Twin sisters Lisa-Kaindé Diaz and Naomi Diaz are featured prominently in the visual album for Beyoncé's sixth LP Lemonade.  Together they form the duo Ibeyi. Their name, pronounced ee-bee-yee, means twins in Yoruba. They infuse Yoruba spiritual practices into their music with plentiful references to Orisha.

The girls have French and Afro-Cuban heritage and sing in Yoruba, the language their ancestors spoke before they were brought to Cuba and enslaved as a means to maintain a legacy. Lisa Kaindé told The New York Times, "Everyone gets it; you can feel it. We grew up listening to those chants. We are singing religious prayers."

Ibeyi released their debut album in U.S. in 2014 to critical acclaim. They received most attention for the video for their second single, "River." The song ends with a Yoruba chant, "Wemile Oshun Oshun dede Alawede Wemile Oshun Moolowo beleru yalode moyewede."








Lemonade was filled with references to Diasporic spirituality, so Bey's fondness for Ibeyi comes as no surprise. She's tapped them as leaders of the new school along with her Chloe and Halle who are signed to her label Parkwood Entertainment, Amandla Stenberg, and Zendaya.

Photo: HBO/Parkwood Entertainment

Missy Elliott is back! It's been quite some time since the rapper has dropped new music, but today she has blessed fans with a hot new video for her single "WTF (Where They From)" featuring Pharrell.

by Shonette Reed

A Parisian musician fronting a 17-piece band called Escort, Adeline Michèle has the jazz-funk genre down to a tee, and describes her persona as "If Prince and Chaka Khan had a kid together."


Though not a solo artist, Adeline Michèle released her single "Redo" from her upcoming solo album in March, and the disco sound is perfect for parties at any time of the year.

Escort, a contemporary disco band based out of Brooklyn, NY was founded by Dan Balis and Eugene Cho who met at Vassar College and started making house music in the early 2000s. Though having an old sound approach, the band aims to make music relevant to DJs today.


In 2011, they released their first album titled Escort and their second album this year titled "Animal Nature."

The singer is a fashion maven and though having been born in Paris, Adeline Michèle always knew she’d be a performer in New York. Her dream had always been to pursue music, causing her to drop out of college when she saw that the security of that plan kept her away from her dreams.

The singer is greatly influenced by Diana Ross and even went as far as to describe her as “her musical godmother,” in an interview with Madewell. When it comes to fashion, Adeline Michèle draws from her style icons: Diana Ross, Grace Jones and David Bowie.

“I am singer and bass player. My job is totally compatible with my hair type. Being a performer inspires me to push new limits and try new styles constantly,” Michèle said in an interview with Urban Bush Babes. “I love the idea of being a chameleon so I do a lot of head-pieces, wigs, hats, and when I feel like it I know and can always have my hair all out and free and still feel done up and special.”

Though currently residing in Brooklyn, the Parisian-bred singer searches for pieces of Paris everywhere she goes and that European flair shows up in the things she wears as well as the music she makes.

The singer is one busy lady, playing the role of fashion correspondent on the Meredith Vieira Show, working on her first solo album as well as an album with her band Escort. Adeline Michèle is definitely one of the most fashionable and notable talents of today.



Photo: J. Quazi King / THE QUAZI PERSPECTIVE

Shonette Reed is regular contributor for Coloures and For Harriet from Los Angeles, Calif. With plans to break into the fashion industry as a fashion reporter, she runs her own style blog. Her aim is to highlight the important contributions of women of color in the fashion industry as well as give women of color more exposure within the leading magazines in fashion. You can follow her on twitter @ShonetteReed.

Chrisette Michele gave fans an all exclusive look into her acoustic studio rehearsal in a video posted to youtube. In the video, Chrisette and her talented background singers perform amazing acoustic renditions of "What You Do," "Epiphany," and Janet Jackson's "I Get Lonely."

UK soul-singer Lianne La Havas stopped by the NPR office to perform a 14-minute set for the popular Tiny Desk Concert series.

By Kristina Robinson

What would it look like if you woke up tomorrow in a free world? Singer-songwriter, Charm Taylor’s latest music-video offering, “Moksha” from her debut EP, The Road Within, presents her vision of such a place. Opening with the voice of Marcus Garvey booming from the radio and Ms. Charm Taylor at the wheel of 1966 pink Ford Galaxie, this musical moksha is a vibrant afro-diasporic art- pop romp through the streets of a liberated New Orleans.

Tink — who we are fans of — made XXL’s 2015 Freshman cover. Each year, the magazine picks hip hop’s latest promising stars to grace their cover. Along with the cover, the artists participate in a cypher and spit solo freestyles. Encapsulating both her singing and rapping capabilities, the Chicago native’s freestyle is reminiscent of Nas and Lauryn Hill’s “If I Ruled the World.”

Cecile Emeke is most known for her two webseries strolling and Ackee & Saltfish. But Emeke always seems to be working on something new. In one of her latest projects ‘Lines,’ which was a collaboration with Dazed & Confused, the filmmaker asks, “What’s really in a song?” She asks this question to Black women who dissect lyrics from Missy Elliott’s ‘Work It’ and Destiny’s Child’s ‘Nasty Gal’ among other once popular songs that still have a place in pop culture today.



Of the Destiny’s Child hit, women discuss the difference in how they felt listening to the song in their adolescence versus now as an adult. They note the sense of respectability politics in the lyrics. Tune into their discussion in the video below.



Photo: YouTube

Deonna Anderson is Junior Editor at For Harriet. Follow her on Twitter at @iamDEONNA.