A seat at the table

I didn't know I was waiting for an album like A seat at the table until it came out. Solange blessed us this weekend with the release of her 3rd studio album and boy was it worth the wait. I rarely give albums 5/5 star ratings, but I've never listened to an entire album and not skipped at least one track.

At seat at the table, for me is a story; a story of being a black person living in a white world. And the multifaceted image of being a black woman depicting: our struggles, our pain, our grief, our happiness, our magic and our power which are never really explored/appreciated in our society. Solange expresses all this within her album and you can feel it with every passing track.

We open A seat at the table and we 'Rise' and listen, just as you would when you're about to eat at an important meal. We travel through a discourse of black presented emotions, problems and stories. I loved the way Solange explored black fragility, the notions of loving our blackness, the feeling of being lost and finding our way back. The album evoked so much deep locked emotion within me, that I didn't know existed until I listened to 'Don't touch my hair' where the title is self explanatory. So many black girls have been victims of someone's look and touch museum, and it's something no human should ever have to put up with. How many times have I had people touch my hair without any warrant? Too many to count. It reminded me that my hair is precious to me, it's of value, my crown is my glory.

A seat at the table

 I reflected with Solange and sang along to lyrics of F.U.B.U "All my niggas in the whole wide worlds. Made this song to make it all y'all's turn." and smiled when she ended it with a very loud and clear statement: "Just be glad you got the whole wide world. This shit is from us. Some shit you can't touch."As black people I feel we're given a box in society, where we must only stay in that box. Yet others may go in that box and the box next to it and the all the other boxes, but we're only allowed that one box. This song embodied that exact notion for me, and I was grateful Solange addressed it so powerfully. I also loved all the interludes and how beautifully they were mixed into the tracks, I adored Master P's stories of his rise and hearing her mum Tina, talk about her loving her blackness.

By the end of the album I left as royalty, enriched with knowledge, power, and magic and remembering that black is beautiful. I want to thank Solange to taking her time and creating this complex piece of art, and delivering an album which is so truly needed in this climate.

A seat at the table