The cover art for Beyoncé's upcoming album Cowboy Carter has sparked some interesting discussions, most recently by Harlem rapper Azealia Banks. The brooding MC took to Instagram Stories on Tuesday to give us all a little lesson in cultural criticism.
First, Banks takes aim at the album's title, writing, “Wow, didn't we try to put even a little effort into a more artistic title?” Now, to be fair, we don't know what Beyonce's thinking is when it comes to the title. Some fans think it's a play on words. Apparently, Carter is her last name through her marriage to rapper/entrepreneur Sean Carter, aka Jay-Z, but it's also the surname of the family widely regarded as the first family of country music. It can be anything or nothing. The only person who knows is Cowboy Carter herself.
Banks then questions the cover's overall aesthetic, asking, “how do you go from baobab trees and black parade to this literal pick me stuff,” referencing the Grammy-winning single from The Lion King: The Gift Beyoncé's executive soundtrack was produced in 2019. It seems all the Americana imagery is too tired for Banks and she misses the mark, as she accuses Beyonce of engaging in “white woman cosplay” and of “reinforcing the false rhetoric that the country music is post civil war white art form. And then reinforcing the idea that there is no racism, segregation, slavery, violence, theft, massacres, plagues, manifest madness of destiny that are the foundation of epithets like “proud to be an American” or “god bless the usa”.
As if that weren't enough, Banks also referenced Beyoncé's 2016 CMA Awards performance with The Chicks (then called The Dixie Chicks), writing, “You do dumb things like blacklist some white women (Dixie Chicks ) at the country music awards and they would never do the same for you.”
It's all… a lot. You can see everything he wrote below. But it's interesting to see Banks reading so much into the album title and cover when Beyoncé herself took Instagram on Tuesday to explain to fans why he decided to do it Cowboy Carter.
Beyoncé didn't specifically mention the 2016 CMA Awards, but wrote that the album “was born out of an experience I had years ago where I didn't feel welcome.” And while Banks believes Beyoncé is ignorant of the history of the genre, Bey explained that after experiencing being unwelcome, she took a “deeper dive into the history of country music and studied our rich musical archive.” Similar to 2022 Renaissance, in which he worked to reclaim Dance music, many believe he will do the same for country on this project. But hey, as she said in her IG post, “This is not a Country album. This is a 'Beyoncé' album.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/azealia-banks-beyonce-cowboy-carter-cover-art-1235637088/
