Black Renaissance: Part I
A "renaissance" can be defined as a time characterized by great cultural change. This cultural change can be intellectual, social, artistic, or any other field that can shift how an era sees the world or even sees itself. Based on previous eras of great discovery, we may currently be in the middle of a Black Renaissance film, television, and possibly music. To be clear, this isn't to suggest that the social justice issues have been even remotely solved or that this renaissance includes any substantial political or systemic change. This will be the first in our Black Renaissance series. For Part I, we'll focus on 2016. After much research, it would have been too much to include every year in the detail necessary in one article.
For the sake of this article, this Renaissance is limited to specifically film, television, music, and other creative pursuits. On another occasion, we can delve into the tumultuous state of social justice in America as well as the ever-prevalent systemic issues that still haunt the current Black Renaissance that is being hypothesized.
Every Renaissance has a beginning. It's difficult to pinpoint when the current Black Renaissance began, but 2016 seems like the safest and most practical place to start. Black culture had an amazing 2016. When it came to Black film and television, we got a chance to see ourselves just being us. The day-to-day lives of Black people were explored and more importantly, marketed to the masses in new ways.
Several films came out in 2016 that had huge impacts on how we were viewed on screen. The films that stood out were Moonlight and Hidden Figures. Moonlight is a film presented in three phases. The childhood, adolescence, and early adult life of a young black man in the inner city. The depiction of him exploring his sexuality throughout the film was an important turning point for a film with an all-Black cast. The film was received with universal acclaim and proceeded to win an Academy Award for Best picture as well as Best Adapted Screenplay.
Hidden Figures was about a group of Black mathematicians who worked at NASA during the Space Race. It's so rare that we see Black people as scientists on-screen that this being a featured film was a noteworthy achievement. The mathematicians being Black women made it even better since the contributions of Black women throughout history are often downplayed.
In 2016, three important television shows premiered that have continued to have relevance until this day. Queen Sugar, Insecure, and Atlanta. In all fairness, these weren't the only shows by Black creators (Or with black leads) that premiered that year. Underground, Greenleaf, and Luke Cage also premiered in 2016, but the sustaining cultural relevance of the initial three mentioned is more important for this topic.
Season One of Queen Sugar was released in 2016 on the Oprah Winfrey Network (Own). Queen Sugar is based on a book by the same name written by Natalie Baszile. The show is executive produced by Ava Duverney and Oprah Winfrey. Ava was fresh off the heels of her critically acclaimed film "Selma" in 2014. Queen sugar revolves around a family in Louisiana and shoes some of the everyday complexities of the Black family, social justice, among other issues. The series finished its sixth season in 2020 and it was announced the next season will be the last one.
Insecure was also released in 2016 on HBO. Insecure was created by Issa Rae, and could arguably be the most important show in Black television of all time. Insecure showed the everyday life of a black woman in modern-day Los Angeles. The ins and outs of Issa simply existing were something that we hadn't seen on television since possibly Girlfriends which ran from 2000-2008. On top of what was going on onscreen, there was so much behind the scenes as well. Insecure was an avenue for Black writers, directors, stylists, and different kinds of black creators to be a part of a cultural moment. Issa constantly speaks about opening the door for Black creatives. This is important since oftentimes the only we will get into certain rooms is if someone who looks like us lets us in.
Atlanta was released on FX in 2016 and was created by rapper Childish Gambino (Donal Glover). The series is about a young man, his cousin who's a rapper, and all the people around them as they navigate life in Atlanta. The series has introduced some iconic characters into the Black canon including Teddy Perkins (played by Donald Glover) and Alligator Man (played by comedian Katt Williams). Katt Williams went on to win a primetime Emmy for his performance as Alligator Man.
Donald Glover also released his funk-infused album "Awaken, My Love!" in 2016. This was one of several albums that came out in 2016 that have had high replay value, were unapologetically Black, and continued capitalizing on an era of storytelling and experimenting in Black music that we haven't seen much of in the modern era. 2016 also blessed us with Beyonce's "Lemonade" which drew from many inspirations including Black history, Black feminism, and spanned multiple genres including R&B, Blues, Jazz, and Country.
The Knowles family also gave us Solange's "A Seat At The Table." Executive produced by legendary songwriter Raphael Saadiq, this album wasted no words and never beat around the bush. An ode to the Black narrative and Black musicianship, this album told a complete and concise story from beginning to end.
Rihanna's last musical offering was also in 2016. "ANTI" saw Rihanna stray away from the mainstream Pop sounds we were used to hearing from her. With Kuk Harrell doing all of the vocal production, and production from musicians such as Timbaland, No I.D., Hitboy, and Shea Taylor, we heard Rihanna as we'd never heard her before.
2016 also saw Afrobeat music storm on the U.S charts with Drake and Wizkid's number one hit "One Dance." With production from South African producer DJ Maphorisa, 40, Wizkid, and Nineteen85, One Dance was crafted for success. A number 1 song, no one could go anywhere without hearing this song in the summer of 2016. This felt like Wizkid catapulted into the international scene, and as we'll mention in subsequent articles, he and African music haven't looked back since.