By Monday morning, Facebook and Twitter were overrun with articles praising/discussing/highlighting/otherwise fawning over Beyoncé’s “iconic” halftime show performance during Super Bowl 50 Sunday night featuring her new racially-charged song “Formation.”
Decked out in a bullet-lined leather leotard reminiscent of the Black Panthers movement, the former Destiny's Child frontwoman and her crew of dark-skinned ladies pumped their fists into the air while gyrating across the field to the stage in platform boots.
And apparently, the whole thing was some amazing moment for civil rights.
NBC News hailed the performance “exuberant,” “pointed” and a “rebuke of the so-called politics of responsibility.” An opinion columnist with USA Today called it “sizzling, sexy, super-charged.”
Spencer Kornhaber with The Atlantic said this about Beyoncé’s performance and “Formation”: “It feels life-giving and maybe even revolutionary.”
Even First Lady Michelle Obama told CBS This Morning’s Gayle King (you know, Oprah Winfrey’s BFF?) she planned to dress up for Beyoncé’s performance, saying she “cared deeply about the halftime show” during an appearance on the show Sunday morning before the game.
So just how empowering is "Formation" to the Black Lives Matter movement? We looked up the whole song, and here are some of our favorite lyrics from the track:
Y'all haters corny with that illuminati mess
Paparazzi, catch my fly, and my cocky fresh...
Downright Shakespearean, really.
My daddy Alabama, Momma Louisiana
You mix that negro with that Creole make a Texas bama
I like my baby hair, with baby hair and afros
I like my negro nose with Jackson Five nostrils
Earned all this money but they never take the country out me
I got a hot sauce in my bag, swag
Bummer, white people. No more Tabasco for you.
I dream it, I work hard
I grind 'til I own it
I twirl on them haters
Albino alligators
Well...that’s just offensive...
Cause I slay, slay
I slay, hey, I slay, okay
I slay, okay, all day, okay
I slay, okay, I slay okay
We gon' slay, slay
Gon' slay, okay
We slay, okay
I slay, okay
I slay, okay
Okay, okay, I slay, okay
Okay, okay, okay, okay
So…..you're slaying, then? Am I understanding this right?
Okay, okay, ladies, now let's get in formation, cause I slay
Okay ladies, now let's get in formation, cause I slay
Prove to me you got some coordination, cause I slay
Slay trick, or you get eliminated.
Nope. Clearly not understanding this at ALL.
When he f*** me good I take his a** to Red Lobster, cause I slay
When he f*** me good I take his a** to Red Lobster, cause I slay
Did we mention the song’s music video features Beyoncé’s four-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy? Just let that sink in.
Girl I hear some thunder
Golly this is that water boy, oh lord.
There it is, ladies and gentlemen. Civil Rights in 2016.