WEBVTT - Ep. 24 — Let's get in Formation. 0:00:16.520 --> 0:00:18.880 I like my baby hair, with baby. 0:00:18.560 --> 0:00:23.919 Hair, with happens, I like whe Negro with something something, 0:00:24.079 --> 0:00:24.919 Jackson's Fast. 0:00:27.120 --> 0:00:27.280 Ah. 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:30.880 Yes, I've been waiting. I have literally literally been waiting 0:00:31.000 --> 0:00:33.280 all day long to sing that out loud. There's no 0:00:33.320 --> 0:00:35.600 one I can talk to you about this momentous moment 0:00:35.720 --> 0:00:37.880 at work. It's highly frustrating. 0:00:39.120 --> 0:00:41.680 Meanwhile, I'm like on the phone with like my coo 0:00:41.840 --> 0:00:43.920 of the Budgetista and we are like going in like 0:00:44.400 --> 0:00:47.720 yes queens flash, Oh my god. 0:00:47.760 --> 0:00:51.160 So the entire world changed this weekend for an ambition family. 0:00:51.240 --> 0:00:54.840 If you were under a rock or someone knocked you out, 0:00:55.280 --> 0:00:58.240 or you're in a different country something, listen, it's a 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:02.480 whole new world. It is twenty sixteen, Part two point zero. 0:01:02.720 --> 0:01:05.520 Beyonce has changed lives. She's come out with her She 0:01:05.560 --> 0:01:08.120 came out with her news signal a single on Saturday 0:01:08.160 --> 0:01:12.240 called Formation, not just the single, but the video, the VideA. 0:01:13.040 --> 0:01:15.120 And it was at like four pm, right on Saturday, 0:01:15.160 --> 0:01:17.160 four pm Eastern Standard time to be exact. 0:01:17.360 --> 0:01:19.720 Yes, it was about four pm. I was just mine 0:01:19.760 --> 0:01:22.440 in my own business and then someone just snatched my 0:01:22.480 --> 0:01:24.160 hair off my head and I was like, what was that? 0:01:24.200 --> 0:01:27.960 It was Beyonce dropping a new video. This video, I've 0:01:28.120 --> 0:01:31.120 probably watched it and maybe a dozen times, which is 0:01:31.160 --> 0:01:33.560 probably being conservative. I've watched it because there's just so 0:01:33.640 --> 0:01:34.400 much to pick apart. 0:01:34.480 --> 0:01:35.319 There is so much. 0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:39.280 Maybe it's just because I studied literature in college and 0:01:39.319 --> 0:01:41.319 I was like super nerdy and we would just spend 0:01:42.000 --> 0:01:45.160 an entire month talking about one video. But like, there's 0:01:45.200 --> 0:01:47.520 so many little elements, and there's so many little like 0:01:48.600 --> 0:01:52.120 treasures and Easter eggs in this video, and I've personally 0:01:52.240 --> 0:01:54.760 enjoyed watching the media try to make sense of it. 0:01:54.880 --> 0:01:57.440 Yes, of first of all, you said easter eggs, which 0:01:57.480 --> 0:01:59.680 is freaking hilarou. Did we even introduce ourselves? Do we 0:01:59.840 --> 0:02:01.600 do we ever introduce ourselves anymore? 0:02:01.640 --> 0:02:03.920 I mean they know already this is this Mandy. I 0:02:04.000 --> 0:02:06.080 talked like this. 0:02:06.080 --> 0:02:07.520 This is Ciffany. I talk like this. 0:02:09.560 --> 0:02:11.760 I love it. You know what, like people are like 0:02:11.840 --> 0:02:14.960 red lobster, but like red lobster. What is this about 0:02:15.000 --> 0:02:17.280 the food industry? What is she talking about? But then 0:02:17.320 --> 0:02:21.200 it's like hot sauce, Hot sauce, What illuminati. 0:02:20.800 --> 0:02:22.800 About those white people that we put hot sauce at 0:02:22.800 --> 0:02:23.360 our person? 0:02:23.560 --> 0:02:26.000 She's sitting on top of a cop car, but the 0:02:26.040 --> 0:02:28.280 cop car is drowning, but then she's on top of 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:32.040 the cop car. But then she's wearing like Victorian Night, 0:02:32.120 --> 0:02:36.000 like eighteen hundreds ensemble, and then Blue Ivy has backup 0:02:36.120 --> 0:02:38.160 dancers like what is But. 0:02:39.560 --> 0:02:40.840 There was so much to digest. 0:02:41.080 --> 0:02:43.120 And then she was slaying all that boobies in the 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:46.440 hallway and she was like kick kick, shuffle kick, And 0:02:46.480 --> 0:02:48.560 then it was all the black women in the pool 0:02:48.680 --> 0:02:50.360 when they know they said that we can't swim, but 0:02:50.440 --> 0:02:51.080 we can't swim. 0:02:51.120 --> 0:02:53.080 It just was It was a lot. 0:02:53.520 --> 0:02:55.560 I thought there were so many elements, but before we 0:02:55.919 --> 0:02:57.640 and not to mention. So this is the day before 0:02:57.680 --> 0:02:59.720 the Super Bowl, so we already were excited for her 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:02.680 to show up. But Beyonce's like, no, this is Chris 0:03:02.720 --> 0:03:05.520 Martin cold plays playing. But then let me just destroy 0:03:05.560 --> 0:03:08.080 the internet before the superal even happens. Yes, so she 0:03:08.160 --> 0:03:09.920 drops the video and then we get to see her 0:03:09.919 --> 0:03:13.320 perform it live on yesterday's I mean some football game, 0:03:14.000 --> 0:03:14.280 you know. 0:03:14.280 --> 0:03:17.359 And I heard the football regalia, no less. 0:03:17.240 --> 0:03:19.840 The Black Panther regalia. The fact that it was so 0:03:20.000 --> 0:03:23.040 close to the start of the Black Panther movement, just 0:03:23.080 --> 0:03:26.440 like so many different elements, we must unpack all of 0:03:26.440 --> 0:03:31.079 this Beyonce slayage. But first I wanted to bring we want. 0:03:31.120 --> 0:03:33.160 We wanted to bring a special guest on this week's 0:03:33.200 --> 0:03:36.480 episode because, as you can hear, I'm a little bit biased. 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:40.960 I've loved Beyonce since Destiny's child. Tiffany loves Beyonce too. 0:03:41.720 --> 0:03:44.680 I feel like every group of friends, though maybe has 0:03:44.720 --> 0:03:47.840 the one friend who just like hates Beyonce and just 0:03:47.840 --> 0:03:49.640 like loves to talk trash about Beyonce. 0:03:49.800 --> 0:03:51.840 Yeah, and if you were part of the agency, we know. 0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:55.440 I just want you to know that please behive, don't 0:03:55.440 --> 0:03:58.440 sting me. I I you know, I understand the Queen. 0:03:58.480 --> 0:04:01.600 I respect the Queen. She's clean, not like my favorite 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:04.440 all times. But I just want you to know that 0:04:04.720 --> 0:04:08.520 the opinions that will be discussed here, unless it comes 0:04:08.520 --> 0:04:12.160 directly from Tiffany, I want it to be happy. 0:04:12.200 --> 0:04:13.040 I love to sing. 0:04:13.320 --> 0:04:15.280 Well a special guest today. I'm pretty sure she's on 0:04:15.320 --> 0:04:19.680 the most wanted list for the Agency. Oh god, this 0:04:19.839 --> 0:04:24.400 is my really good friend, Jessica O'Neill. Jessica, you trying 0:04:24.440 --> 0:04:29.160 to get her killed out here in the know. Brought 0:04:29.200 --> 0:04:30.280 to you by Mandy Woodruff. 0:04:30.320 --> 0:04:30.680 There you go. 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:33.000 So I have to have Jess on, because Jess is 0:04:33.040 --> 0:04:37.120 the one who every time Beyonce does something, drops an album, 0:04:37.200 --> 0:04:39.719 drops a single, new videos start. I don't know, just 0:04:39.760 --> 0:04:41.760 Beyonce's in the news, you can count on Jess to 0:04:41.800 --> 0:04:43.800 be the one to be like it ain't that great, 0:04:45.080 --> 0:04:47.960 which I love, splash hate like I was texting so anyway, 0:04:48.040 --> 0:04:49.520 but I want to welcome Jess to the show. First 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:53.919 and foremost, Jessica, take a bow, Hello, Hello world. I 0:04:54.000 --> 0:04:58.240 might have to go find the the the audio booing track, 0:04:59.120 --> 0:05:00.080 no man. 0:05:00.320 --> 0:05:02.560 No man, no ma'am, no ham, no turkey. 0:05:02.880 --> 0:05:04.840 But I want to have Jessica on because not only 0:05:04.880 --> 0:05:07.359 I mean, you obviously are entitled to your opinion just 0:05:07.440 --> 0:05:09.520 being America, but I thought you have some interesting things 0:05:09.560 --> 0:05:12.120 to say about Beyonce and the video itself, and I 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:14.080 wanted just to kind of a conversation about it because 0:05:14.080 --> 0:05:17.000 there is so much in this the New Orleans element, 0:05:17.160 --> 0:05:20.160 the black girl power. I mean, the fact that she's 0:05:20.200 --> 0:05:23.680 talking about having no shame about where she comes from, 0:05:24.120 --> 0:05:27.640 who she is, you know, who her daughter is. It's 0:05:27.640 --> 0:05:32.599 an empowering video. And Jess, yes, you want to explain 0:05:32.600 --> 0:05:34.120 why your soul is so black and dark? 0:05:35.000 --> 0:05:37.880 Yes, well it's not that it's black and dark. I 0:05:38.960 --> 0:05:39.320 don't know. 0:05:39.360 --> 0:05:42.200 I just feel like, especially at this interday age, she 0:05:42.400 --> 0:05:46.320 just gets so much press and so much media attention 0:05:46.880 --> 0:05:49.760 that it is just kind of polarizing. So whenever she 0:05:49.880 --> 0:05:52.680 does anything and it could be so par it is 0:05:52.920 --> 0:05:57.080 just like an explosion. And it drives me bonkers because 0:05:57.080 --> 0:05:59.680 there's these people like you who are just in love 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:02.680 with her and think she's a unicorn, and it's just 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:05.960 all over my timeline on Facebook. I can't get away 0:06:06.040 --> 0:06:08.080 from it. So since I can't get away from it, 0:06:08.080 --> 0:06:10.400 I always feel a need to comment or just say like, 0:06:10.480 --> 0:06:12.640 y'all chill out or something, but they just can't do 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:14.680 it because the B agency is strong. 0:06:15.040 --> 0:06:18.200 Yes, just tell me what was your first impression of 0:06:18.240 --> 0:06:19.960 the video and did you even try to be a 0:06:20.000 --> 0:06:21.200 little bit objective with it? 0:06:21.920 --> 0:06:24.640 You know, this is one thing I think particular of 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:27.000 the years as I became a good adult here, I 0:06:27.120 --> 0:06:30.400 try to try to take in Beyonce and with a 0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:33.120 clear mind, you know, full heart all that Jazz and 0:06:33.760 --> 0:06:37.360 I did watch this video and I was pretty open 0:06:37.400 --> 0:06:42.520 to it because I do appreciate her. Now finally acknowledging 0:06:42.880 --> 0:06:45.240 that we are kind of having a bit of a 0:06:45.279 --> 0:06:49.040 black movement here, and there's a bit and it is 0:06:49.120 --> 0:06:52.720 it's kind of you know, it's it's everywhere, and it's 0:06:53.080 --> 0:06:57.080 very strong, and a lot of her people, particularly her fans, 0:06:57.160 --> 0:06:58.360 really do want to hear from her. 0:06:58.400 --> 0:07:01.080 She hasn't had interviews right in the last couple of 0:07:01.200 --> 0:07:02.960 years and doesn't any interviews. 0:07:03.040 --> 0:07:05.200 Yeah, and they don't listen to her. 0:07:05.279 --> 0:07:07.160 So I was actually kind of a little proud to 0:07:07.200 --> 0:07:09.520 kind of see that she did a video and have 0:07:09.600 --> 0:07:12.600 little themes in it and stuff. But I was looking 0:07:12.600 --> 0:07:15.000 through Yeah, I mean, I don't know, Like I said, 0:07:15.040 --> 0:07:19.080 it's then I started watching it, but I don't sorry, 0:07:19.280 --> 0:07:22.840 I was looking at this video and then I started 0:07:23.400 --> 0:07:25.720 using my whole brain, which sometimes I feel like people 0:07:25.720 --> 0:07:26.080 don't do it. 0:07:26.080 --> 0:07:27.480 Beyonce, Now that's me painting. 0:07:27.880 --> 0:07:31.560 But and then I was listening to the lyrics and 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:33.720 I was like, hold on, I have a feeling here 0:07:33.760 --> 0:07:35.800 because I just kept hearing I Slay, I slay. 0:07:36.200 --> 0:07:37.920 And then I was like, Okay, now I don't know 0:07:37.920 --> 0:07:42.920 if I like this, and I don't know. Then I 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:45.400 read the lyrics and she actually just kind of lost 0:07:45.440 --> 0:07:48.200 me after that, unfortunately, because. 0:07:48.200 --> 0:07:50.280 I'm sorry, I'm having a really hard time not introducting. 0:07:50.280 --> 0:07:54.080 I'm trying to be respectful. Continue it's so hard. I'm 0:07:54.320 --> 0:07:54.960 bouncing up. 0:07:55.840 --> 0:07:57.800 I feel it. 0:07:58.200 --> 0:08:01.160 And then I mean, so you took as she with 0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:04.160 the the Michael Jackson line. Was it the Jackson nose? 0:08:04.960 --> 0:08:06.840 You know, the Jackson nose didn't bother me. 0:08:06.960 --> 0:08:10.760 What is bothering me is how just silly the song 0:08:10.880 --> 0:08:12.720 kind of was in terms of the lyrics. I mean, 0:08:12.720 --> 0:08:14.480 when I was looking at it, I guess it had 0:08:14.520 --> 0:08:18.840 some very lovely empowerment lines here and there talking. I mean, 0:08:19.640 --> 0:08:23.200 I can tell she really was trying to exuberate this 0:08:23.280 --> 0:08:27.360 blackness about her, like you know, my daddy Alabama, Mama Louisiana, 0:08:27.400 --> 0:08:30.600 that whole line. And then you know, she talked about 0:08:30.640 --> 0:08:33.280 my negro nose with the nostrils, and she's sensitive about 0:08:33.280 --> 0:08:36.000 her baby's hair because everybody just feels some kind of 0:08:36.000 --> 0:08:37.480 way about blue looking like jay Z. 0:08:37.679 --> 0:08:39.120 So it you know, I. 0:08:39.360 --> 0:08:42.280 Felt all those things. But then I just the lyrics 0:08:42.320 --> 0:08:45.080 got me there. But when you read the other lyrics, 0:08:45.080 --> 0:08:49.040 it's just very It's like what rappers do every other week. 0:08:49.120 --> 0:08:52.839 To me. I just she talks about writers. Go ahead, Okay, 0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:53.559 I guess. 0:08:53.400 --> 0:08:56.439 I feel like I mean, well, one I think that, 0:08:56.800 --> 0:08:59.440 you know, no one thinks that Beyonce is the next 0:08:59.440 --> 0:09:00.880 coming of Tupac. 0:09:01.040 --> 0:09:02.520 You know, she's not Noads. 0:09:02.720 --> 0:09:05.560 So we're not looking for Beyonce, like, you know, to 0:09:05.679 --> 0:09:08.760 come out here and like lyrically destroy our lives. And 0:09:08.800 --> 0:09:12.000 I think sometimes too, I think that I think that 0:09:12.040 --> 0:09:17.120 the song was purposefully simplistic in that, you know, like 0:09:17.200 --> 0:09:20.200 this is a new, you know, frontier kind of for 0:09:20.280 --> 0:09:22.480 Beyonce being like so very. 0:09:22.400 --> 0:09:24.559 Very black, like blackly black black black. 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:27.120 Like you know, and so that and then too, you 0:09:27.120 --> 0:09:29.880 know it always like, I don't know, I never understand 0:09:29.880 --> 0:09:32.680 why women get mad at Beyonce when she says she slays, 0:09:33.000 --> 0:09:35.040 because I'm like, well, god damn it, she does. 0:09:35.360 --> 0:09:38.480 And guess what, so do I like she's saying so much. 0:09:38.480 --> 0:09:41.120 She tells you in the song that's that's what's getting 0:09:41.160 --> 0:09:42.439 to be, but go ahead, that's just so. 0:09:42.480 --> 0:09:44.480 Crazy, like honestly, So okay, I'll give you an example. 0:09:44.840 --> 0:09:47.760 So I had written this book, like my first book, 0:09:47.800 --> 0:09:50.280 the One Week Budget, and in it, I make a 0:09:50.400 --> 0:09:53.840 joke saying something like, hey, like I don't know. I 0:09:53.840 --> 0:09:55.280 wrote it when I was like twenty something, so I 0:09:55.280 --> 0:09:57.160 thought it was cute and I was just like you 0:09:57.160 --> 0:10:01.080 know something about like welcome to the book and maybe 0:10:01.080 --> 0:10:03.920 you're here because I'm gorgeous. Sight that's unrelated or something 0:10:03.960 --> 0:10:06.960 I said, and a woman went in on me basically said, 0:10:07.000 --> 0:10:09.760 how dare you call yourself gorgeous? And I thought, how 0:10:09.840 --> 0:10:11.520 dare you not call yourself gorgeous? 0:10:11.840 --> 0:10:12.200 Sheh? 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:15.480 Like it's hard enough being a sister, and like, you know, 0:10:15.640 --> 0:10:16.400 feeling some kind of. 0:10:16.400 --> 0:10:17.079 Way about yourself. 0:10:17.080 --> 0:10:18.640 I don't know why. I feel like, why do women 0:10:18.679 --> 0:10:23.000 get so mad when women say, like, yo, I'm pretty amazing, 0:10:23.280 --> 0:10:26.080 like and say it because so the world tells you 0:10:26.120 --> 0:10:27.679 over and over that you just are not. 0:10:27.800 --> 0:10:28.640 I don't know. That's one point. 0:10:28.679 --> 0:10:32.600 I don't mind when women, well anybody honestly, but especially 0:10:32.640 --> 0:10:34.720 women of color kind of like throw it in your 0:10:34.720 --> 0:10:39.280 face and say no, I am freakingthebomb dot com. And 0:10:39.320 --> 0:10:43.440 you will acknowledge because the world literally tells us otherwise always. 0:10:43.559 --> 0:10:46.320 You are ugly, You are not smart, you are not desirable, 0:10:46.760 --> 0:10:49.280 you are you know, well, your looks weird. 0:10:49.480 --> 0:10:52.920 You know something that Tiffany Alich and Beyonce Knowles have 0:10:52.960 --> 0:10:54.720 in common, which is when they say it's say they 0:10:54.720 --> 0:10:57.800 ain't lying? Where is the lie? 0:10:58.400 --> 0:10:59.000 Look at her? 0:10:59.280 --> 0:10:59.480 No? 0:11:00.960 --> 0:11:03.920 And I just feel like, I'm so glad that Beyonce 0:11:04.000 --> 0:11:06.480 because honestly, like you know, I expect this kind of 0:11:06.559 --> 0:11:08.920 like behavior from like a Salange, because you know, Solan, 0:11:09.120 --> 0:11:10.319 just like what what was that? 0:11:10.559 --> 0:11:11.800 You don't want to see these hands? 0:11:13.280 --> 0:11:16.360 And Beyonce, like from my previous interviews when she used 0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:18.280 to interview a lot, it was very clear that she 0:11:18.400 --> 0:11:23.840 was self conscious and very afraid to acknowledge that she 0:11:23.920 --> 0:11:26.080 thought that she was good. Like that's what I see 0:11:26.080 --> 0:11:28.800 from her early interviews, and finally she's breaking free of 0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:32.160 that and saying, no, what I work really hard, you know, 0:11:32.360 --> 0:11:34.280 like when someone says something to me, I'm like, man, 0:11:34.320 --> 0:11:37.120 I don't think I slay because I just do. 0:11:37.840 --> 0:11:40.200 I think it's definitely a great point. I mean, as 0:11:40.280 --> 0:11:42.679 black women, yes, we do have a lot of oppression. 0:11:42.720 --> 0:11:46.160 We do not have wonderful images of us everywhere. I mean, 0:11:46.320 --> 0:11:49.360 even with saying this about Beyonce, I do feel bad 0:11:49.360 --> 0:11:51.240 because we don't have a lot of black role models. 0:11:51.240 --> 0:11:53.480 So I think it's great she has this self confidence 0:11:53.480 --> 0:11:55.960 and she puts it in these songs. This song, but 0:11:56.000 --> 0:11:58.319 she puts it in all her songs. That's what's getting 0:11:58.360 --> 0:12:01.120 me tired, And I don't know, I think it's also 0:12:03.520 --> 0:12:07.200 exactly and then it's also in terms of her personality. 0:12:07.320 --> 0:12:11.000 I feel like this part of that insecurity. Look, maybe 0:12:11.000 --> 0:12:14.120 i'll call it as somebody who was Greek, we had 0:12:14.160 --> 0:12:16.360 to walk, you know, a certain way. As Aks, we 0:12:16.760 --> 0:12:18.720 don't actually have to tell you that we're great. We 0:12:18.800 --> 0:12:20.880 are great, and so I don't know, maybe that's also 0:12:21.000 --> 0:12:23.719 sometimes my mentality with things like this. I don't need 0:12:23.760 --> 0:12:26.800 to always just always say how awesome I am, because 0:12:26.800 --> 0:12:28.560 I'm going to show you in my work. I'm going 0:12:28.640 --> 0:12:30.680 to show you in who I am. And if you 0:12:30.679 --> 0:12:32.760 don't believe that, then I really don't care, you know. 0:12:32.840 --> 0:12:35.440 And so I guess when I hear all this, like 0:12:35.880 --> 0:12:38.040 you know, pumping up my ego and stuff, I just 0:12:38.480 --> 0:12:41.320 I just like, yeah, I think it's great. But I 0:12:41.320 --> 0:12:45.199 also think it's also like it shows out her insecurity 0:12:45.200 --> 0:12:47.959 as well, and she does that so much. I just 0:12:48.040 --> 0:12:50.120 kind of wish you would find something else to talk about. 0:12:50.280 --> 0:12:51.719 But then again, I don't know if she can't talk 0:12:51.720 --> 0:12:52.719 about much Cholks, so. 0:12:53.559 --> 0:12:55.679 That I gotta jump in because I feel like the 0:12:56.320 --> 0:12:59.120 key thing for me with this video is that for 0:12:59.320 --> 0:13:01.280 and you know, beyond, it's not the first time she's 0:13:01.320 --> 0:13:03.840 done a video that makes you think. But like this video. 0:13:04.320 --> 0:13:07.920 For anyone who ever said Beyonce was not woke, did 0:13:07.960 --> 0:13:10.199 not know what's happening in the world, doesn't have anything 0:13:10.240 --> 0:13:12.480 to say. All you have to do is watch this video. 0:13:12.600 --> 0:13:14.600 The images she puts in there. What I like about 0:13:14.600 --> 0:13:16.280 it is, no, she's not sitting there and writing a 0:13:16.320 --> 0:13:20.120 thesis on the Black Lives Matter movement, or women in slavery, 0:13:20.400 --> 0:13:23.920 or you know, hairstyles and the African American culture. She's 0:13:24.000 --> 0:13:26.160 putting all these images out there and leaving in an 0:13:26.240 --> 0:13:29.160 artistic way which leaves it open to the interpretation of 0:13:29.160 --> 0:13:32.040 the viewer, which I think is what art should be. 0:13:32.280 --> 0:13:34.880 She's saying, yes, I see these things. I'm aware of 0:13:34.960 --> 0:13:39.320 all this, and I am interpreting it through my artistic lens, 0:13:39.400 --> 0:13:41.760 and I'm leaving something to be said by you guys. 0:13:41.800 --> 0:13:44.440 You guys still in the gaps, you project your own 0:13:44.480 --> 0:13:46.920 ideas onto this. That's what art should be. The fact 0:13:46.920 --> 0:13:49.319 that we're all sort of talking about, oh, the cop 0:13:49.360 --> 0:13:51.840 car is being drowned in the ninth ward, you know, 0:13:51.960 --> 0:13:54.320 is this a statement about Katrina's it about the cops? 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:54.640 You know? 0:13:54.679 --> 0:13:56.560 But she's being drawn on top of it too. There's 0:13:56.920 --> 0:14:00.199 all this imagery that I think is so powerful, and 0:14:00.559 --> 0:14:03.440 the fact that this is a video and a song. 0:14:03.480 --> 0:14:05.440 I feel like you could maybe not the song itself, 0:14:05.440 --> 0:14:07.920 with the video itself, that you could really pick apart 0:14:08.120 --> 0:14:10.679 forever and like they may look back on this in 0:14:10.960 --> 0:14:13.160 history books and look at this video. Sorry, Jess, I 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:16.120 know that sounds like crazy to you, but I'm not 0:14:16.200 --> 0:14:18.920 kidding like I think. And nothing she does is a mistake, 0:14:19.160 --> 0:14:22.320 nothing from the outfits those girls were wearing, her dancers 0:14:22.320 --> 0:14:24.600 were wearing at the super Bowl, which took place in 0:14:24.640 --> 0:14:28.240 Oakland or Santa Clara, which was very close to Oakland, California, 0:14:28.360 --> 0:14:31.920 from the formation pun intended when they were standing in 0:14:31.920 --> 0:14:36.880 the ex formation like Malcolm X to what she was 0:14:36.920 --> 0:14:38.680 wearing at the super Bowl. I know, I've gone from 0:14:38.720 --> 0:14:40.280 the video to the super Bowl, but in the super 0:14:40.320 --> 0:14:43.760 Bowl she's wearing that like militaristic jacket, which harkens back 0:14:43.960 --> 0:14:46.880 is a nod to I think Michael Jackson's nineteen ninety 0:14:46.880 --> 0:14:50.280 three Super Bowl performance where he has like a similar 0:14:50.360 --> 0:14:52.600 sort of like gold X, but also in the ex 0:14:52.640 --> 0:14:55.600 formation on her chest like I think she does. Think 0:14:55.680 --> 0:14:58.560 she's incredibly intelligent, and I think you got to give 0:14:58.600 --> 0:15:01.600 her credit for that. And I don't mind. I don't 0:15:01.640 --> 0:15:03.800 mind an artist who takes their time to come out 0:15:03.880 --> 0:15:05.680 and talk about an issue because they want to think 0:15:05.680 --> 0:15:08.760 about it, internalize it. And I feel like that we 0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:10.760 should leave We should leave them room, like just the 0:15:10.760 --> 0:15:13.720 way we have room to uh to breathe and think 0:15:13.760 --> 0:15:16.280 about importantnesses before we you know, run off the mouth 0:15:16.280 --> 0:15:16.680 about it. 0:15:17.360 --> 0:15:20.520 I think that's also a valid point too in terms 0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:23.840 of artistry. I do strongly believe in that, especially with 0:15:24.120 --> 0:15:25.920 music and even with be honest, I'll give her that 0:15:25.920 --> 0:15:28.320 benefit of the doubt. That being said, I will give 0:15:28.360 --> 0:15:31.440 you this criticism. She never explains her artistry to me, 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:34.840 like does she has to, that's not the artist, And yeah, 0:15:34.880 --> 0:15:35.560 I think she does. 0:15:35.640 --> 0:15:36.400 I think as an. 0:15:36.360 --> 0:15:39.600 Artist, I think, yes, sure, But she at least Kendrick 0:15:39.640 --> 0:15:42.200 put out the same like type of message last year. 0:15:42.320 --> 0:15:45.640 He can convey his message. I mean, Kanye in his. 0:15:45.800 --> 0:15:49.960 Like egotistical craziness can do the same with his music 0:15:50.000 --> 0:15:54.120 and artistry. She never, to me can explain like, this 0:15:54.160 --> 0:15:55.760 is why I'm doing this, this is what I'm trying 0:15:55.760 --> 0:15:56.160 to convey. 0:15:56.240 --> 0:15:58.680 She leaves it to you. I feel as a pr tactic, 0:15:58.720 --> 0:16:03.240 a lot to do this. You can. I was going 0:16:03.320 --> 0:16:03.840 to say that. 0:16:05.960 --> 0:16:09.400 They don't, but I definitely think more artists, of modern artists, 0:16:09.440 --> 0:16:11.640 particularly when I go to museums. It's just not like 0:16:11.640 --> 0:16:13.840 a blurb there, you know, for a reason. It is 0:16:13.920 --> 0:16:16.600 showing what the artist is trying to convey. I think 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:18.920 you do owe that to your audience once in a while, 0:16:19.040 --> 0:16:22.280 like especially now, she had a great super Bowl performance. 0:16:22.280 --> 0:16:23.480 I'm never going to take that away from her. I 0:16:23.480 --> 0:16:24.920 think she's a spectacular performer. 0:16:25.240 --> 0:16:27.840 But you know, now you have all these people coming 0:16:27.840 --> 0:16:29.240 out calling this a copp heating song. 0:16:29.360 --> 0:16:31.440 I'm not that ignorant. This is not a copayting song. 0:16:31.560 --> 0:16:32.400 Go kill yourself. 0:16:32.640 --> 0:16:36.800 They're pretty hick. You know what I would her. 0:16:37.000 --> 0:16:38.040 I think it would be to her benefit. 0:16:38.040 --> 0:16:41.600 I'd be quick, like to actually sit there and be like, look, 0:16:41.800 --> 0:16:43.760 this is what I'm trying to convey in this song, 0:16:44.080 --> 0:16:46.080 and I think it would be helpful to come from 0:16:46.080 --> 0:16:48.960 her mouth instead of getting everybody trying to pick it apart, 0:16:49.240 --> 0:16:50.760 and this is what I'm trying to convey. Then you 0:16:50.800 --> 0:16:53.160 can hear what the reader, like, somebody like you, what 0:16:53.240 --> 0:16:55.760 you're getting from this or whatever. But she never does that, 0:16:55.840 --> 0:16:56.360 and that is. 0:16:56.640 --> 0:16:59.000 Honestly, because it's like the onus is on you, because 0:16:59.000 --> 0:17:01.240 you know, there are some artist are just like like I. 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:03.480 So many of my friends are like, you know, starving artists, 0:17:03.520 --> 0:17:05.160 and I see both schools of thought. 0:17:05.200 --> 0:17:05.560 You're right. 0:17:05.600 --> 0:17:08.359 I have some friends of mine who will write, you know, 0:17:08.720 --> 0:17:11.040 a think piece beside their pieces when I go to 0:17:11.080 --> 0:17:13.199 their galleries to see like what they're doing. And I 0:17:13.240 --> 0:17:15.280 have some friends who will stand in the middle of 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:18.120 a room and pour milk on their head and there's 0:17:18.160 --> 0:17:20.919 nothing and you're like, oh, okay, while we're watching their 0:17:20.960 --> 0:17:24.280 performance piece and there's never any explanation. And the explanation 0:17:24.400 --> 0:17:26.720 is what do you think you decide? I don't want to, 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:28.800 and I'm not saying I don't know that. 0:17:28.880 --> 0:17:30.359 Either way is right or wrong. 0:17:30.560 --> 0:17:33.679 I just know that as an artist, you know that 0:17:33.760 --> 0:17:36.720 it's the artist prerogative to decide whether or not they 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:38.760 feel like they need to explain. 0:17:38.800 --> 0:17:39.760 And maybe that's the point. 0:17:40.480 --> 0:17:43.120 Let everybody go crazy and decide for themselves, because truthfully, 0:17:43.119 --> 0:17:45.639 even if Beyonce explained, people would still say, that's not 0:17:45.680 --> 0:17:46.120 what it means. 0:17:46.160 --> 0:17:46.600 It means this. 0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:52.320 Yeah, there's the reason why how many hundreds of years 0:17:52.359 --> 0:17:55.080 later we still wonder what was Mona Lisa thinking, what 0:17:55.200 --> 0:17:56.199 does smirk about? 0:17:56.560 --> 0:17:56.679 Like? 0:17:56.800 --> 0:18:00.520 That's I love that element. I mean, not just Lee itself, 0:18:00.560 --> 0:18:02.520 to all in types of interpretations. That's why I say 0:18:02.560 --> 0:18:04.800 people will be studying this for you know, years to 0:18:04.840 --> 0:18:07.000 come or in the future. And I'm the same way. 0:18:07.040 --> 0:18:09.760 I like to hear what artists think when they do things, 0:18:09.760 --> 0:18:12.240 but it's nice to hear several years down the line, 0:18:12.280 --> 0:18:15.159