Ari Lennox: Boundaries
Ari Lennox is noticeably recognized for her attempts to create a homely environment for both herself and her fanbase to enjoy interactions between an artist and the consumer.
From random and spontaneous conversations with fans on Instagram Live, to removing her shoes during a set while performing— leading with “I’m taking these muthafucking shoes off.” Since she transitioned into the luminous mainstream light, Ari Lennox has made her music and peculiar artistry a home for her fans, to some avail. Even when we get too comfortable in a relative’s home, we tend to believe we should leave our manners and etiquette at the door along with our shoes.
While at the height of her career, she is still met with the reality of being a black woman and navigating an industry that considers her body as a prop in many of its expressions. As well as one that deprecates a soulful voice if it isn’t rendered from a mouth with the face or skin tone they think should match. As beautiful and black as music can sound sometimes, we don’t like to believe that a black, darker-hued woman was who created it.
Ari seemed to have opened her life up to her fans sincerely, although innocently, unaware of the thorns on the rose of vulnerability.
Vulnerability as an artist is, symbolically, like a nightclub that everyone is given the freedom to access. Except the artist can’t check to see who’s standing in line waiting to witness them and their most unseen blemishes. The dilemma of vulnerability is sometimes the power it gives you, but also grants others. Having access to me is a power play.
2016’s EP, “PHO” was my introduction to Ari. I was slowly drawn to her sound as it echoed of the women she’d likely tell you inspired her artistry— Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston to be exact. Emphatic and delicate intoning over the presence of live instruments made her music sound spirited and authentic. She never sounded as though she was hurting, rather, just navigating love and the fragility of crushing. Her vivacious mien was the face I expected to arrive with her voice. She would sing like she believed every word that left her mouth. Like her emotions wouldn’t dare lie to her. Carrying vocals that might lure listeners in. She could turn hard-bitten homeboys into lover boys— and a shy girl into a temptress.
“Brown skin honey, won’t you creep up in my bedroom? You lookin’ real good now, tell me what it do. I heard you got a girl though, what's that got to do with me?”
Believability has always been what’s pulled me into someone’s art. Ari had done that by “Night Drive.” Her debut album “Shea Butter Baby”— released in 2019 under Dreamville, was a full expression of who she’d begun to embellish herself to be. But this was a natural building of her own womanhood, and no one else’s.
Ari has beautifully structured her life and re-measured the scope of her boundaries. Gracing her fans with updated photos throughout her journey toward what she believed to be a more healthy lifestyle. She made room in her creative apartment for black women to feel at home and see. Where they could “wet the floor, leave dishes and live judgment free.”
“I might just read a book, don’t need no cable. Blast Selena El Toro Relajo. And everything stays where I leave it. Every damn rule I created. Dollar Tree wine glasses in the air (Andre will get me there)”
I remember seeing moments she’d have, whether quoted or clipped from a video, of her expressing the need to celebrate black women artists with features not deemed as fetching or desirable as others— from a full set of lips; to thick, full-figured thighs; and a uniquely shaped nose or darker skin-tone.
Ari made it her undertaking to celebrate these things. Reminding black women of the freedom that exists on the other side of falling in love with their bodies and standing up for their standard for love was her way of speaking her truth; and she leaned into this, trusting that our truth will always have the arms to catch us.
During Coachella this year she was adorned in rhinestones and vibrant, solid colors with earrings to complement. She emanated a stature and posture of a woman that’d grabbed hold of her truth completely and saw no need to abandon it. Beaming with the glam-girl aesthetic of her music, Ari has shown us that living in your truth will always create a home for your artistry to flourish as well.
