A regular dispatch of essays, criticism, and (pop) cultural ephemera, compiled and mixed by Norman Brannon.

posts tagged “10 years late to the party”:

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3.11.2010

• DOWNLOAD | KATEY RED “Sissy Clap” 2009 Vanity Fair wrote about the New Orleans “Sissy Bounce” scene this morning and I have been out-of-my-mind obsessed ever since. Urban gay subcultural moments like these have historically become either isolated to their respective corners (as in the underground ball scene) or decentralized from their gay roots (as in the heterosexualization of disco), but part of what makes Bounce so exciting is the fact that straight club-goers in New Orleans and elsewhere are openly championing the music — and regardless of how gay you thought the Village People were, you’d have an impossible time heterosexualizing this. Katey Red — a transgendered woman and former prostitute who is essentially a godmother of the sound — describes the beginning of the Sissy Bounce scene as we know it: Katey, who is 6’2” and performs — and looks damn good — in short skirts and heels, was the first of the openly gay M.C.s to get on the mic and get recognized, back in ‘98 at a hall near the infamous Melpomene housing projects, where she grew up. “At first, I was a bit scared,” Katey said of performing. “I know a lot of the boys listening didn’t like homosexuals. But I got over my fright. And they liked my music so much, they was like, Fuck it.” Think about this for a second: a transgendered woman decided she was going to become a rap star in front of young men that looked like this — and she actually did it. Things done changed in the hood, people.


• DOWNLOAD | KATEY RED “Sissy Clap” 2009

Vanity Fair wrote about the New Orleans “Sissy Bounce” scene this morning and I have been out-of-my-mind obsessed ever since. Urban gay subcultural moments like these have historically become either isolated to their respective corners (as in the underground ball scene) or decentralized from their gay roots (as in the heterosexualization of disco), but part of what makes Bounce so exciting is the fact that straight club-goers in New Orleans and elsewhere are openly championing the music — and regardless of how gay you thought the Village People were, you’d have an impossible time heterosexualizing this.

Katey Red — a transgendered woman and former prostitute who is essentially a godmother of the sound — describes the beginning of the Sissy Bounce scene as we know it:

Katey, who is 6’2” and performs — and looks damn good — in short skirts and heels, was the first of the openly gay M.C.s to get on the mic and get recognized, back in ‘98 at a hall near the infamous Melpomene housing projects, where she grew up. “At first, I was a bit scared,” Katey said of performing. “I know a lot of the boys listening didn’t like homosexuals. But I got over my fright. And they liked my music so much, they was like, Fuck it.”

Think about this for a second: a transgendered woman decided she was going to become a rap star in front of young men that looked like this — and she actually did it. Things done changed in the hood, people.