read my final paper about solange and afrofuturism
I originally had so much anxiety before writing this paper because it had a 1500 word min and I consistently struggle with getting to word counts. i did my research earlier in the month; I watched the visual album, re-listened to the entire album, and analyzed the lyrics on Genius for each song. It took so much energy but I am so happy with it.This album is near and dear to my heart and I learned so much about Solange and her inspirations. Let me know your thoughts!
On March 1st, 2019, Solange Knowles released her fourth studio album When I Get Home, an album rooted in displaying a heavy, beautiful representation of Blackness and what it means to pay homage to your community. This body of work embodies Afrofuturism through her use of technology and sampling in the production of the sounds, lyrics that point to transcendence and manifestation, and an extended music video that creates a new world for Black people that stretches beyond societal expectations and the boxes we are forced into. In generating this new world, Solange creates herself as an Afrofuturist and a symbol of the power of Black womxn in the music industry.
Although this album is multilayered, the lyrics provide a lot of the groundwork for Solange to tell her tale. In a thread on Twitter that talks about her motivations for specific songs on the album, she mentioned that “Things I Imagined,” the first song on the album, was an example of how in her more recent life and creative process, she has used repetition as a form of mantra and achieving her goals. By repeating “(saw) things I imagined” in different scales, she is trying to reinforce self affirmation and bring her concepts to life. Envisioning ideas outside of ourselves is a main theme in Afrofuturism, and a similar argument can be made for Sun Ra’s Space is the Place video that explores the idea of “moving Black people from one “system of vibrations” to another” (lecture 1). At the end of the song, she sings “taking on the light,” suggesting the beginning of transcendence and bringing her ideas to fruition. This line pops up again in “I’m a Witness,” an ending gospel-like song where the lyrics “You can work through me/ you can say what you need in my mind/I’ll be your vessel/ I’ll do it every time” suggest Solange’s devotion to her faith and dependence on it as she navigates her emotional and creative worlds. Here we see a parallel with the main character, Lauren, of Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower, where she creates and leans on the Earthseed faith as a means of survival and forming relationships with those around her. Both use the guiding forces of spirituality to imagine their futures and a better, safer world for themselves and their community. The interludes “We Deal With the Freak’n,” and “Can I Hold the Mic” along with the chorus of “Almeda” point to a strong sense of spirituality and limitlessness, as a sample from “Turn Me On” by Rotary Connection states: “First, I’m tryna get the woman to understand the dynamic power and the spiritual energy. Do you realize how magnificent you are? The god that created you is a divine architect that created the moon, the sun, the stars, Jupiter, Mars, Pluto, Venus. We are not only sexual beings, we are the walking embodiment of god consciousness, and in “Can I Hold the Mic,” Solange says: “I can’t be a singular expression of myself, there’s too many parts too many spaces, too many manifestations, too many lines, too many curves, too many troubles, too many journeys, too many mountains, too many rivers, so many.” The lyric of “not even in that Florida water” indicates that Black culture cannot be diluted or pushed out with even the cleansing power of Florida water with its cologne and essential oils. Solange carries this idea that Black people and Blackness are of a higher level and will continue to prosper without limitation, even in the face of adversity.
While taking in the lyrics, the technological production and inclusion of various Black artists creates this album to be a prime example of Afrofuturism in music. The use of what Genius calls “electric piano vamp and floating synthesizers” along with a constant change in octave, Solange takes listeners to a hazy daydreaming state throughout. Incorporating technology into her music resembles that of Herbie Hancock’s “Rockit,” the first major hit to incorporate scratching and turn tables in music, both of which can be heard in When I Get Home (lecture 5). Her selective use of sampling, from Phylicia Rashad and Debbie Allen in “S McGregor” to Crime Mob in “Can I Hold the Mic,” Solange creates what DJ Lynnee Denise calls a “living library.” The history of using samples has continuously shaped hip hop by bringing new sounds into the genre and “pulling from history to create a futuristic understanding of ‘what was’ (lecture 6). Furthermore, by including rap artists like Playboi Carti in “Almeda” and Gucci Mane in “My Skin My Logo,” Solange curates a sound that transcends genres and demonstrates that the industry is accessible and includes Black people that would normally be considered “ghetto.”
In her visual album, Solange applies technology and nostalgia and faith as power to create a grounding work where Black people of all identities are seen, valued, and normalized. In her starting image for “Things I Imagined,” a dark room and white geometric crop circle are depicted to show what seems like the base of the world that she has created. In an interview with Grace Wales Bonner, Solange states that geometric shapes like crop circles are about “spiritual and environmental consciousness and the mysteries of symbolism and energetic pull in sacred geometry” (The Face). Additionally, there’s a singular masked being, almost like a god, decorated in layered crystal fringe in the center of the room as Solange playfully dances and worships the figure similarly to how praise and worship is carried out in the Black church. This image reoccurs in the scene for “Jerrod,” and at the end during “I’m a Witness,” indicating a circular pattern to the video and album as a whole, and that Solange’s creative process begins and ends with faith and a power larger than herself, while also bringing in magical realism.
The entire album is based in nostalgia, but it finds itself most prominent in “Dreams,” a segment that recreates aspects of Solange’s childhood in a dreamy, mystical neighborhood where kids are playing in a pool in the front yard of a house, Black womxn sit outside and gossip about men and in another breath engage in ritual together. These displays of Black community and the past laid the foundation for Solange’s work and continue to inspire Black creatives in their journeys. With “S McGregor,” the camera pans over skyscrapers with big, shiny, almost crystalline windows in Houston, giving a very futuristic vibe while paying tribute to Black womxn (Phylicia Rashad and Debbie Allen) that Solange looks up to and have been integral in the arts industry (The Face).
As the world expands in “Way to the Show,” Solange along with several other Black womxn are dressed in tall, snake skin boots, black bandeaus, and black high waisted spandex shorts, with “Almeda” following later where Solange is pole dancing. Here, Black womxn’s sexuality being presented very casually yet seductively points toward a future that Solange envisions for Black womxn where we can be free in our movements and bodies and engage in sex work without stigmatization. This theme of womxn’s empowerment especially shines in “Stay Flo,” a depiction of a Black womxn building a huge spaceship with lights, buttons, and screens that takes notes from George Clinton’s Parliament-Funkadelic Mothership, an aluminum alien spacecraft prop that was integral to Clinton’s stage performances as an Afrofuturist himself through his music. The combination of two unique sounds, Funkadelic with “grooves of James Brown combined [with] ferocious psychedelic rock,” and Parliament with “a more refined approach, [with] harmony-heavy vocals and carefully arranged horn parts,” revolutionized the future of Black music and “fused political messages with hard-hitting funk and rock” (Archambeault). The video captures a powerful image of the Black womxn pulling the spaceship alone in the desert in the middle of a long road, all while wearing a chrome bralette and underwear, hoops, and thigh high strappy heels. In conjunction with images from “Way to the Show” and “Almeda,” Solange is showcasing how capable Black womxn are in pursuing their dreams whilst remaining true to their style and character, while also continuously developing her new world where strippers and sex work are normal and respected (Lockett).
At the same time, the integration of both Black cowboy culture, also colloquially known as the “yee haw agenda,” and hood culture add to the theme of Black people reclaiming and taking up space in genres that we created. The Western theme is very evident in “Down With the Clique” where Solange is first shot wearing a black cowboy outfit, but becomes more apparent and “in your face” in “Time (is)” where Black cowboys horseback ride around the original crop circle, spin lassos, and bullride. “My Skin My Logo” exudes ultimate Blackness where Black men in chains and classic neighborhood streetwear horseback ride through the streets and congregate with youth and joy. These visuals provide different representations of Blackness that we have been conditioned to reject and believe that they are not our own, and not suitable for society.
With integrating more images based in technology, in the segment for “Sound of Rain,” a highly technical song in itself, viewers are able to see a literal creation of a different dimension using CGI. Featuring a magical metal tech horse flying in the sky, silver bodies dancing in the fields and stands of a Roman stadium, and womxn dancing at the top of a destructive pillar, this section manufactures a society outside of the scope of the viewer’s imagination. “Beltway” includes a dark screen with intergalactic purple lights that move with the rhythms and beats of the song with text that shows directions to Prairie View, producing a sonic effect that ties in another point of Solange’s childhood.
Together, all of these elements develop the music video as a central Afrofuturist work that allows for the visualization of a place where Black people can be themselves and give back to the people that raised them and continue to create “the culture.”
Solange’s album When I Get Home is an Afrofuturist album from the lyrics to the production to the music video to the title itself. Creating well thought out, thorough works like this shows Black creatives that we are more than what white supremacy has defined us to be, and Blackness is at the root of the past, present, and future. Putting this album in conversation with works from class makes it come full circle as an ode to the collective support of the Black community and uplifting us to higher planes as we continue to navigate through a world created without us in mind.
Works Cited
Archambeault, William. “All Aboard the Mothership with George Clinton.” Antigravitymagazine.com, Antigravity Magazine, 2018.
BUTLER, OCTAVIA. PARABLE OF THE SOWER. SEVEN STORIES PRESS, 2019.
Horowitz, Steven J. “Mapping the Musical Influences of Solange’s When I Get Home.” Vulture, Vulture, 6 Mar. 2019.
Knowles, Solange, director. When I Get Home. Mar. 2019.
Lockett, Dee. “Everything You Need to Know About Solange’s New Album When I Get Home.” Vulture, Vulture, 1 Mar. 2019.
McCord, Brooke, et al. “Grace Wales Bonner in Conversation with Solange.” The Face, The Face, 30 May 2019.
Solange. When I Get Home, Mar. 2019.
“When I Get Home by Solange.” Genius, 2019.
