I had the pleasure of meeting with California MC Melange Lavonne at a function in Newark, NJ. It’s always great to meet an artist whose a) not full of themselves, or b) not sullen or cold-hearted as result of the industry and its politics. This Palms Spring native was real, but pleasant and full of vitality. It’s really intriguing to meet her and see her as she is off-stage, and then suddenly see her transform into this serious, yet passionate performer onstage; the smile fades from her face, and the glow that was luminating from her facade gets covered by her dark, oversized hoodie. All this happens, and she’s still a treat to see.

From seeing her, you wouldn’t think that she is a breast cancer survivor, and you wouldn’t think that Palms Spring was such a hotbed for racial and gender discrimination, but her lyrical content addresses just that. I took the time to listen to her album, The Movement, this weekend, and I felt relieved to know that there are quality LGBT artists, let alone hip hop artists PERIOD, that address serious issues that many would like to ignore. On her album, she talks about “gay bashing”, so-called Christians who teach hate, gay and lesbian parenting, society and how it affects the younger gay and lesbian population, and other non-LGBT related subjects (You thought being gay was the only thought on our minds, huh?) like the shady music industry and wack MCs who don’t care about uplifting communities. Yeah, buddy…she covers it all.

Why am I writing about her? Well, in a nutshell, because I wanted to. But, clearly, you can see that I respect her as an artist and a person.

So tonight, I did some more research on her and came across this video that apparently ended up on LOGO…which, I hear, is kind of a difficult thing for an unknown gay or lesbian artist to do. The video is for a song called “Gay Bash“, and it’s a great video and song (It’s old, I know!), and I want to share it with you.

Enjoy!

Watch “Gay Bash”: