Beyoncé collaborator calls out coded racism

There has been a lot of discourse surrounding Beyoncé tapping into the country genre. Critics, especially, have been outspoken with their outrage over the singer's uncovering of Black southerners' contributions to the music’s legacy and influence on the Americana ethos.

Musician Rhiannon Giddens has found the backlash to the singer’s crossover endeavor interesting. Giddens appeared on Beyoncé’s single “TEXAS HOLD ‘EM,” which along with “16 CARRIAGES” were released following this year’s Super Bowl halftime show in the long-anticipated teaser for RENAISSANCE ACT II. She delved into the conversation regarding backlash to the singer’s new music and general opposition to Beyoncé occupying space in the genre in part of her upcoming appearance on “IMPACT X Nightline.”

“People can do what they wanna do,” said Giddens in a teaser of the episode exclusively shared with Billboard. “They wanna make a country record? Make a country record. Nobody’s askin’ Lana Del Rey, ‘What right do you have to make a country record?’ You know what I’m sayin’? Everybody has the opportunity to explore their roots, to go back there, like, ‘This is my life too. I wanna… I wanna do this.'”

She continued, “The ‘Stay in your lane,’ the, ‘Well, that’s not real country,’ that’s just racism. People don’t wanna say it’s because she’s Black. You know? But they use these… these coded terms, you know? And that’s problematic.”

The pushback to Beyoncé exploring country music is not new, though. In a March 19 Instagram post, the Recording Academy’s most decorated artist alluded to her new album, COWBOY CARTER, being inspired by the cold reception she received from her country counterparts in 2016. That year, she performed “Daddy Lessons” with The Chicks, formerly known as The Dixie Chicks, at the Country Music Awards.

“This album has been over five years in the making. It was born out of an experience that I had years ago where I did not feel welcomed... and it was very clear that I wasn’t,” she wrote. “Because of that experience, I did a deeper dive into the history of country music and studied our rich musical archive… The criticisms I faced when I first entered this genre forced me to propel past the limitations that were put on me. ACT II is a result of challenging myself and taking my time to bend and blend genres together to create this body of work."

The album, which features “a few surprises,” will be released at midnight on March 29. Giddens’ full episode premieres a day earlier on March 28 on Hulu. One thing is for certain, Beyoncé said it best when she got into “Formation” and stated, “You know you that b**ch when you cause all this conversation, always stay gracious, best revenge is your paper.”

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