Big Dipper | |
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 Big Dipper performing at the 2019 Capital Pride festival concert | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Daniel Stermer |
| Born | April 6, 1985 |
| Genres | Rap |
Dan Stermer is an American rapper and podcaster known professionally as Big Dipper.
Big Dipper | |
|---|---|
| Big Dipper performing at the 2019 Capital Pride festival concert | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Daniel Stermer |
| Born | April 6, 1985 |
| Genres | Rap |
Dan Stermer is an American rapper and podcaster known professionally as Big Dipper.
Stermer was raised in Evanston, Illinois. His mother is Jewish, and his father is Christian. Stermer was raised in a Jewish household and attended Sunday school at a Reform synagogue. He first began performing at the age of eight in a children's theater production of The Wizard of Oz . In his youth, Stermer tried learning several instruments, including the cello, piano, trumpet, tuba and the drums, before realizing that he enjoyed acting in stage plays more. In the 1990s, he began listening to hip hop and rap, around the age of nine. He had a bar mitzvah in the eighth grade, and was confirmed in 10th grade after taking more Jewish studies classes. [1]
Stermer graduated from Ithaca College in 2007, where he studied theater. [2]
Stermer wrote his first song at the age of 25. [1] He began using the name 'Big Dipper' the following year, at the age of 26. [3] As of 2018 [update] , he is based in Los Angeles. [1] He has performed at various LGBT pride and bear festivals, P-town, and San Francisco Bear Pride. [4] In 2019, he was a headliner at Washington, DC's Capital Pride. [3] He stated that one reason he performed at the event was to combat hatred and help people feel empowered. [5]
On August 24, 2018, Big Dipper released his debut album, Late Bloomer. [6] He had cohosted the podcast Unbearable with Meatball, a fellow bear and drag queen. [1] After a hiatus, the duo returned in June 2019 with a new podcast, Sloppy Seconds, on the Forever Dog network. As of 2024, the podcast is also available on Moguls of Media (MOM)'s YouTube page. [7] On the program, Big Dipper and Meatball interview a variety of celebrities, primarily within or allied-with the LGBT community, including actors, adult film stars, comedians, drag queens and other performers.
Big Dipper's minstrel-style work is often explicit and involves themes of sex and humor surrounding his opportunistic, pathological exploits. [1] He has been compared to fellow gay rapper Cazwell. [8]
Big Dipper is gay and identifies as a member of the bear community. [1]
The PeaceOUT (World) Homo Hop Festival was an annual festival of hip hop music and culture created by Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) people from 2001 to 2007. The main festival took place in Oakland, California, although sibling festivals were also held in New York City, Atlanta and London.
Deep Dickollective (D/DC) was an LGBT hip hop group based in Oakland, California that were active in the homo hop scene of openly queer/LGBT artists during the 2000s. They were regular performers at the PeaceOUT World Homo Hop Festival curated by group co-founder Juba Kalamka.
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QBoy is a UK-based rapper, producer, DJ, writer and presenter. He is one of the original few out rappers in hip hop circa 2001 that became pioneers of the new subgenre colloquially known as "homo hop". QBoy is currently a DJ and promoter of popular LGBTQ club night and party 'R & She: The Queens of Hip-Hop & R&B' which hosts events in London, Berlin and New York City.
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Will Sheridan Jr. is a former college basketball player who played for the Villanova Wildcats Men's Basketball program from 2003 to 2007. After graduation, he played as an international basketball player in Italy. He is now a rapper, musician and recording artist initially signed with Royal Advisor Records and an EP released entitled Ngoma. Since then, he has released six other projects including G.I.A.N.T, his first full-length LP, G2R, LexIcon, all available on all online music outlets. Sheridan also released critically acclaimed and pioneering LGBT Hip Hop EP, S.O.A.P and follow up Giant album G2, which he opted to give away for free. Sheridan is also a DJ, event curator and professional MC and Host. In addition to being an LGBT Sports and Music pioneer, he is a professional event coordinator with a New York City-based production company.
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