Race Jones

I loooove this!

African school kids dancing

 
Their footwork is on point, love this!

The Beyoncé Branding

Here are 7 branding lessons we can all learn from Beyoncé.

1. A simple yet effective logo and colour theme. The power of Beyoncé's logo also conveys a message of letting the product speak for itself. Quality products don't need a fancy, over-designed presentation which will only serve as noise between the product and the audience. Whenever I see these two colours together I immediately associate it with Beyoncé's latest album; this should be the case with your branding.

2. Use the branding everywhere! Don't only preserve it for the website and the product, place it all over merchandise, videos and at events. Beyoncé had fans all over the world wearing tops with notable lyrics from her latest album, with her logo font and colour theme. A fun and subtle way to promote her album. Think outside the box and be different. Think 'what else can you brand?' that will not only market your product/s but will be liked and used by your fans.

3. Tell people the story behind the brand. After Beyoncé released the album, she began releasing short vids explaining the process of putting the album together and the story behind each song, conveying to the audience that it is a personal album. Storytelling makes the brand become relatable and enables engagement on a emotional level.

4. People respond to visuals. Beyoncé is aware of the power of visuals; not only did she do a music video for each song on the album, she also announced the surprise album with a short video clip via image sharing network Instagram. A similar clip which served as a mock up movie trailer was released to promote her On The Run tour with Jay Z. She is also very active on Tumblr and Youtube, other visual social media networks. Her Tumblr account is incorporated into her main website making it very image driven, further showcasing Beyoncé's love for communication through visuals.

5. Regularly update social media sites, even if its little. Beyoncé demonstrated the power of social media as a marketing tool when she announced her surprise album and the news went viral later resulting in over 1 million in first week album sales. Putting aside the fact that Beyoncé is a megastar with over 12m followers, she has been very active on her social media sites whether it be to make special announcements, regular behind the scenes clips of her Mrs Carter world tour or to post random photos of cupcakes. Either way, keep your social media sites active and don't only use it when you want to promote. The key is to be 'social' and to somewhat humanise your brand which Beyoncé does well with regular posts of her life; it also allows her to control the conversations we have of her brand.

6. Do something for people and get them involved. Beyoncé engages with her fans by encouraging them to take part; whether it be for her charitable campaign #BeyGood or in conversation such as her 'What is pretty?' campaign.

7. Consistency. Piece all your promo together and make sure it is all connected. The last thing you want to do is confuse your audience. Beyoncé's branding is very calculative; everything that is put out into the public is well thought out and connects well to form the bigger picture of her brand.

Englishman in New York

I do love this song.

My Hairspiration

It's been almost a year of growing out my permed hair - yay! My mum is still begging me to get a perm though but I've been firm in my decision to be 100% natural and I'm doing well guys. Esperanza Spalding has been my 'hairspiration' throughout my hair journey; it's so refreshing to see someone in the spotlight with hair that looks...just like mine! I love her hair and I've finally learnt to love mine (:

Nicholas Brothers

This is what you call talent!

Freak Shows

Exhibited in London Piccadilly Circus as a ‘freak show’ by Europeans who were highly intrigued with her voluptuous figure, I was deeply saddened by the story of Sara Baartman, an enslaved South African woman. Fascinated with her breasts, hips, arse and lips, which were gigantic by Eurocentric standards, she was ridiculed and paraded as a ‘freak’ and commanded to gyrate like a wild beast. Given the stage name ‘Hottentot Venus’, she was placed on a stage, naked and bare, where the Europeans paid to stare. She soon died at a youthful age of 25.

As I read her story, I was not only frustrated by the way the body of an African woman was degraded, but also because this happened in the early 1800s and two centuries later I fail to see any change. Black women in the entertainment industry receive more recognition for their larger than life curves rather than their talent; there is this senseless fascination with the big booty. The media sexually objectifies women in general but I feel as though for black women there is a lack of balance; there are more oversexed half naked type images of black women shoved in our faces in comparison to Oprah type images. Without the balance, it’s very easy for black women to fall into the trap of basing their desirability on the size of their behinds instead of what’s inside their minds. It’s as though our ‘ass’ has become our biggest asset. We stage name ourselves now with so-called ‘alter egos’ and proudly gyrate in music videos. I can’t even go onto Instagram without seeing freak shows on my news feed, young women exhibiting their own bodies. I wish more black men and women knew and empathized with the story of Sara Baartman, an enslaved young African woman who was sexually exploited in a ‘human zoo’ for fortune and fame because the only thing that has changed is that we now happily sexually exploit ourselves.



"All I want for my birthday is a big booty hoe" - 2Chainz


“Most often attention was not focused on the complete black female on display…They are to not look at her as a whole human being. They are to notice only certain parts.” -Bell Hooks, Black Looks

Beneath Your Beautiful

My mum has played this song so much I can't get it out of my head now!