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Beyoncé Brings Afrobeats to Mainstream Audiences with "Lion King: The Gift"

"Lion King: The Gift" may be a Beyoncé album, but she's not the standout in her own collaborative production.

Beyoncé in all her glory.

Columbia Records

Beyoncé's Lion King: The Gift is in direct competition with the live-action remake's 2019 soundtrack.

It's difficult to imagine Disney allowing any other artist to challenge the success of their latest production, but Beyoncé has surpassed celebrity—she is a movement, an icon, and a spokesperson for a generation, and her name being associated with the movie can only mean good things for the company, even if her Lion King-inspired album is separate from the movie in which she stars. After all, Disney's remakes have received criticism from the get-go. What was the need for a live-action remake of a movie conceived by a bunch of white executives who referred to the project as "Bambi in Africa?"

Still, Beyoncé's involvement loaned the project credibility, and clearly the artist saw the potential to reclaim the Africa-set narrative to create what she calls "sonic cinema." She worked with "some of her favorite artists [and] the most talented and important African artists of the day to both pay tribute to the iconic film and bring the authentic sounds of African music to the world." Although how authentically and accurately the star's achieved this goal is up for debate, there's no question that Beyoncé was able to use her influence to shine a spotlight on the diverse range of artists, some who even outshine her.

The album begins with James Earl Jones, backed by a soft violin, repeating Mufasa's iconic lines to Simba: "Everything you see exists together in a delicate balance. You need to understand that balance and respect all the creatures. From the crawling ant to the leaping antelope. We're all connected in the great circle of life." This sentiment, that all African people are connected, is emphasized throughout the rest of the album. The interlude is followed by "BIGGER," Beyoncé's lyrical build up to the message,"If you feel insignificant, you better think again / Better wake up because you're apart of something way bigger." It's another reminder that every person is connected to each other and to the earth.

Columbia

Another poignant interlude spoken by James Earl Jones introduces "FIND YOUR WAY BACK," an R&B, Afrobeat version of Lemonade's "Daddy Issues." Unlike the original, "FIND YOUR WAY BACK" is a filler song with an infectious beat—it seems to exist just to add to the story of The Lion King. It has nothing on the songs that follow: Tekno, Yemi Alade, Mr Eazi, and Lord Afrixana's "DON'T JEALOUS ME" and Burna Boy's "JA ARA E." Both tracks are danceable but in distinctly different ways. The gritty and visceral "DON'T JEALOUS ME" produces a teeth-clenching, head-bouncing effect—it's captivating and mystifying, while "JA ARA E" is a hip-swinging, sexy summer anthem.

The Nigerian Afro-fusion artists highlight exactly what the Western world is missing out on, musically. The variety and simple good vibes could create a cultural moment for Afro-fusion in Western mainstream music, similar to what "Despacito" did or Latin Pop (minus Justin Bieber, thankfully).

Columbia

Next, "NILE" and "MOOD 4EVA" keep the album's soulful momentum going, despite the many interludes beginning to bog down the bops. Kendrick Lamar's classic rap delivery on "NILE" sets up another one of his iconic beat-drops. But, in the last thirty seconds of the track, Beyoncé's textured vocals end too quickly, making "NILE" feel incomplete. "MOOD 4EVA" captures all that was successful about The Carter's EVERYTHING IS LOVE album. Beyoncé's voracious performance and enchanting, oozing confidence outperform Jay-Z's. Beyoncé outdoes him with lyrics like, "Piña colada-in' / you stay Ramada Inn," and concluding with, "I be like soul food / I am a whole mood." Unfortunately, the song's low-point is Childish Gambino's feature, which only makes a minor contribution to the already electrifying mood.

At the album's halfway mark, the majority of the noteworthy tracks have already passed. "BROWN SKIN GIRL" and "MY POWER" are the only tracks left that stick in the mind of listeners. The sweet-natured, empowering "BROWN SKIN GIRL" begins with Blue Ivy Carter's first singing performance. Then Nigerian artist WizKid aids the celebratory track, which speaks directly to the brown skin girls of the world. The song separates itself from the rest of the album as an easier, mellower, lullaby-inspired song, while still positioning black people at the center of the celebration.

Columbia

Conversely, up-and-coming rapper, Tierra Whack, leads "MY POWER" with the declaration, "They'll never take my power / They feel a way, oh wow"—celebrating all black women and what they're capable of. On the track, South African artists—Moonchild Sanelly and Busiswe—gloriously sing African praises, injecting the song with an emboldened, unwavering verse.

The rest of the album has its individual, exceptional moments, like Beyoncé's almost holy vocals on "OTHERSIDE" and Jessie Reyez's ingenious verse on "SCAR." But, still, only six out of the fourteen main tracks succeed in creating something new, inspiring, and other-worldly. The other interludes strip Lion King: The Gift of cohesion and flow. But still, with The Lion King: The Gift, Beyoncé has cemented her legacy of celebrating black experiences and art by bringing African musical influences to Western, mainstream audiences. If there was any doubt left that Beyoncé is more than just an indomitable vocalist, surely it's been dispelled once and for all by this album. Lion King: The Gift demonstrates what is possible when collaboration occurs across borders to create cross-cultural, truly globalized music.

Columbia

The Lion King: The Gift

From Your Site Articles

Radiohead's Thom Yorke Doesn't Care About Leaked Music

Why do hackers hold songs hostage?

When Thom Yorke's MiniDisc archive was hacked by an unnamed assailant last week, the Radiohead lead-singer was asked to pay $150,000 to retrieve the 18 hours of stolen live recordings.

The sessions were all unnamed tracks made during the band's OK Computer days back in 1997, and Yorke reacted how anyone would react to the theft of demo art made in their late 20's: "It's not v interesting," he wrote. "There's a lot of it… as it's out there it may as well be out there until we all get bored and move on." The band let the 1.8-gigabyte collection fly free, charging £18 ($23) for the whole package. "It's only tangentially interesting," wrote guitarist Johnny Greenwood of the release, "and very, very long."

Similarly, last Monday, it was announced that more than 100 songs by Indiana-based rapper Ugly God were also being held for ransom. The rapper shrugged it off. "I accidentally emailed [the songs] to some fan and [he] wants me to pay him or he says he'll leak them," Ugly God wrote on Twitter. "I refuse to buy my own shit from some fan. So if 100+ songs leak, fuck it."

Leaks and piracy in the music industry aren't uncommon, as artists themselves occasionally threaten to leak their own music, yet a common misconception has always been that an artist is emotionally or monetarily affected by leaked music. The same narrative tried to be spun about music piracy a few years ago. "When you download or stream from a pirate site, pirates profit from online ads or subscriptions," wrote Forbes. "So while you are saving a few dollars, you are also effectively taking away an artist's well-deserved gains and re-directing them…[to] criminals." But in 2018, Spotify was sued for 1.6 billion dollars in a lawsuit that claimed the streaming giant "took a shortcut" to avoid paying royalties to artists and record labels. The suit came after Spotify was forced to pay an additional $20 million in outstanding royalties in 2016.

Even Tidal, the Beyonce and Jay-Z-owned streaming service that claims to be the first ever musician-owned service of its kind, has been accused of faking streams and ripping off independent artists. While it remains difficult to determine what's "fair" to the artist in the age of streaming, hackers and pirates should realize that artists will never succumb to their demands, because artists only make around $7,000 per million streams, anyway. "When cassettes became popular. [People were like,] 'Wait a minute, the listener is in control? No!' And to me, I was like, 'F— yeah, man!'" Foo Fighters David Grohl said about song leaks. He went on, "The first thing we should do is get all the fucking millionaires to shut their mouths, stop bitching about the 25 cents they're losing." It's been clear for years that artists don't benefit from music sales nearly as much as labels and streaming services, hence why they've been the only ones who aggressively fight to quell piracy. "I do not care," Liam Gallagher said in a now-archived interview with Shortlist magazine. "I hate seeing all these rock stars complaining. At least they are downloading your music [you] fucking idiot, and they are paying attention to you."

Additionally, trying to prevent a leak is so taxing that it's become a form of counter-espionage. For Jay-Z and Kanye West's highly anticipated Watch The Throne, the production team maintained "John le Carré-style CIA operative tactics" to keep from springing a leak. "All recording sessions took place in private hotel rooms and all outside producers had to submit beats in person–no e-mail, in other words," wrote Pitchforkof the process. "So, there's your solution to the leak problem, musicians: biometric fingerprint-readers on hard drives and flying producers to meet with you in person." These exhaustive prevention efforts simply aren't worth the trouble. "Despite the mp3 waning as a music commodity, it still retains incredible value as a tool for circulating music." wrote Pitchfork. "For the rest of the world, album leaks are simply an established part of the game." Yet as minimal as a pirate's damage may be to an artist's career, having art stolen can still be upsetting. "As things unfolded I went through a number of phases, but the immediate, overriding feeling was one of complete shock." wrote Jai Paul of the 2013 leak of his debut album Leak 04-13 (Bait Ones). "I felt numb...I felt pretty alone with everything, like no one else seemed to view the situation in the same way I did: as a catastrophe." Even so, the leaks catapulted Jai Paul into underground pop stardom. So the question still remains for those holding tunes hostage: Was this ever destined to work in your favor?