdrop of stands featuring an HBCU-inspired marching band playing and swaying to the beat.

2) She held it down with back-to-back freedom songs.
Just in case anybody had any doubts after that intro, Bey came through with an even more thorough message to the culture — she was doing this for us. From the stands, she sang “Freedom” and “Formation” off of Lemonade, along with “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” The Black National Anthem, y’all! At Coachella! Just like we do before the beginning of every step show competition, singing that song kicked off what was yet to come. And in return, we most definitely let our rejoicing rise high as the list’ning skies and all over social media.

3) She rocked Yoncé University’s crest.
(At least that’s what we’re calling her HBCU.) As with any (Blue) Ivy League school, YU also has a crest design — outfitted with four (obviously) elements: Nefertiti, a black panther, a Black Power fist, and a bumble bee. She, along with her band and dancers wore ‘fits adorned with the crest. Bey even had her own Greek letters (BΔK) and a line of pledges.

 

4) Her game day was interspersed with half-time step shows.
In between the myriad of costume changes — four, to be exact — Bey’s male and female dance squads brought their stepping skills to the stage. Our fave mid-show step moment was during “We Like to Party.” (There was also stepping during the main performance, too.)

5) She put Black love on top.
And all kinds of it, from romantic love to sisterhood, both biological and otherwise. We all expected Jay to roll through at some point, and he did during “Deja Vu.” There was also a mini dance party with Solange during “Get Me Bodied.” The best surprise of the night, though, has to go to the DC3 reunion, which brought back hits like “Lose My Breath”, “Say My Name”, and “Soldier”.

Beychella was so official. And so Black. We’re gonna need Bey to gon’ ‘head and put that two hours of amazing for sale on her site ’cause we’ve got to own that bombness. Access to replays whenever necessary is a must.

 

sesimag

Quarterly print teen magazine for Black girls ages 13 to 19. Covering The Black Girl's Mainstream™