Well no less than two days after we exclusively reported that Ciara would be part of the All-Star entertainment line-up for Traxx’s “Pure Heat” Atlanta Black Pride Weekend which is September 2-6, word comes that Ms. Cici may be having a case of COLD FEET.
As of today Ciara’s picture which was on the official Pure Heat website, www.atlantablackweekend.com , just yesterday was snatched down. We had a few of our sources make a call to Ciara’s camp and heard from our own ears that Ciara would be there although it was an abrupt and one word answer. One source says Ciara may be a little more concerned about the lesbian affiliation moreso than the gay males and was in awe after seeing her face next to Amber Rose on the website. Ciara would have been the Sunday night special guest for the Pride weekend. Amber has been scheduled only for Saturday day events. (Dear Ciara, At this moment and whatever the case, Lesbians could only HELP your music career! That Is All!).
Nicki Minaj is still scheduled to perform Saturday night (September 4th) at Traxx Atlanta and Amber Rose is still slated to be a part of day time WEThim and WETher daytime events scheduled for Pure Heat.
I didn’n know female artists could have cold feet about a Gay pride. Whats The T Cici? Stay Tuned as I’m sure more will come from this fiasco…
After a week of mis-communications, accusations of homophobia, and anger from gay fans and supporters, DC’s own rapper Wale showed up at DC Black Pride’s Annual Fitness & Wellness Expo to let his gay fans know, he’s not a homophobic. It was announced last week by Wale’s booking agent that Wale would not be able to perform at DC’s Black Pride Expo due to the fact that Wale did not know what type of event it was. Wale spent most of the week setting the record straight on twitter and replying to his fans and followers explaining that that was not the case and after realizing the affect and damage his booking agent had caused, Wale announced that he would cancel what he had planned to show up on Sunday at DC Black Pride. Once on stage, Wale explained:
“One thing I stand for is Hip Hop music. And Hip Hop music is no race, no color, no age, no gender, no sexual orientation, none of that. So the most important thing about it is the music. And if it makes people feel happy, that’s why we’re here. I will say. Sometimes, in this business you get in align with people that don’t understand that or don’t necessary have the same beliefs as you do and I apologize for not having my best foot forward. And I’m going to do better as we all do. Everyday we got to get better. So I apologize on behalf of my team not being the way they supposed to be…”
He sat down with Ebony Belle of MetroWeekly.com and did an interview and explained further about his love for everybody. Check out the interview below.
Wale Performing “Chillin”
Kudos to DC Black Pride, Metro Weekly, bloggers, and fans for not backing down and making sure that the LGBT community is respected! Hopefully more mainstream male artist will take on this same approach in the future and begin to recognize their gay fans and followers who support and buy their music.
Since the whole DC Black Pride/Wale turmoil and media fiasco started last week, rapper Wale has continued to defend his self and respond to fans and critics explaining that he is in no way, form, or fashion a homophobic and that his music is for all people. So in his latest tweet rant he explained, “I’m cancelling what I was supposed to be doin..to go …yeah ILL BE THERE!! I’m not scared nor do I have any hatred for ANYBODY.” We’ve reached out to DC Black Pride for comments on Wale’s latest claim; however, we did not get a response back yet. We’ll keep you posted!
In other news, 2009 Weblog Award Winner and LGBT writer and You Tube personality Xem Van Adams did a great Vlog on Homphobia in the Hip-Hop and music industry at large. Check out the video below.
When it comes to social media sites like twitter and facebook, one thing twitter has done is removed “PR” out of the formula. When artist have something to say they have the freedom to tweet it now. Despite advice from the PR team to not respond to the issue, Wale has responded to the homophobic comments from people that have hit him up on twitter and articles such as the Metro Weekly article and probably ours too. Below is what Wale had to say about the situation:
How do people read publications and run with WHATEVER is said.jus because its said/written. I don’t get it. The passion behind the hatred.over Misinformed info breaks my heart, but also shows me the malice of “fans”. Iowa, remember when I cancelled that show? Cuz of Letterman and transportation..Hofstra remember when that show was cancelled. Some ppl love a “story”.. Sooo bad that they’ll turn people against u..its sad, so u get ur story , in turn, u turn ppl against me? I was told NOT to respond, but that wouldn’t be me..anybody who knows me an familar w/ my music know that I work for PEOPLE..all ppl. And the people who deliver propaganda never heard the music yall know..they write it to ignite anger, cuz ur anger generates revenue. So with this said, HipHop music is for everybody..I love all the supporters, and real know real.
Wale even responded to a few fan fans about the situation via twitter. One follower (@DKUnlimited) tweeted to Wale, “Did or did your agent NOT e-mail DC Black Pride & tell them you canceled because you didn’t know it was gay? Set the record straight.” Wale responded, “No, that aint happen.”
So there you have it. Still leaves a lot of empty spaces between Wale comments and those of DC Black Pride but take his comments how you’d like… Maybe in the future Wale will set his self apart from the others and do a gay event in the future.
Earlier this week, we reported that DC rapper Wale would be headlining this year’s DC Black Pride Expo. Well, late yesterday evening, the organizers of DC Black Pride notified Metro Weekly that Wale had opted out of the event. According to the article from Metro Weekly, DC Black Pride is blaming homophobia for the rapper’s decision.
While DC Black Pride states everybody was clear on the deal and all parties were clearly notified that it was DC Black Gay Pride, a talent agent for Wale states that Wale was mislead and thought he was doing a local event for Washington, DC. The agent was quoted in the email saying, “”All of the facts of the event were not disclosed with the offer and therefore, he feels mislead and regretfully declines.”
And there you have it folks. Another one bites the dust. As I stated before in our last article about Wale, it’s a rarity to have a black male R&B or Rap star commit to a Gay Pride or Gay nightclub performance. Over the past 4 years we’ve worked with various promoters, we’ve seen the contracts and agreements signed between club owners and artist and we’ve also seen plenty of the artist back out. Some of those artist have included Ray-J, Sammy, Mullage, and others, just to name a few. There have been some rappers that have performed for the gays though including Travis Porter, Gorilla Zoe, DJ Unk, Mr. Cheeks, and a few more.
Whatever Wale’s excuse may be, I’m sure his featured artist on his very first single on his last album, Lady Gaga, would not be pleased with his actions if it was in fact based on homophobia.
Nevertheless, the show must go on. DC Black Pride has announced that in place of rapper Wale, R&B singer and another DC homegrown J Holiday will be performing at the DC Expo. J. Holiday is best known for his hit singles “Bed” and “Suffocate” which both were on his BACK OF MY LAC freshman album in 2007.
DC Black Pride is May 27-May 31. The Legacy Festival & Wellness expo is on Sunday, May 30th at the Washington Convention Center from 1pm-7pm. For more information log on to www.dcblackpride.org.
Check out this throwback video below back from 2007 when DJ Unk performed at DC Black Pride for Daryl Wilson Promotions.
This Memorial Weekend, DC Black Pride celebrates 20 years of Black Gay Pride. Today DC Black Pride made the announcement that DC’s own Wale will be the headliner of their annual expo at the DC Convention center. The higlight of DC Black Pride weekend, the Legacy Festival and Wellness Expo is an event open to all where over 60 vendors come to showcase their products and services to the community, community and health organizations provide testing and education on HIV, blood pressure, sugar diabetes, and other diseases that plague the black community, and local and national artist perform.
Wale is a DC native and rapper who’s music is influenced by the DC go-go sound. He released his debut album “Attention Deficit” via Interscope Record last year. On his first single “Chillen”, Wale worked with Lady Gaga, a person Wale believed that embodied the party-record feel of the song. Probably his most popular single to date has been his 3rd single “Pretty Girls”.
Working with some of the best promoters in the LGBT community, I’ve seen the struggles that the community has had in getting a black male Hip Hop or R&B artist to perform at such an event so we congratulate DC Black Pride and give much props to Wale for not being a homophobic and not being scared to perform at a gay pride event! Hopefully other artist will begin to see, acknowledge, and respect the support that comes form our community for their music. MUCH RESPECT!
DC Black Pride is May 27-May 31. The Legacy Festival & Wellness expo is on Sunday, May 30th at the Washington Convention Center from 1pm-7pm. For more information log on to www.dcblackpride.org.
Yesterday (02/08/10), the Washington, DC rapper, Wale, premiered his new video for “Pretty Girls” featuring Gucci Mane (voice only) on BET’s 106 & Park. The single comes from Wales Go-Go inspired first album “Attention Deficit” and contains samples from the popular DC go-go band, Backyard Band’s “Girls”.
To some of you, this go-go may be brand new to you and then to others (especially DC, MD, VA) you’re very familiar with it. Wale has managed to bridge the gap between Hip-Hop and Go-Go. While Wale’s album has sold less than 50,000 since it’s inception on November 10, 2009, Wale has received some good reviews from Hip Hop lovers and music critiques.
