“Blakanda” was the theme, and black Hollywood didn’t disappoint at the 2018 BET Awards Sunday night, when black excellence took center stage at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Since several of our Root crew were in attendance, we left it to them to fill you in on all the details about the show, while we’ll do…
You strip away the makeup, the costumes and everything you know about Janelle Monáe the artist, and I’m still the African-American, queer woman who grew up with poor, working-class parents. When I walk off a stage, I have to deal with these confrontations. I have to deal with being afraid for my family.
In the lead-up to her new album, Dirty Computer, which drops this Friday, Janelle Monáe has more than hinted at her sexual identity. “Make Me Feel”—which channels her mentor Prince and features a synth line written by him—references both Black Mirror’s “San Junipero” episode, a queer utopian fantasy in which two women…
