You may not be familiar with Angel Haze, but you will be after this. She has been doing freestyles over hip hop songs as part of her new #30GOLD campaign, which is leading up to the January release of her debut studio album Dirty Gold. Previously she flowed over Kanye West’s “Black Skinhead,” Kendrick Lamar’s “Backseat Freestyle” and Jay Z’s “Tom Ford.” Most recently she covered Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ “Same Love.”
So why is this important? Three reasons:
1) She takes the song back for LGBT people everywhere, and
2) She takes it back for herself, using it as a moment to talk about her own coming out struggle when she was a teenager.
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3) She comes out with her rendition of the song, which is amazing considering that she has very little company now being an out queer woman rapper of color.
Here’s a snippet of the lyrics:
Hi mom, I’m really scared right now, but I have to.
At age 13, my mother knew I wasn’t straight
She didn’t understand but she had so much to say
She sat me on the couch, looked me straight in my face
And said ‘You’ll burn in hell, or probably die of AIDS.’
Powerful stuff. Angel understandably had some reservations about releasing the freestyle track, as she shared via Twitter:
Sorry guys, got a bit inside my head over the weekend. I wanted to put out this Same Love remix but like I freaked out.
— ?Ala$ka Yxxng? (@AngelHaze) October 21, 2013
I’ve been struggling with myself a bit and like, I don’t know. If you guys would like to hear it. I would like for you to.
— ?Ala$ka Yxxng? (@AngelHaze) October 21, 2013
Listen and decide for yourself, then let us know what you think in the comments!
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/116460209″ width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
TheMarc
“1) She takes the song back for LGBT people everywhere”
Who is she taking it back from?
iggy azalea
Take back? Pshh. Keep it. ’tis all garbage music anyway.
iggy azalea
@TheMarc:
Why, from teh straitz. Only LGBTQ-ZARTT/T4E=MC2rd people can make songs about LGBTQ-ZARTT/T4E=MC2rd people.
davegun2
Hey back off people. This is good. More voices speaking the truth in all the ways we communicate now is good.
I am an old man, 67. I want more of this. You go girl, you go.
I’m Dave and I was Fortuna Monsoon, the old sister of Jinkx Monsoon. Those that know what that means will know who I am. I have an opinion that needs to be heard. So back off the neg comments people. Or I’ll whoop ass.
Lvng1tor
@davegun2: Good for you Dave. Impressive resume’ but why threaten people?
Not cool.
The girl does a really nice job on the song.
However, My issue is with the article not with her. “Take Back”? The song was not written by her, the song is from the perspective of a str8 person in support of gays and therefore doesn’t need to be “taken”. The song could be co-opted but in this instance the writter is talking about it being stolen as if we queers get to just take anything we see as gay. Sounds to me like the writter wants something more like “seperate but equal”
Lvng1tor
@davegun2: by the by loveed that episode of drag race
bledoutcolor
This pisses me off. Macklemore worked hard on that song. Its his song, so you cant realy take it back from him when it wasnt yours to begin with.
Covers are fine as long as they respect the source material but this is just arrogant and disrespectful. What? Straight people just have to sit down and shut up about lgbt issues? Even when they have gay family members they care for? No thats ridiculous. This woman and Le1f are jealous they dont have careers like Macklemore so they try to cut him down for no reason. And what of the lesbian who wrote the chorus? Gonna “take it back” from her too? Ugh. Gay elitism embarasses me sometimes. As a gay man, i respect Macklemore and Ryan Lewis for speaking out when they have the luxury of being able to ignore our struggles should they choose. Im sure his uncles are proud of him as well.
Why cant we just be grateful for our straight allies and treat evryone with respect as long as theyre not maliciously attacking gay people? If macklemore was gay would it magically make the song better or more poignant? What happened to equality based on the merits of the music?
Inb4 cries of me being a straight apologist, because queer individuals can never do any wrong. Even though we are humans too, which ironically iswhat the song is about in the first place.
I get way too pissed at things sometimes and write overly verbose comments…my apologies but there’s my two cents.
DarkZephyr
@bledoutcolor: I am with you for the most part, but I didn’t see anywhere in the article where it said SHE considers what she is doing as “taking it back”. But otherwise I am right there with you. There is no one to “take back” this song from. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis are our friends and allies. To some of us they are our nephews. And besides. We NEED our straight friends, allies and supporters. We *cannot* accomplish our goals of respect and equality without them. They add their voices to our own. This is crucial. To publish an article that implies that it’s somehow an *anti-gay hate crime to write and sing a song in support of us is ludicrous, counter-productive, alienating and just plain disrespectful. Now I do not blame this talented young LGBT woman for this because I see no evidence that she feels what the author of the article feels. But I do think that the author of the article might want to think his position on this. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis are our friends. Not our enemies.
DarkZephyr
*my use of “anti-gay hate crime” was hyperbole to aid me in making my point.
aerogens
I agree, she’s not “taking back” anything. But she is putting her own inspirational twist on the song. It’s sad to hear others criticizing a song that a man delivered to get HIS VIEW across, as well put out lgbt support on the Top 40. A voice in support of us, is a voice worth embracing. What’s the use in alienating people who support our rights just because they’re “straight allies.” I never understood that logic.
Anyway, I’m sending my good vibes Angel’s way. She may have a bright future ahead of her.
smartguyd
-I love it and I am always for queer people putting their voice out there and being heard. I don’t know how much she was “taking it back”, the song wasn’t hateful or negative to begin with and Macklemore isn’t exactly the Westboro Baptist Church. Shouldn’t the point really be about what she is saying rather than the background music she is using.
Vulpes
I assume ‘take back’ refers to LGBT people speaking for themselves and telling their own stories, rather than the most prominent voices in matters affecting LGBT people being from straight people. I don’t follow Macklemore or music news much, but the criticism I’ve heard was about Macklemore and Ryan Lewis (two straight men) getting all the attention over a song that is about LGBT issues and also over the gay woman who also sang on the song.
bledoutcolor
@Vulpes: Which…isnt Macklemore and R.L.’s fault. Its the way the media iscovering the song. Everything iveseen from the artists has been a genuine attempt to help lgbt people get the message out.
@DarkZephyr I may hav mistakenly taken Queerty’s post as the intent and context ofthe original artist when she didnt actually meanto “take it back” from the original artists. But the point still stands in general that queer people shouldnt be the only ones allowed to speak out positively on our movement. If she is just adding her voice to the message through a cover that is respectful to the source, then I applaud her. If her intention WAS to claim something that isnt hers just because shes a cardcarrying lesbian then ihave a problem with it.
Just wanted to add a little ammendment for clarity so asto be fair to the artist were that not her intent. I can see queerty editors injecting their own bias inorder to make a controversy appear from nowhere from page hits now that i think about it. Some of the articles are helpful and informative, others are just fluff pieces. Not sure which this is tbh.
Cagnazzo82
In the picture she looks like Aaliyah.
That’s where the similarity ends though.