Black Is King is a 2020 American musical film co-written, executive produced, and directed by Beyoncé. It is a visual companion to the 2019 album The Lion King: The Gift, curated by Beyoncé for the film The Lion King (2019).
The film tells the story of a young African prince (Folajomi Akinmurele) who is exiled from his kingdom after his father's death. As he grows into a man (Nyaniso Dzedze), he undergoes a journey of self-identity, using the guidance of his ancestor (Beyoncé), childhood love (Nandi Madida), and his own subconscious (Stephen Ojo) to reclaim his throne. The prince's journey acts as an allegory for the African diaspora's journey of discovering, reclaiming and celebrating their culture and heritage, which is echoed by the inclusion of spoken-word poetry that focuses on the question of black identity.
Black Is King was in production for over a year, across six countries on three continents. Beyoncé wanted to recruit a diverse cast and crew and to provide opportunities for new talent. The music, dances, costumes, hairstyles, and sets were designed to showcase the beauty and richness of the cultures in the African continent and diaspora. The film was released globally on Disney+ on July 31, 2020, and was aired the following day across Sub-Saharan Africa on M-Net and Canal+ Afrique and across the Middle East and North Africa on OSN. An extended version of "Black Parade" was used for the film's credits, and was included in a deluxe edition of The Gift released alongside the film.
The film received praise for Beyoncé's direction, the cinematography, score, costume design, subject matter, and cultural themes. It received six nominations at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, including Best Music Film. "Brown Skin Girl" won the award for Best Music Video, while "Black Parade" won the award for Best R&B Performance. It was Beyoncé's 28th Grammy win, making her the most awarded singer and female artist in Grammy history. The film also won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Costumes for a Variety, Nonfiction, or Reality Program at the 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards.
Plot On a beach in the spiritual plane, a newborn prince is held by his maternal ancestor while she tells him of his significance and purpose ("Bigger"). She performs rituals for the prince and joins other women who are also holding newborns. On the beach, the prince is anointed with white paint by the ancestor, while in a royal palace, he is similarly anointed by an elder. The king gives the young prince a small golden scepter and tells the prince that his ancestors look down on them from the stars and will always be there to guide him ("Find Your Way Back").
The young boy is enticed by a monkey to enter a warehouse. A man with a snake asks the boy who he is, but the boy does not answer. The boy stays in the warehouse, adorns himself with gold, and spends his time gambling while being watched by his ancestor and the blue man ("Don't Jealous Me"). Outside, a biker gang arrives and encircles the prince. The king comes to save him and is killed by a bike. The prince's uncle tells the prince to flee the village, and he takes over the throne ("Scar"). In the spiritual plane, the ancestor leads the king's funeral, while the blue man sits alone ("Nile").
The prince dreams of living a carefree life, driving past his ancestor and the blue man. He lives in an extravagant mansion full of expensive clothes, servants, and feasts ("Mood 4 Eva"). The prince remembers his uncle banging on a drum, causing him to drop the scepter into the water. A human chess game takes place in the mansion's ground, reminding the prince of how his father taught him the game, which represented the duality of good and evil. In real life, the prince grows up and moves to the city. He now dreams of spending his time partying with girls inside a tricked-out hearse ("Ja Ara E"). His driver appears as his uncle, who taunts him with the golden scepter. He stumbles out of the car and wakes up. The prince realizes that pursuing material wealth is unsustainable, and he is encouraged to reclaim his purpose and identity ("Already"). His ancestor tells the prince that he will meet himself at the shore, as the blue man walks into the sea ("Water"). The prince is reunited with his childhood love ("Brown Skin Girl"). The couple gets married ("Keys to the Kingdom"), but he is plagued by self-doubt over his purpose.
In another time, a sandstorm arrives ("Otherside"). As others are fleeing, the ancestor decides to place her baby in a basket and put it in the river to save the baby. As the basket flows down the river, it reaches a waterfall. In the spiritual plane, the ancestor is reunited with her baby.
The ancestor tells the prince to return to the river, in which he finds the scepter. He is reunited with the elder, who anoints him again with white paint, and he floats upwards into the spiritual plane. The prince reunites with his father and breaks down in front of him. The ancestor reminds the prince of his power, and he assembles an army of women to fight his uncle ("My Power"). They chase him out of the kingdom, and the prince reclaims his throne. The ancestor brings the new king and queen their baby ("Spirit"), and the baby is anointed.
Cast Beyoncé as a spirit guide, maternal figure, and/or ancestor Folajomi Akinmurele as a young prince, inspired by Simba Nyaniso Ntsikelelo Dzedze as the adult prince, inspired by Simba Stephen Ojo as the blue man, a representation of the prince's subconscious Nandi Madida as the prince's love interest, inspired by Nala Warren Masemola as the prince’s uncle who takes over the kingdom, inspired by Scar Sibusiso Mbeje as the prince's father, inspired by Mufasa Connie Chiume as the prince's mother, inspired by Sarabi Mary Twala as an elder, inspired by Rafiki. The film was Twala's last role and was released after her death. Fumi Odede
Special appearances
Themes and analysis
Black identity and black pride The storyline of the prince's journey of self-discovery in Black Is King acts as an allegory for the African diaspora's journey of self-discovery, with the film acting as a clarion call to the diaspora to reclaim their identity through black pride. The story of how the prince is exiled from his homeland to an alien world acts a parallel to the story of how Africans were forcibly removed from the continent and taken to the United States as slaves. As the prince grows up, he is plagued by the question of his identity, reflecting African Americans' continued struggle with their identity. Colonialism, slavery and the oppression of black people has severed their connection to their heritage and has caused even black people themselves to think of their culture as corrupt or worthless, in the same way the prince was led to believe that he is undeserving of the role that was his birthright.
With Black Is King, Beyoncé is providing a solution for this. In the story of the film, the prince receives guidance and empowerment from his ancestors to recognize his brilliance and ultimately reclaim his throne. Similarly, with the film, Beyoncé is empowering the African diaspora to connect with their heritage, celebrate their culture and recognize their self-worth. Beyoncé said that Black Is King aims to shift "the global perception of the word 'Black'" and show that "Black is regal and rich in history, in purpose and in lineage", which is achieved in the film by showcasing a wide variety of African music styles, dances, costumes, hairstyles, settings and traditions with the help of African creatives.
Taylor Crumpton for The Ringer posited that Black Is King therefore sends a message to the African diaspora that in order for them to "disinvest from established power dynamics" and "exist outside the constraints of white supremacy", they must undertake an internal journey to discover and celebrate the rich identity and heritage that was lost to them. Candice Frederick for The Guardian added that Beyoncé showing that "Black power comes from within and is our cultural birthright [and] not something that is granted to us by someone else" is a "hard realization", as the current narrative is centered on "how a system built by other people has failed us and what we need from them to be successful".
The need for diasporic Africans struggling with their identity to gain self-awareness before confronting their oppression is echoed in an excerpt from Uncle Sam, a 2013 poem by student Joshua Abah, that was featured in Black Is King, which reads:
Afrofuturism
Kinitra Brooks, Endowed Chair in Literary Studies at Michigan State University, described Black Is King as "an aural and visual rendering of Afrofuturistic Blackness in the 21st century", referring to the philosophy and cultural aesthetic that combines science fiction, history and fantasy to encourage black people to recover their heritage in order to create their own futures. Elisabeth Woronzoff for PopMatters noted that Black Is King engages with the Afrofuturist themes of "reliance on the cosmos for explanation and influence" and "the uneasy connection between lineage and self", with the film being influenced by Octavia Butler's writings as a work that "reclaims identity regardless of whether it is earthbound or cosmic". Woronzoff also noted that the film's storyline of an outcast African king draws multiple parallels to events from throughout black people's history until today, including "African history, the Middle Passage, and the Black Lives Matter movement".
Maxine Montgomery, Professor of English at Florida State University, described the influence of Afrofuturism on the film, writing: "Afro-futurist tropes involving time travel across the cosmos, cultural clashes with the other, and encounters with newness lift [Black Is King] out of the temporal and locate the production in a timeless realm that encourages a rethinking of established time, space, and identity." Montgomery explained that Black Is King, through its references to "vernacular structures implying futurity", disrupts the orthodox "narrow critical framework" employed by cultural critics such as Mark Dery, concluding: "The unconventional temporalities that figure into [Black Is King] beckon us to abandon received ways of seeing and being seen, to cross over into an original social and psychic space."
Pan-Africanism
According to Rading Biko of The Standard, Black Is King "has awaken the spirit of Pan-Africanism", a movement that aims to unite black people in Africa and the diaspora. Biko wrote that Pan-African activist Marcus Garvey inspired the film, bringing his quote: "Be as proud of your race today as our fathers were in days of yore. We have beautiful history, and we shall create another in the future that will astonish the world." Garvey's Pan-African flag, a symbol of black liberation, was the inspiration for David Hammons' African-American flag, which is seen in Black Is King being held up by a group of black men. According to Brooke Obie of Esquire, this scene signifies "the political and communal unity of all Indigenous people of Africa, throughout the Diaspora". Obie concluded: "Just like the art, fashion, locations, musicians and actors who make up Black Is King and The Gift, we are stronger when we see ourselves connected in global struggle and glory."
Claire Shaffer of Rolling Stone described Black Is King as "a Pan-African collage", with the film showcasing fashion, music, dances, locations and languages from throughout the African continent and diaspora. Director Blitz Bazawule described the film as "a phenomenal opportunity to see Blackness represented with universality". Bazawule continued: "It was so many voices, all singing in a chorus in a way that I've never witnessed in my life. As a creator, it's completely changed how I look at my art, how I look at Blackness in general, and how we communicate with each other globally."
Subversion of stereotypes