From Beyonce’s feverish album that had us all sippin on our tea, in fact lemonade, about the relationship between the R&B Diva and her hubby, Jay-Z, but also her relevations as an African-American woman and heeding pride within her roots. To the inspiring lead of Solange Knowles new album “A Seat at the Table."The two artists have taken over the billboard charts witth their new hit records. As an African-American woman, I couldn’t be more proud to see my sisters use their positions of power to speak about such a significant topic that all peoples should embrace their differences but especially persons of color. So here are some ways Solange and Beyonce have taught us how to slay everyday like it’s our last and embrace our Afro-centric roots.
- “OK, ladies, now let’s get in formation!”
The first single to drop from Beyonce’s sizzlin new album lemonade, was Formation and despite some of the obvious pro-black verses the R&B diva drops like integrating words like “bamma” “hot sauce in her bag” etc. that express her Afro-centric roots. The overall song was an empowering message to African-American women expressing how we should “get in formation,” eluding to how we need to go achieve our goals and successes so we can “be that black Bill Gates in the making.”
2. “Interlude: Tina Taught Me”
This interlude on the album expresses how as African-American person that loves the skin we are in which may be percieved as anti-white is not the case at all; we are merely just heeding pride in who we are as Black people. And the coolest part of this segment is Tina is referring to Tina Knowles, the Knowles sister's mother.
3. “Don’t touch my hair”
Solange expresses precisely how it feels as a African-American, particularly women, in which that are asked to touch our beautiful kinky curls, or afro’s, braid, etc.or merely just having our hair touched like an exotic creature at a zoo. Her verbage conveying how our black history is what connects us to something that may be overlooked to a person of different ethnicity is truly wonderful and inspiring that she could feel free enough to express such a cultural clash.
4. “Freedom”
Beyonce’s song Freedom on her album Lemonade portrays how Beyonce perceives herself as a force encouraging other women to break free of anything holding them back from flourishing within society as a black woman. Also, the song alludes to the chains being broken for African-American people as we find a solution to the problems occurring in today’s society.
5. “F.U.B.U” 
Solange’s song FUBU, portrays the meaning of the abbreviation, being “for us by us," expressing how this song is by us black people and for us black people.
Overall it’s very enlightening to witness such talented sisters express their true feelings toward some of the problems people of color face today even if that’s merely within gaining confidence within our broken sense of identity. I recommend anyone who hasn’t listened to these albums to do so immediately because they are truly confidence boosting regardless of what race or ethnicity one may be.
