Kehlani - "You Should Be Here"
Normally during PRIDE month (June) I do my best to post only or mainly LGBTQIA+ Artists. In light of the civil unrest around the nation and the injustices that have been forced upon the Black Community through years of enslavement, systemic racism, widespread oppression, and a set of generational socioeconomic traps, I thought this year it would be important to spotlight just how many QUEER BLACK ARTISTS changed and shaped the world through music, arts, culture, and activism.
So this June I will spotlight all Queer Black Artists to show you one more way in which we should be grateful for to the Queer Black Community and how without them we would not have the world or nation that we love so much. We should be grateful and proud.
BLACK LIVES MATTER + PRIDE (LGTBQIA+ Allies)
Tsunamis can't be tamed, just as the magnitude of Kehlani's profoundness can't be quantified. This Oakland, California native changed the trajectory of her life when her 2015 mixtape You Should Be Here obtained a top 40 slot on the Billboard 200, and later reaped a Grammy nomination for best urban contemporary album in 2016. Her debut album, SweetSexySavage, peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart, thereupon engraving the name 'Kehlani' into the pavement of popular culture.
Singer Kehlani, who has said she’s part black, is a bisexual free-spirit from Oakland, California. Her hit songs “Distraction” and “The Way” have attracted mainstream attention. But it’s one of her lesser-known songs that will leave you with the utmost respect for the singer.
In “First Position,” a bold Kehlani persuades a seemingly bi-curious woman to “stop messing with those boys and “get you a lady” and it’s utterly awe-inspiring.
It’s only a matter of time before more artists like this infiltrate the music scene. In the meantime, stay proud and claim your blackness and queerness deafeningly loud.
So today, with each part being valued, I choose Kehlani’s “You Should Be Here” as my, make your way, hold your breath, rest your legs then start the race again, song for a, you don’t have to be any other version of you, what you are is enough, you are worthy, Monday.