Celebrity Coverage
Mickey Guyton: Intentional consumerism of black country music isn’t just needed by Beyoncé
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 24: Mickey Guyton speaks on stage during Act II Black Music Action Coalition: A Conversation Around “Three Chords and the Real Truth” featuring Mickey Guyton at Live Nation on April 24, 2024 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Unique Nicole/Getty Images for Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC))
Country singer Mickey Guyton was moved to tears by the number of black faces within the audience at a Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC) event in Los Angeles on Wednesday night.
“I’ve been in Nashville for a very long time and my main thing is to welcome everyone to country music; it’s great that you’re finally here,” Guyton told the intimate audience. “We fought and worked hard to make people realize that black country music was popular. We’ve been working on this for years. I know you’re here now, but this is pre-2020, so I’m trying not to cry seeing you all here and the hard work we’ve done.”
BMAC President and CEO Willie “Prophet” Stigers kicked off the event focused on the historic exclusion of Black talent from country music despite the genre’s origins with a conversation with Guyton, who spoke in regards to the realities of the Nashville music scene and the role everyone can play in making it more inclusive. by streaming music from black country artists and attending their performances.
“We have been here before in 2020, in 2017 once we founded the ACM Diversity Task Force [Academy of Country Music Awards] and I’m attempting to work out the best way to bring country music to Black people and folks of color. They are closing the door on DEI, and if we do not speak about it and be intentional about our consumerism, we’re done. We’re actually done,” said Guyton, who spoke in regards to the personal toll of her years of efforts.
“I’m still recovering from quite a bit of the things that were said to me after I was attempting to fight for equality in country music. Nothing more nothing less. I didn’t let you know who to vote for. I have never told you anything aside from to provide people a likelihood not because of anything, but because they’re talented and deserve the identical opportunities, and that comes at a price.
Guyton’s words echoed those of BMAC co-founder Caron Veazey, who spoke in regards to the formation of BMAC after the 2020 deaths of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery and the way the organization’s goal of rooting out racism within the music industry has turn out to be harder inside 4 years because the industry committed to improving.
“It’s not making the headlines like it was in 2020 and we knew this day was coming,” Veazey said. “DEI is being dismantled all over the place. So our job is, in some ways, tougher now than it was in 2020, and BMAC now has a good greater responsibility. We need everyone’s help, everyone’s attention, everyone’s support and partnership to proceed our mission and really make a difference.”
Guyton and Stigers emphasize that support on this moment is about not overlooking the eye Beyoncé’s album delivered to each Black country artists and racism within the country music industry.
“When this Beyoncé moment is over and all her country fans are done with their boots and spurs, these Black country artists that you see and like their posts, we will still be here,” Guyton said. “We are still mostly in white spaces. I’m still the one black person in lots of mostly white spaces on boards, attempting to help make decisions and at fundraisers. It is incredibly crucial for every of you, black, white or otherwise, to point out these corporations the monetary value of black art.
To further overcome the obstacles faced by Black country music artists – like Tanner Adell and Tiera Kennedy, who were dropped from their labels before appearing on the song “Blackbird” – Dr. Jada Watson, director of musicology on the University of Ottawa, broke down in regards to the origins of segregation within the music industry and its specific impact on the country genre.
“The recording industry was racially segregated when it was founded in the 1920s – Hillbilly Music and Race Records – and those records became the classification categories under which music was recorded and then sold,” Dr. Watson said in the course of the Grammy Awards panel. -winning artist and songwriter INK, explaining that the identical categories later expanded to radio, then the Billboard charts, and now digital streaming platforms (DSPs).
“Every decision made in connection with building infrastructure and promoting music on the market was related to racial segregation and is 100% still valid,” she added. “If you think that your DSPs are different, they don’t seem to be. Because the identical R&B and country classifications that exist today have their roots within the segregated industry of the Twenties.
Dr. Watson explained that by the numbers, over the past 22 years, songs by Black women have accounted for lower than 1% of airplay on country music radio. “We talk about 0.03% quite often. In 2023, Black women’s songs had 0.02% airplay, so when “Texas Hold ‘Em” came out, it was an opportunity for me, because it has such a global audience, for the format to pick up the song and for the industry to build around possibilities. It hit no. It’s going to start to decline on March 23, and I’m really concerned about that,” said Dr. Watson, who noted that if you add “Texas Hold ‘Em” to the mix of Black women’s songs currently on the air, that number increases to just 0.24%. “So we’re still not in a good place.”
Highlighting Guyton’s remark earlier within the evening in regards to the impact that might be made, “If every Beyoncé fan streamed our song at least once,” Dr. Watson said it isn’t enough to easily like and follow Black country music artists on social media or on the platform’s streaming platform.
“It’s one thing to browse and imitate, it’s another thing, as Mickey said, to keep listening, streaming, coming back, listening to new songs, listening to old songs, because the conversion rate is negative right now,” he says. he said. “On one hand, that’s fine because the follower count continues to grow, but things will plateau once Beyoncé gets to Act III, so Mickey’s advice was the best advice for me. In fact, stream them regularly, stay with them, follow them, go to their shows and buy their merch.”
Regardless of how long the road to equality for Black artists in all musical genres is, each Guyton and BMAC said they refuse to stop trying.
“Our goal at BMAC is non-existence,” Stigers said, stating that disbanding the organization would actually mean eradicating racism within the music industry.
Talking in regards to the journey ahead, Guyton added: “We may not see the real change we want to see in our lifetime, but what awaits us right here gives me so much hope.”
Happy Friday, people. Today it is especially unique since it comprises debut albums from The Stars of Tomorrow, in addition to declines from the icons of the golden years of hip-hop-and all the pieces in between.
Coco Jones drops its debut studio album with 14 amazing songs. By adding to the list of efforts, the singer Destin Conrad, and rapper Tde Ray Vaughn provides. On the opposite hand, Wu-Tang Clan and Mathematics merge with the participation of all nine members of the legendary collective. Our list also includes music from Megan Thee Stallion, PinkPantheress, Tiwa Savage and others.
Look at today’s summary of recent editions below.
Coco Jones – “Why not more?”
Today, after months of high expectations, the multi -level Coco Jones releases a brand new album Why no more?With yg Marley, future and more. Listen to this HERE.
Destin Conrad – “Love on Digital”
Destin Conrad’s Love in digital He draws influence from the nostalgic R&B textures from the start of 2000, while leaning into its future evolution. Check it out HERE.
Flo Milli ft. T-Pain- “Gripper”
Knocker Flo Milli works with T-Pain in his latest single, entitled “Gripper”. Listen to this HERE.
Ray Vaughn – “Good, evil, dollar menu”
Entitled Good, bad and dollar menu, The debut of Vaughth’s long type of the chronicle of his profession trajectory. Check it out HERE.
PinkPantheress – “United States”
Today, Pinkpantheress releases a brand new single “Condition“From her upcoming second mixtape You feel like outside May 9 By Warner Records UK. Streamly send a record HERE.
Megan Thee Gallion – “whenever”
Today, the three -award -winning Grammy Superstar Megan Thee Stallion provided its latest single, “Always when,” which was produced by Bankroll, he got it. Hear this HERE.
Tiwa Savage – “You4me”
Nigerian singer Tiwa Savage continues her successful 2025 with the attractive single studio “You4me”. Stream HERE.
Wu-Tang Clan X Mathematics- “Black Samson, The Bastard Swestman”
Black Samson, Porader Bastard This is the most recent album of the legendary producer Mathematics, with the participation of all nine members of the WU-Tang clan. Hear this HERE.
Ayra Starr ft. Wizkid – “Gimme Dat”
At the start of this week, Ayra Starr merged with Wizkid on “Gimme Dat”, her second single of the 12 months. Check it out HERE.
Issa Rae, Tracee Ellis Ross and Rashida Jones within the 7 Netflix season “Black Mirror”. Thanks to the kindness of Netflix.
He returns to the seventh season, with the composition of the celebrities, which incorporates Rashida Jones, Tracee Ellis Ross and Issa Rae-wheres enter the strange kingdoms of the science fiction series with an unknown comedy and deep human emotions.
Netflix occupies its own species. The canon of science fiction anthology created by the English author Charlton Brooker (and sometimes satirically educates) viewers about technology that is flexible; Making a full of life life unprofitable in a way that we cannot break away from our devices to get a greater well -being. On April 10, he returns with 6 episodes to its very anticipated recent season. In the episode “Hotel Reverie” presents the actor and author Issa Rae Racing Against the Rolling Credits within the variety of Hollywood. In the episode “ordinary people” they present Rashida Jones and Tracee Ellis Ross, who do all the things to fight their very own human mortality. Due to the extremist, butalistic points of Brooker’s plot, swinging in the outline of how human death comes from our external attachment to technology, works strongly with large doses of dark comedy and indefinite human emotions.
Rae throws a tuxedo on Vintage and replaces the figure of Alex Palmer, a drugs doctor who saves this present day in a fictitious cinema. The winner of the Emmy Award plays Black Woman Stand-in for a white male hero in an imaginary story to alter the recognition of the franchise from Keyworth Pictures. Combining how Rae undermines roles and stories to contain more black perspectives, the meta concept is that “Hotel Reverie” begins with Rae as Brandy Friday, an extended -term actress who tries to find her profession with a daring role after a sense of a drawer through fame. “This period is very limited in terms of what Hollywood does and what they are afraid to expose and risk,” Issa Rae jogs my memory of the Beverly Hills hotel. He bends forward: “I want to get out of the agreement, I just want to do what I want to do when I want to do it.”
The sentiments of the natives in California within the face of the industry relate to the figure of Brandy Friday, who’s on the lookout for creative inspiration and redemption. On Friday, he materializes that the hero with sex switching within the historic IP of the Film Studio within the historic IP of the Film Studio, in keeping with revolutionary progress in AI Tech Service, Redroom. An try to acclimatize to its recent film environment causes a cataclysm change in the unique story that revolves across the star Dorothy (Emma Corrin) and her romantic affinity. “Dorothy and Alex Palmer have long gone, but this does not mean that they have nothing to say about how their images are used and we have to do it,” Rae describes how her character is imported to Vintage of the film, refers back to the early AI technology. “Even when artificial intelligence is fed with a lot of writers in Hollywood scripts,” Issa Rae continues: “All this is finally excluded [us] writers. “
The stakes of the episode change into tragic when Friday fights for survival with time, human nature and the black and white megahit aesthetics from the Nineteen Thirties. In addition, he must follow the plot to remain alive, he does it for the plot for his own safety. In real life, Rae refers to being the foremost film through which she decided to live if she had a likelihood when on a regular basis technology develops.
Like one other character, in “ordinary people”, Rashida Jones (Amanda) is a teacher who suffers from a serious health accident and must use the brain wave technology to proceed to live. Tracee Ellis Ross is Gaynor, a supporter of Rivermind fashion sales, an invasive mental device used to guard the brain against disease. “There is always enthusiasm when it comes to innovation,” says Jones, sitting next to his colleague from Ross in New York. “People who are enthusiastic can be radically opposed to really consider the long tail of innovation. A breakthrough that does not really consider ethical parameters around how it can take place in the real world.”
Gaynor provides Amanda Rivermind, and the creator of the series plays in a way that subscriptions took over our subconscious. Ross’s form balances the morbid tone of the episode, because we experience a household damaged from economic burdens, health terror and high contributions. “When medicine is involved; so technology and science, we are in a sense to believe in it as always a good thing,” Ross enters. “But we must have time to process what is the greater consequences” are a service that priority treats profit in the sphere of human protection.
Both the episodes of “Hotel Reverie” and “ordinary people” include organizations run by women with management reminiscent of Ross and Awkwafina. Brooker joins the evolution of the evolution of technology and science in the best way the characters perceive their distorted reality with the addition of latest progress. Jones and Rae play in a difficult situation who try to adapt to the world around them, falling victim to those that prey to individuals with financial profit. “I often consider mortality,” admits Jones when he was asked in regards to the pain of his character. “I want to be fine with my death. I want to be fine because I can be with the fact that everyone I love, die and accept beauty and reality.”
He examines really gloomy topics that query clouded decisions on the earth during excruciating life moments. Brooker uses a comic book glow that comes from Rae, Jones and Ross, and puts them in mental dilemmas that test their connections with their very own humanity. “Our stories [as Black women] They are so multidimensional and it seems to me that we barely outlined the surface, “says Rae with the sunshine of charisma, despite the tangible rejection, which is to inform more black women’s stories.” This is an exciting part. We have survived so much throughout the story throughout the story, which is not untouched. “
Celebrity Coverage
WNBA star Aliyah Boston’s Best Assist? Showing the properties of young women of black women is achievable – essence
Uncasville, Connecticut – May 14: Aliyah Boston #7 Indiana Fever looks before the match against Connecticut Sun at Mohegan Sun Arena on May 14, 2024 in Uncasville, Connecticut. Note for the user: The user clearly confirms and agrees that by downloading and or using this photo, the user agrees to the terms of the Getty Images license agreement. (Photo Elsa/Getty Images)
For many young skilled athletes, life is defined by continuous movement.
They spend hours and weeks at training, away matches and latest team cities, which is not exhausting for the body, but in addition the mind. But the star of WNBA Aliyah Boston finally finds his room and involves put away the roots in Charlotte, North Carolina at the age of only 23 years old.
Indiana fever that earned Rookie of the Year Honors in 2023She was in constant motion since she was 12 years old when she left her family home in the US Virgin Islands to implement basketball possibilities in the United States. Now he takes a distinct type of milestone: home owner.
“Entering my new home in Charlotte and realizing that it was my amazing moment,” says Boston Essence. “There was a deep sense of achievement and independence, knowing that I achieved this milestone.”
Boston’s journey to the owner of the house occurs at a time when such achievement is increasingly beyond the reach of many young Americans. According to Latest data From Zillow, lonely women gene with only 5% of all buyers of houses throughout the country. For Boston, securing her own space is greater than a financial investment.
After transition years – from the Virgin Islands to continental America, through her profession in Southern Carolina, where she led GameCocks to the national championships, to the election of the first in the general classification in 2023 a draft in Indiana Fever – Boston defines what the house means.
“I think there are several meanings,” she explained. “I found out figuratively, that a house is more than a place – it is a sense of comfort and belonging, and I was lucky that in many different places for years.”
For Boston, the process of becoming the owner of the house was not without challenges. Like many buyers for the first time, especially those in the twenties, navigating the mortgages, inspections and closures turned out to be discouraging.
“Moving around the housing market and understanding all details can be overwhelming, especially for young people,” she said. “I learned that you don’t have to do it yourself. Like basketball, you want to gather a team of experts who will support you through this process.”
Boston’s announcement in Boston appears shortly after a colleague WNBA Rising Star Angel Reese made an identical power movement by buying his first house at the age of 22. These young athletes construct generational wealth at the starting of their profession, giving an example to other young black women who can see the owner of the house.
“For my black women generation with, who think that the owner of the house is out of reach, I want to say it’s possible!” Boston emphasized. “Educate about this process, look for resources and don’t be afraid to ask for help. Thanks to determination and appropriate support, you can do it!”
On the pitch, Boston still imprints his trail in the era of WNBA full of young talents. After her outstanding debut season, wherein she On average, 14.5 points and eight.4 rebounds per matchShe considered herself one of the most vital players in the league and defensive anchors.
“It’s really an exciting time in WNBA and women’s sports,” Boston wondered. “We are surrounded by veterans of legends, and at the same time so many talented young players impress their trail. Energy is electric, and fans that in my opinion noticed what was fantastic for the development of the game.”
Asked about her relationship with a colleague from class 2023 Caitlin Clark, who drew unprecedented attention to the league, Boston emphasized cooperation on the competition.
“We make every effort to remain grounded and faithful to who we are. I am blessed that I have a family around me and a team of people who keep me on the right track,” she said. “Caitlin and I have great relationships and we focus on mutual support and raising all women in the league and outside. We are competitive on the pitch and wants to win, but at the end of the day it’s all love.”
WNBA has recorded record turnout and viewership this season, with young stars, resembling Boston, Clark, Reese and others attracting latest women’s basketball recipients. In the case of Boston, this growth appears to be validation of the labor, which she and her peers interjected during their journeys.
Looking back at his path from the Virgin Islands to Wnba Stardom, and now the owner of the house, Boston has a message for the younger self: “Be concentrated and continue to trust God’s plan for you. Every challenge and failure is the opportunity to develop and get closer to your dreams.”
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