{"id":1165,"date":"2019-10-30T07:39:40","date_gmt":"2019-10-30T11:39:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/hoochie\/?p=1165"},"modified":"2020-08-29T16:41:34","modified_gmt":"2020-08-29T20:41:34","slug":"princess-nokias-brujas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/hoochie\/2019\/10\/30\/princess-nokias-brujas\/","title":{"rendered":"Princess Nokia\u2019s \u201cBrujas\u201d is the Bitchcraft Anthem Everyone Needs to Listen to This Halloween*"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">*No broomsticks or pointed hats allowed<\/span><\/h1>\n<h6>By Annie Jonas<\/h6>\n<p>I have been a longtime fan of Princess Nokia, and this Halloween, I think it\u2019s important to talk about \u201cBrujas,\u201d a song which reclaims witchcraft and magic from European misappropriation.<\/p>\n<p>Destiny Frasqueri, better known as Princess Nokia, is an intersectional feminist and rapper from New York City. Her discography is vast and diverse, ranging from Game of Thrones inspired music (\u201cDragon\u201d), to body and hair positive anthems (\u201cTomboy,\u201d \u201cMine\u201d), to an ode for her Puerto Rican, Yoruba, and Arawak heritage (\u201cBrujas\u201d). Her most recent album, <em>1992<\/em>, is an amalgamation of her love for New York City, passion for feminism, and connection to her Afro-Indigenous identity.<\/p>\n<p>In \u201cBrujas,\u201d Princess Nokia calls out stereotypes of witchcraft and magic\u2014broomsticks, pointy hats, and warts can stay in <em>Hocus Pocus\u2014<\/em>and instead, embraces her ancestry:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">I\u2019m that Black-a-Rican bruja straight out from the Yoruba<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">And my people come from Africa diaspora, Cuba<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">And you mix that Arawak, that original people<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">I\u2019m that Black Native American, I vanquish all evil<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">I\u2019m that Black-a-Rican bruja straight out from the Yoruba<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">And my ancestors Nigerian, my grandmas was brujas<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">And I come from an island and it\u2019s called Puerto Rico<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">And it\u2019s one of the smallest, but it got the most people.<\/p>\n<p>Basically, the song is one large\u00a0middle finger to European\/Western narratives which designate witchcraft and magic as threatening and malicious. Fittingly, the song\u2019s bridge literally curses out this narrative (\u201cDon\u2019t you fuck with my energy\u201d) and ends with Princess Nokia\u2019s powerful identification as an unapologetic bruja who is \u201csupreme.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Check out the &#8220;Brujas&#8221; music video\u00a0and read the lyrics <a href=\"https:\/\/genius.com\/Princess-nokia-brujas-lyrics\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"474\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/iUcAPCxrSQs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>To accompany the \u201cBrujas\u201d music video, Princess Nokia created a short film titled <em>Maiden, Mermaid, Well<\/em>. The film spans just under two minutes, but despite its brevity, it conjures (pun not intended) a powerful message of ancestral pride, specifically, that which is female and matrilineal.<\/p>\n<p>The film depicts Yemoja\/Yemaja, the Ocean Mother Goddess in Afro-Caribbean religions like Yoruba, wading in water with Princess Nokia and other women, all dressed in white. The film is serene and spiritual, with Princess Nokia\u2019s soft narration overlaid to further emphasize her earlier message in \u201cBrujas\u201d of pride in witchcraft and rejection of European\/Western stereotypes:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">My blackness is not shameful.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">My religion is not a sin.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">I do not worship the devil.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">I\u2019ve never practiced bad magic a day in my life.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">My magic is not spiteful.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">I do not use it for hatred, envy, or greed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">My beliefs are sacred<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">But I don\u2019t carry a broomstick,<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">My nose has no warts,<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">And I hate to break it to you baby, but<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">There is no pointed hat.<\/p>\n<p>Check out the film\u00a0below.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"474\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cLWl3EelQ-4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I think \u201cBrujas\u201d and <em>Maiden, Mermaid, Well <\/em>are important to listen to and watch because we need to be aware of the ways dominant cultures likes Western culture can distort\u00a0spiritual practices by BIPOC, such as magic or witchcraft, into something completely different, and often, perceived as \u201cwicked.\u201d This Halloween, please be mindful of this and make sure to proceed with caution when dressing up\u2013\u2013remember that\u00a0this is someone\u2019s culture, it is not a costume.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>*No broomsticks or pointed hats allowed By Annie Jonas I have been a longtime fan of Princess Nokia, and this Halloween, I think it\u2019s important to talk about \u201cBrujas,\u201d a song which reclaims witchcraft and magic from European misappropriation. Destiny Frasqueri, better known as Princess Nokia, is an intersectional feminist and rapper from New York &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/hoochie\/2019\/10\/30\/princess-nokias-brujas\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Princess Nokia\u2019s \u201cBrujas\u201d is the Bitchcraft Anthem Everyone Needs to Listen to This Halloween*<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7072,"featured_media":1175,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[758,804,120],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/hoochie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1165"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/hoochie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/hoochie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/hoochie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7072"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/hoochie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1165"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/hoochie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1504,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/hoochie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1165\/revisions\/1504"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/hoochie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/hoochie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/hoochie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/hoochie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}