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I already said my peace about what TD Jakes had to say about women in his viral sermon clip (TD Jakes: “Women Are Being Raised To Be Men”), but recently I noticed a video by Allen Parr, a popular YouTube pastor (I’m not sure if he’s an actual pastor with a church, or what—no judgment, just throwing out disclaimers), where he goes over the issues with Beyoncé’s latest album.[1] I’ve actually seen several videos discussing her song, and many of them are pastors.**[2][3]**
Before we dive in to the topic of sexism and how this relates to the criticism of Beyoncé’s latest song, I want to make one thing in particular clear: I do not listen to ****Beyoncé and this post is not absolving or excusing her from the accusations made against her.
In many instances, the complaint that came up was the fact that she sampled a gospel song. For those who are unaware, in order to sample a song you have to go through proper legal proceedings. It is not like quoting a person where you just slap some quotations on it and cite your sources at the end of the paper. In the music industry they have what is referred to as a master—essentially the original track. Whoever owns the master owns the song and must sign off on usage of the song. Sampling without this sign off opens the door for lawsuits.
There are two possibilities when it comes to the ownership of the sampled song: it is either owned by the gospel artist (Twinkie Clark), or it’s owned by her recording label at the time the song was created. From what I could find on the internet, she has belonged to several different labels, but they all appear to be specifically for gospel artists. This means that there is a high probably that she or the label signed off on Beyonce using the sample. I have a hunch that she signed off and knew exactly what would be done with it, especially since there is a video of her sister (and group mate of The Clark Sisters) essentially condoning it.
Beyoncé’s name has been popping up in conversations about demonic celebrities since she literally claimed an alter ego performs for her and does things she cannot or would not do—she even contrasted this alter ego with “I Am”, the translation of the Hebrew name for the Most High.[4] Most people I know are aware of the accusations that Beyoncé is possessed or part of the illuminati (or both) and either don’t care or have already left “the hive.” I was shocked that people were shocked; to me people reacting to this song is like someone reacting to Kirk Franklin releasing a gospel song.
That being said, everyone is on a journey and I realize that there are some who have never heard that something was amiss with Beyoncé (the whole industry, really) or didn’t get it until this album. So I understand the need to reiterate things that seem “old hat” to us “old folk.” However, going in to the first video (Allen Parr’s), I assumed it was common knowledge that Beyoncé’s music was far from wholesome. I clicked play because I thought simply “far from wholesome” had turned into “all hail Satan” in the chorus or something.
I grew up with Destiny’s Child—the girl group that launched Beyoncé’s career for those who missed that era. Destiny’s Child’s sophomore album The Writing’s On The Wall was released when I was in middle school, and I listened to the album on repeat. Most people know the hits like “Bills, Bills, Bills,” and “Say My Name,” but there was also a track on that album called “If You Leave.” The song is implicitly about an affair—it’s a man and a woman discussing leaving their respective significant others and running off together. In addition there is a song called “Stay” about a young girl deciding to have sex with her boyfriend for the first time. Did I mention each song on the album is strung together with a 10 Commandment-esque phrase like “Thou shalt say my name”?
Now, the songs released by Destiny’s Child were no where as explicit as the songs Beyoncé has released in her adulthood, but as a girl group they were marketed to teens and tweens. Beyonce was only 18 when the album was released and is listed as a producer on the album. I was 11 years old and knew every song word for word, and “Stay” was one my favorites (sonically, that is). It may not be explicit, but looking back, I can’t say that the lyrics of the album were wholesome, uplifting, or even what an 11 year old girl should be relating to. Yet, the outro to the album is “Amazing Grace.”
I say all this to say, Beyoncé was never wholesome and this idea of flirting between secular and sacred is not new for Beyoncé.
So, why are people so worked up over Beyoncé now? Many of the videos that I saw popping up on YouTube seemed to be about one specific song based on their titles, but the video by Allen Parr dissects her whole album. We could argue that most people are concerned because Beyoncé is speaking to “Church Girls” and encouraging them to be wild and worldly. However, I remember not too long ago people were just as frenzied about WAP—another song I’ve never heard and don’t care to hear, but I’ve seen the lyrics to it because everyone and their mother couldn’t stop talking about how filthy it was.