Beyoncé’s Renaissance

Ring the alarm, Beyoncé has released her seventh studio album.

Transcript

00:00Beyoncé is back, the renaissance is upon us, report to the dance floor.

00:04Her 7th studio album just dropped, but we need to talk about one of the biggest influences

00:08heard throughout renaissance.

00:10Like much of her past work, it's a project that draws on various genres, from R&B to

00:14disco to even country.

00:15But perhaps the most influential sound draws from 90s house, a genre that has firm roots

00:20in black culture.

00:21House music was born out of Chicago's black nightlife scene, with DJs such as Honey Dijon

00:25and Green Velvet emerging from its underground movement.

00:28But as electronic music grew in popularity in the 1990s, white artists slowly started

00:31taking ownership of the genre.

00:33This was largely in part due to the over-policing of black nightlife spaces, which were unfairly

00:37associated with crime and often shut down.

00:39This allowed white DJs to dominate the genre and build success off of music that typically

00:43sampled black artists.

00:45More recently, artists such as Kaytranada, Honey Love, Channel Tress, and Azealia Banks

00:49have become known for reclaiming the genre.

00:51So when it comes to Beyoncé and house music, maybe think of it not so much as a new sound,

00:55but rather reintroducing listeners to where it all started.