Beyoncé may be a bit of a recluse, but she keeps her ear to the streets when it comes to sound bites that inspire her as a woman.
First it was Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who gained even more fame when Beyoncé used a portion of the writer's TED speech in her song "Flawless." And this past weekend at the Made in America Festival in Philly, Beyoncé used a sound bite from one of Ronda Rousey's prefight interviews from earlier this year. Rousey, a UFC fighter, spoke about the kind of go-getter woman she was raised to be.
"I have this one term for the kind of woman that my mother raised me to not be. And I call it a do-nothing bitch," Rousey said in a recording played during Beyoncé's performance. "A kind of chick that just tries to be pretty and be taken care of by somebody else." Rousey's words were projected on a jumbo screen.
"That's why I think it's hilarious when people say my body looks masculine," the recording continued.
I'd like to think Beyoncé was especially adamant about including that part, since it can be seen as a jab toward anyone who has been critical of Serena Williams' physique, but I digress.
"Listen, just because my body was developed for a purpose other than f—king millionaires doesn't mean it's masculine. I think it's femininely badass as f—k because there's not a single muscle in my body that isn't for a purpose. Because I'm not a do-nothing bitch," the Rousey recording ends.
Rousey told ET that it was an honor to be included in Queen Bey's show.
"To be honest, it's a honor to have a real powerhouse of a woman like Beyoncé just recognize my existence," Rousey said. "It's surreal how something I thought was a prefight rant in my hotel room that would end up scrapped on some editor's floor has taken off to the point a cultural icon like Beyoncé is playing it between songs at her concert.
She added, "I couldn't be more grateful."
The gesture was certainly an exclamation point for anyone questioning Beyoncé's feminist chops.
Diana Ozemebhoya Eromosele is a staff writer at The Root and the founder and executive producer of Lectures to Beats, a Web series that features video interviews with scarily insightful people. Follow Lectures to Beats on Facebook and Twitter.
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