Soundtrack to Impact Vol. 9: Before I Let Go: No One Taught Us, We Just Knew.
Have you had that moment that makes everything stop.The dice stop rolling, the conversations reach a halt, the plates are set aside, and you find yourself scanning for the nearest partner to sing to. The lyrics are belted like second nature from alumni, grandparents, cousins who aren’t exactly your cousin, and everyone else in the room, as we are all connected over the masterpiece that is “Before I Let Go," gifted to us by MAZE & Frankie Beverly.
The song had been released in 1981 and has never had a break since, despite never charting on the Billboard Hot 100. Frankie Beverly wrote the song as a form of expression. He had been caught between having one foot out of the door in one relationship and one foot in the door in another. He wanted to leave things on good terms before letting go for good. It was never meant to become a cookout classic, only an expression of raw emotion. The uptempo beat and 80’s groove that the world now knows only came once he brought the song to the rest of the band, MAZE, and their arrangement of the song stuck during rehearsal.
The creatives had no idea of the impact the song would make, turning a quiet breakup song into a beloved anthem for an entire demographic. The meaning of the song today has been reconstructed far outside of the studio and the stage. It was built in backyards and driveways behind the grill and on top of folding chairs, later passed down to the quad and yard of all your favorite HBCUs. Ironically, the breakup song is even the first of many classics played at wedding receptions, directly following the union of your loved ones.
No one can remember when they learned the lyrics, just that they somehow became part of our DNA. Something that connects African Americans near and far, allowing us to find home in "just” a song. That’s where the value and history really lie. No one teaches a kindergartener the “Electric Slide” or how to "Wobble." But it’s embedded in us the same way the importance of family is. By watching people joyously come together enough times, their body senses the familiarity before their mind does. By the time those children become adults, the shoe is on the other foot, and they become the ones pulling their younger loved ones onto the dance floor to continue a tradition that had been unspoken yet still firmly established, nonetheless. That is the story with “Before I Let Go." It wasn’t handed down through charts but through repetition and a presence that is unapologetic.
Beverly himself had been caught off guard by how far the song reached to stick with later generations. "'Before I Let Go’ really did turn out to be something more than I even imagined…I got blessed with that," said Beverly in an interview with ESSENCE. A song about relationship loss became a tribute for Black Americans countrywide. It transformed into less of a song and more of a foundational piece of infrastructure inherited into Black culture. That sort of impact just can’t be measured.
Beyonce understood this and carried the legacy all the way from grandma’s backyard to colleges and stadiums throughout the SWAC when she covered the song for “Homecoming: The Live Album” in 2019. She wasn’t reviving the song but pointing a global spotlight on something that was alive, well, and still endlessly thriving. Just when Black America thought the song couldn’t get any better. Beverly called Beyoncé's cover "one of the high points of his life," with it being less like a tribute to him and more of a confirmation of what the song had already become.
Before his passing in September 2024, Frankie Beverly embarked on his final tour ending with a standing ovation at the Essence Festival. But, even now, the song doesn’t stand as just a memorial. It shows up for our community the same it has for over 40 years and won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. The continuity is the entire point. These gatherings, homecomings, family reunions, BBQs, etc., aren’t about people returning but about them being there no matter the distance—near or far. The song is just the channel that passes the tradition along before ever letting go.