"What you did indeed say is, “This is why many black people are uncomfortable being in predominately white spaces,” and you still stand true to that.
You and your friends have been called the N word, been approached as prostitutes, and have had your hair touched in a predominately white bar just around the corner from the same venue".
Solange, "And Do You Belong? I Do", Saint Heron
A Seat at the Table (2016), Solange's third and latest album, conveys the same determined tone that her powerful personal essay on micro-aggressions against African Americans did last month. She has described the timely album - which arrives as the Black Lives Matter movement intensifies and Election Day approaches - as "an invitation to allow folks to pull up a chair, get very close and have these hard uncomfortable truths be shared. It’s not going to be pretty, it’s not going to be fun, you may not get to dance to it, you’re not going to breathe easily through it, but that is the state of the times that we’re in right now" (Saint Heron).
"Don't Touch My Hair" could have foregrounded boiling rage and acidic indignation, but Solange chooses to assert her right to bodily autonomy with a steely grace. Against bright synths and muted horns, she invokes empathy while delivering a serene and soulful - yet severe - warning about the limits of her ability to endure invasions of her personhood - while Sampha provides stellar backing vocals during the 'What you say to me' refrain:
'You know this hair is my shitRode the ride, I gave it timeBut this here is mineWhat you say, oh?What you say to me?What you say to me?What you say to me?'
Lyrics: Genius
