They Say She's Different: Race, Gender, Genre, and the Liberated Black Femininity of Betty Davis

Betty Davis, the 1970s hard-rocking funk singer and songwriter known for her provocative lyrics and performance style, has become a cult figure, whose story holds important lessons for scholars of popular music, particularly those interested in the music of African American women. Argues that Davis's music advances a liberated black femininity through which she freed herself from dominant expectations of musical, lyrical, physical and sartorial practice for black women. (Quotes from original text)