Teyana Taylor – Black Music Scholar

Teyana Taylor

Who is Teyana Taylor ?

Teyana Meshay Jacquell Taylor was born on December 10, 1990 in Harlem, NY. Making her mark on the rap scene with her hip hop and old school sound she paired it withe her dance moves. It was actually those same dance moves that got her noticed in the first place which eventually led to her signing with Star Trak.

Early Professional Career

From a young Teyana Taylor was always into the musical arts whether it had been singing, dancing, or acting. She first began singing at age nine, performing in front of local crowds and even went on to perform at the Apollo Theater National All-Stars Talent Search but was unsuccessful in winning. She got her shot in fame back in 2006 when she made her debut as a choreographer in Beyonce’s hit single “Ring the Alarm” then signed to Pharrell’s record label Star Trak Entertainment the following year. Shortly after, she was recruited by MTV to appear on My Super Sweet Sixteen which was a show created to showcase the 16th birthday celebrations of many celebrity children and social media influencers.

Middle Professional Career

After signing to Star Trak, she began making music and working on her first song under the label named “Google Me” which reached #90 on the US Billboard Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs in 2008. Soon after in 2010, Kanye West, hip hop artist and fashion designer, called her into his studio for a consult on some fashion pieces he was working on in collaboration with his album release at the time. Teyana, instead wowed him with her vocals by humming some of the songs set to be released on his album and she was invited to feature on many of them including “Dark Fantasy” and “Hell of a Life“. She took a brief break from music in 2011 after being invited to star in Tyler Perry’s “Madea’s Big Happy Family”

Late Professional Career

In 2012, Teyana had a mutual split with her record label Star Trak and chose to lead a more independent career, at this point of her life she took smaller projects on, only featuring on joint projects with Kanye West’s label GOOD Music singing with artists such as Travis Scott, John Legend and Malik Yusef. She also was set to be a judge on America’s Best Dance Crew which aired its first episode in July of 2015. It wasn’t until 2016 when she made a mark on the dance world in Kanye West’s “Fade” video where she was a lone dancer in a gymnasium and even had a special appearance by her husband at the end. It wasn’t until June 2020 when she released her first top ten album “The Album” which featured artists such as Erykah Badu,Quavo and Missy Elliot. She soon went on to starring in her own reality tv show “Teyana and Iman” on VH1 along with several other movies on various streaming platforms such as “Brotherly Love” and “Honey: Rise Up and Dance” both on Netflix.

Contemporaries

Kehlani, Megan Thee Stallion, Sevyn Streeter, Tinashe,Mila J and Victoria Monet

Influences

Brandy, Lauryn Hill, Stevie Wonder, Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson and Lil Kim

Awards

2019 – Soul Train Music Award for Best Dance Performance

2020 – BET Hip Hop Award for Best Video Director of the Year

2020 – BET Award for Video Director of the Year

Social Involvement and Activism

Taylor has been a strong believer in the #BlackLivesMatter movement since the shooting of Trayvon Martin. Although she is a mother of two young children, she uses her social media as her platform to call out injustices done to Black Americans all over the United States. Most recently she has repeatedly called out the police officers involved in the murder of both George FLoyd and Breonna Taylor as we all for justice. In her most recent music video, while pregnant with her new born child Rue Rose Shupert, she sings about being tired of the violence and injustice in the streets as more Black Americans of all ages are murdered by law enforcement. Throughout the video she plays as the people who were killed while you hear the recordings of them moments before their death.

Watch Her Recent Video “Still” Below.

Family

Pictured below is Teyana Taylor and her husband of four years Iman Shupert. Iman is in the NBA and plays with the Brooklyn Nets. The couple has a four year old daughter Iman Shupert Jr and newborn baby by the name of Rue Rose Shupert who was born in September (not pictured below)

Discography

Sources

Kellman, Andy. “Teyana Taylor: Biography & History.” AllMusic, www.allmusic.com/artist/teyana-taylor-mn0001984584/biography.

“Teyana Taylor.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Sept. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teyana_Taylor.

Celebrities, Richest. “Teyana Taylor Biography & Net Worth.” Medium, Medium, 18 Jan. 2017, medium.com/@RichestCelebrities/teyana-taylor-biography-net-worth-f2b512948e05.

Lang, Cady. “Teyana Taylor: Kanye West’s ‘Fade’ Video Star Biography.” Time, Time, 30 Aug. 2016, time.com/4472363/teyana-taylor-fade-kanye-west/.

Reeves, Mosi. “Teyana Taylor’s ‘The Album’ Soars and Sags.” Rolling Stone, Rolling Stone, 22 June 2020, www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/teyana-taylors-the-album-1018585/.

Chang, Ailsa, and Ciera Crawford. “Teyana Taylor On ‘The Album’ And Asserting Her Creative Vision.” NPR, NPR, 19 June 2020, www.npr.org/2020/06/19/880964216/teyana-taylor-on-the-album-and-asserting-her-creative-vision.