Beyonce’s L’Officiel Paris Cover + Behind The Scenes Photos & Video

UPDATE: view the complete photoshoot here - Beyonce For L’Officiel Paris Magazine (March 2011) – The Complete Photoshoot

Here’s the cover along with some behind the scenes photos and video from Beyonce‘s photoshoot for the March issue of L’Officiel Paris.

The magazine which is celebrating its 90th anniversary decided to do an African Queen themed photoshoot with the singer which is causing some controversy with accusations of her donning blackface.

Here are my feelings on this:

First let me say that I love Beyonce but as a Nigerian and someone who lived there for a bit when Fela was still alive this is not a tribute to him.

I’ve spoken to my Nigerian friends both in North America and in Nigeria and showed them the photos and none of them considered it a tribute…I understand that her husband jay-Z is a co-producer of the Fela musical but that’s no reason for this foolishness.

If this were a Martin Luther King tribute would she have painted her face black? In Nigeria we have all shades of black so I’m not really sure how this is a tribute to Fela.

And I don’t even see how the clothes factor into the tribute. The only thing close to anything I’ve seen my mom wear or that I wore as a kid is the headress and even then it’s not tied properly.

It’s as if what the magazine considers “African” is someone with the darkest skin possible and as someone of Nigerian heritage it’s beyond offensive; It’s downright hurtful to see these stereotypes perpetuated.

I don’t even blame Beyonce for this shoot because I stopped expecting much from artists years ago and besides a lot of them don’t see beyond dollar signs.

Africa is a rich and diverse continent and Fela was one of its greatest ambassadors and exports and I didn’t even realize how big of an impact he had until I moved back over to North America as an adult.

To listen to his music, to see his performances, and listen to elders tell stories about him still doesn’t encapsulate everything he meant to the country.

He was our freedom fighter and yes he was a womanizer and a flawed man and I disliked that about him but I hate the fact that an important part of my heritage is being basterdized just to sell magazines.

When the shoot comes out I’m sure we’ll all post it and oooh and ahhh over it and move on but make no mistake: this IS NOT a tribute to Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti

Check out  the footage below and let me know what you think of the shoot. FYI The dress Bey’s wearing on the cover is  from Gucci‘s Spring 2011 Collection and the white outfit is from Viktor & Rolf - Runway at Paris Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2011

FYI this is not the first time L’Officiel has done a shoot with black paint. It frequently slathers black paint on white models rather than hire black models and I wrote a piece on it last September.