Lizzo is the latest artist to bring her expertise to a TED Talk’s discussion as she shared her knowledge on the art and origin of twerking this week. During her lecture, she revealed that it started in Africa as a celebration of joy dance that meant you were ready to be married.
“Modern-day twerking derived from Black people and Black culture. It has a direct parallel to West African dances like Mapouka. Black people carried the origins of this dance through our DNA, through our blood, through our bones. We made twerking the global cultural phenomenon it became today,” revealed Lizzo.
The “Truth Hurt” singer explained that she learned how to twerk in a club in Houston while in her teens and that twerking gave her power and confidence and made her love and embrace her body.
“I used to hate my a–, believe it or not. I have my father’s shape and my mother’s thighs, so it’s big … I used to think that only [butts] like J.Lo’s or Beyoncé’s could be famous. I never thought that could happen to me. I always felt like my body type wasn’t the right one, or the desirable one growing up. Because I grew up in an era where having a big a— wasn’t mainstream,” she states.
Lizzo doesn’t mind showing off her voluptuous physique now and says that several of her superstar peers have even saluted her figure and moves.
“My a– has been the topic of conversations. My a– has been in magazines. Rihanna gave my a– a standing ovation. Yes, my booty, my least favorite part of my body. How did this happen? Twerking. Through the movement of twerking, I realized that my a– is my greatest asset. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to my TED Twerk,” Lizzo added.
Checkout her TED Talk below as Lizzo gets her twerk on as well.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlSzEw0vmQ0[/embedyt]
