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How ‘Black Is King’ Co-Director Kwasi Fordjour Brought Beyoncé’s African Blockbuster to Life
The creative director, who’s worked with Beyoncé since he was an intern, shares the backstories on her latest visual album
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Kwasi Fordjour has earned Beyoncé’s trust, but he wants yours too. After working his way up from an internship to creative director, the Ghanaian American Houston native is now a visual architect behind Black Is King, one of this year’s most poignant works of cinematic art.
Co-directed, co-written, and executive produced by Beyoncé, Black Is King — released globally to stream on Disney+ in July — is the megastar’s latest effort in reaching beyond the audio medium to influence the larger cultural canon. The film serves as a visual companion to her 2019 release The Lion King: The Gift, a tie-in album attached to Disney’s “live-action CGI” Lion King remake.
In Black Is King, Beyoncé, Fordjour, and a bevy of other creators attempt to navigate a story of boyhood and manhood as told through the Lion King narrative but reinterpreted with Africa and Black America at its center. They present material and fantastical depictions of Black people’s relationship with power, wealth, leadership, and community — a fairytale built upon their own personal narratives and shared histories.
As a man, you’re a reflection of the men and women who’ve come before you, who nurtured you. And this was my part [in Black Is King] — a love letter to my father, furthering our name.
It’s heavy work, but Fordjour has been prepping for it his entire adult life. After landing an internship at Parkwood Entertainment, Beyoncé’s management and entertainment company, in 2011, he over time forged a body of work that includes cover art (The Lion King: The Gift, as well as Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s collaborative album, Everything Is Love) and music video choreography (“Drunk in Love,” “XO,” and “Grown Woman”).
