This Musical Tribute To Head Wraps Is Exactly What We Need Right Now

While head wraps are having a moment for some because quarantine means not being able to get to their regular stylists, any Black woman will tell you that they’ve always been a staple in our community. They’re not a substitute for a great hairstyle; they’re a complement to our wonderful curls, coils and kinks.

Artist S.O. understands this, and his song “Headwrap Diaries,” which appears on his fifth album, Augustine’s Legacy, is a heartwarming tribute to his wife, Sophia, and the beauty and symbolism of her hair adornments.

“She looks amazing in it, so I wanted to write about my experience as a husband of a Black woman who wore head wraps,” he says. “As I started writing it, I realized that the experiences I wrote about in the song were not only my wife’s but all women who wear head wraps.”

When the Nigerian-born rapper partnered with Fanm Djanm head wrap company to create a visually stunning video to accompany the track, that showing of love for head wraps reached a whole new level.

It was the perfect opportunity for Paola Mathé, founder and creative director of Fanm Djanm, to make her directorial debut. She used the opportunity to collaborate and honor Black creatives throughout the entire process. The video included wardrobe from the sustainable label Studio 189, which was styled by creative visionary Al Malonga, and featured models Diandra Forrest, Tatiana Cooper and Aluoch Catherine, as well as S.O.’s wife Sophia and daughter Sade Rose.

“I wanted to show all types of beauty and strength,” Mathé says. “It was important for me to show different generations, skin tones and Afro hair texture in such a beautiful, natural way.”

The video also included work from several Black artists and was shot in a home that belongs to a Black artist in Brooklyn.

Aside from being such a breathtaking representation of Black Girl Magic, the song and the video are a reminder that the natural hair movement is only growing. But based on her thriving business, Mathé already knew that.

“Head wraps have always been a staple and an incredibly powerful statement and accessory,” she tells ESSENCE. “We’ve had customers get married and give birth in our head wraps. We’ve had doctors walk into their offices in our head wraps. We’ve also had lawyers wear our head wraps to court. We’ve had incredible artists perform and walk the red carpet in our head wraps.”