Jackson State University has just received the ultimate bragging rights – a feature in Homecoming: A Film by Beyonce. Albeit only for a couple of seconds, the Sonic Boom of the South’s appearance on the screen is still a moment of great magnitude because it’s Beyonce, y’all.
The Netflix documentary gives a play-by-play of her first-and-second weekend performances at Coachella last year, which has been playfully renamed Beychella by the Beyhive. Seamless editing merges the two shows into one and added behind the scenes footage, intimate family moments and shifting camera angles make her 2018 performance feel fresh and new.
What makes this documentary unique is Beyonce’s undeniable homage to black culture, but more significantly her tribute to HBCUs and HBCU band culture. She previously shared that some of her dance moves are inspired by Jackson State University’s Prancing J-Settes. In the doc, she further reveals a long-standing wish to attend an HBCU, and she seems to visually showcase this desire to viewers by placing noted historic black colleges and universities, like JSU, in her documentary. It is a gesture that displays the singer’s love and respect for all things black. And during a voiceover in her familiar raspy tone, Beyonce shares some of what she loves about her people.
“The amount of swag is just limitless, the things that these young people can do with their bodies and the music they can play, the drum rolls …,” she says. “It’s just not right. It’s just so much damn swag…”
Sounds like “Thee I Love.”