MKUU MUSIC - BEYONCE LEMONADE

The Beyhive can finally breathe easy because the wait is over. Beyonce dropped her fifth solo album Saturday night on HBO, entitled Lemonade, which is now available on exclusively on Tidal - of course. It is a visual album that tells a story of infidelity, vulnerability and reconciliation. It also pays homage to black women and the struggle of black womanhood. King Bey's presentation of Lemonade gives us an opportunity to view her in an entire new perspective, as an artist. She narrates the album like a book starting off slow with melodic rhythmic melodies while she recites poetry, which ultimately leads to the intro of each song. With this album she displays her insecurities and emotional instability when she recites a selection of poetry from Kenyan born Somali-Brittish author, Warsan Shire, in which she quotes that she will skin her husband's mistress and wear her skin like a garment. Yikes!!! But I love the idea that she is willing to go there - un-apologetically. Beyonce goes much deeper into the dimensions of consciousness than she has ever gone before.

Queen B also exceeds all visual expectations - from a ghostly Southern plantation house with oak trees covered in Spanish moss to her all female dance crew rocking out in a darkened parking decks with graffiti walls. In"Daddy Lessons" her ode to her country roots, she rides horseback with her hair in over-sized box braids. While in "Hold Up", Beyonce pays tribute to Oshun the African Goddess of Love with her floaty layered mustard Roberto Cavalli dress while she swings her "Hot Sauce" baseball bat shattering the windows of cars and store fronts with a sexy yet crazed smirk on her face. Doing it the way only KING BEY does it.

As far as the music is concerned, since it really is about the "Lemonade", all I can say is Queen B dropped a jewel on us. It has a tad bit of what we are used to when it comes to Beyonce's sound but the overall sound of the album is like no other she has premiered before. The difference is in Lemonade Bey gives us country and alternative rock in addition to her R&B ballads and dance classics. With features from Kendrick Lamar and the Weeknd and samples from Soulja Boy and Led Zepplin, the diversification of the sounds on Lemonade goes all the way from A to Z. There are also multiple celebrity cameos in the videos,from Serena William's twerking all of her thickness in mini-dress in "Sorry" to Trayvon Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton; Eric Garner's mother, Gwen Carr; and Michael Brown's mother, Lezley McSpadden, holding photos of their murdered sons in "Forward". This album has given me life and everything else that I needed right now. Kudos to you Beyonce for doing it your way and winning....