On Election Day 2016, if your energy hasn’t been fucked with by the U.S. presidential campaign, your bruja blinders are functioning at supreme levels. Congratulations to you and your coven. For the rest of us who have been thrown off our game, New York emcee Princess Nokia has unleashed the video for “Brujas,” a cut off her 1992 EP. Use these holy Yoruba girl gang visuals to remind yourself of the powers that lie beyond any podium.
“Brujas” continues to demonstrate Princess Nokia’s (aka Destiny Nicole Frasqueri) ability to create powerful and positive imagery. The clip references Yemayá, the female water spirit and mother of all living things in the Yoruba religion. Then the clip seems to re-envision the squad from The Craft as brown brujas.
Her last single “Tomboy” had us screaming, “my little titties and my fat belly” on the court and in the club, and last year’s “Young Girls” struck the closest note to the nature-based power of “Brujas,” exploring the strong line of feminine power from which Nuyorican Frasqueri comes. Consider this verse from “Brujas,” in which she summons the powers of her ancestors:
“I’m the Black a-Rican bruja straight out from the Yoruba
And my people come from Africa diaspora, Cuba
And you mix that Arawak, that original people
I’m that Black Native American, I vanquish all evil
I’m the Black a-Rican bruja straight out from the Yoruba
And my ancestors Nigerian, my grandmas was brujas
And I come from an island and it’s called Puerto Rico
And it’s one of the smallest but it got the most people.”
A major thank you extended to her for the timing of this latest clip, which will no doubt save a few of us today from scrolling through our vitriolic Twitter feed for a sainted four minutes and three seconds. To celebrate, we suggest you dress in all white, grab your girls, and conjure the light – after voting.