Tina, Our Rock n Roll Queen

There’s a certain point in our Highbrow Hippie playlist, where it launches into 30 straight minutes of Tina Turner. It usually occurs around 4pm, a point in the day where our collective energy starts to lag and we need an injection of joy to get us over the finish line. It’s one of my favorite times of day.

Almost 6 years ago, Highbrow Hippie almost ceased to exist. We found ourselves walking away from a toxic arrangement, starting over from scratch after years of hard work. Like Tina, we walked away with the rights to our name, two women in our 40s, bruised and utterly devastated, but with an unfaltering belief in ourselves and what we had to offer the world. And what’s in a name? Sometimes, everything. It’s your power, your agency, your freedom.

Oh Tina, what else is left to say? Today, the entire playlist was yours, and it felt so damn bittersweet. When others thought it too late for you, your every move said, ‘watch me.’ And all we can say, is thank you. You were the blueprint of a life fought for and fully lived. You challenged every prejudice and definition of what it meant to be a black woman with agency. And you gave us energy and hope, and made everyone believe in the power of liberation and rebirth.

Rest in power, our resplendent, resilient, rock n roll Queen.