House of Ladosha is a New York City-based artistic collective and LGBT rap duo including Antonio Blair ("Dosha Devastation aka La Fem LaDosha") and Adam Radakovich ("Cunty Crawford"). [1] [2] Other members include Neon Christina Ladosha (Christopher Udemezue), Magatha Ladosha (Michael Magnan), YSL Ladosha (Yan Sze Li), General Rage Ladosha (Riley Hooker), and Juliana Huxtable. Many of the members met as freshmen at Parsons School of Design. [3] The group was founded in 2007. [4] They have opened for Azealia Banks and performed with SSION. [5] [6] The last recorded time that House of Ladosha was in-person for an event was April 10, 2019. [7] Member Juliana Huxtable has been in Berlin while being unable to perform, joining local protests against racism and police brutality. [8]
House of Ladosha proposes chic, politically conscious designs for the world that the LGBT community wants. [9] Members of the House of Ladosha work in video installation, performance art, drag, and music. [3] On occasion, the members of the House of Ladosha collaborate and work on content together. House of Ladosha create diverse content that makes one think about the content that they are looking at or listening to. Some members are inspiration for other members, while some members help each other with technical problems. Their music has been cited as a "deconstruction of hip-hop masculinity and sexuality" and Blair and Radakovich have referenced the film Paris is Burning as a major influence on their music as well as clothing. [10] [6]
Hip house, also known as rap house or house rap, is a musical genre that mixes elements of house music and hip hop music, that originated in both London, United Kingdom and Chicago, United States in the mid-to-late 1980s.
Vogue, or voguing, is a highly stylized, modern house dance originating in the late 1980s that evolved out of the Harlem ballroom scene of the 1960s. It is inspired by the poses of models in fashion magazines.
William Roscoe Leake, better known as Willi Ninja, was an American dancer and choreographer known for his appearance in the documentary film Paris Is Burning.
LGBTQ representation in hip hop music has existed since the birth of the genre even while enduring blatant discrimination. Due to its adjacency to disco, the earliest days of hip hop had a close relation to LGBT subcultures, and multiple LGBT DJs have played a role in popularizing hip hop. Since the early 2000s there has been a flourishing community of LGBTQ+ hip hop artists, activists, and performers breaking barriers in the mainstream music industry. Despite this early involvement, hip hop has long been portrayed as one of the least LGBT-friendly genres of music, with a significant body of the genre containing homophobic views and anti-gay lyrics, with mainstream artists such as Eminem and Tyler, the Creator having used casual homophobia in their lyrics, including usages of the word faggot. Attitudes towards homosexuality in hip hop culture have historically been negative, with slang that uses homosexuality as a punchline such as "sus", "no homo", and "pause" being heard in hip hop lyrics from some of the industry's biggest artists.
Azealia Amanda Banks is an American rapper, singer and songwriter. Raised in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, she began releasing music through Myspace in 2008 before being signed to XL Recordings at age 18. She subsequently signed with Interscope and Polydor Records before separating in 2013. Banks became an independent artist and started her own independent record label, Chaos & Glory Recordings. She later signed to Parlophone and Warner Records before quitting her label in 2023.
"212" is the debut single by American rapper Azealia Banks. It features Lazy Jay, the alias of Belgian disc jockey Jef Martens and his brother Toon. Released on December 6, 2011, in the United Kingdom as the lead single for Banks' debut extended play, 1991 (2012), "212" was later included in her debut studio album, Broke with Expensive Taste (2014). Built around Lazy Jay's track "Float My Boat", "212" has been described as a hip house, electro house, and dance rap track. The song reflects Banks' adolescence in Harlem, New York, and features her rapping over cunnilingus.
Fantasea is the debut mixtape by American rapper Azealia Banks, released as a free download on July 11, 2012.
Broke with Expensive Taste is the only studio album by American rapper Azealia Banks, released on November 7, 2014. In 2011, Banks started working on the album despite not having signed to a record label at that time. A year later, she signed a contract deal with Interscope and Polydor Records to work on the album. However, she felt dissatisfied with the labels' representatives and consequently, she ended the contract with the labels in July 2014 and signed to Prospect Park. After being delayed for over two years, Broke with Expensive Taste was released by Banks herself and Prospect Park via Caroline Records without any prior announcements.
Alec Reinstein, better known by his stage name Despot, is an American hip hop artist from Queens, New York City. He was signed to rapper El-P's label Definitive Jux in 2004. Despot has been a part of the New York underground rap scene for over a decade. Despot is associated with the Smart Crew collective and was a co-owner of Santos Party House.
American rapper Azealia Banks has released one studio album, two extended plays (EPs), three mixtapes, twenty-six singles and twelve promotional singles. At the age of seventeen in November 2008, Banks adopted the stage name Miss Bank$ and signed to XL Recordings. However, she ended the contract with the label quickly afterwards due to conflicting ideas. In 2009, Banks released several songs onto the internet for free download, including "Gimme a Chance" and "Seventeen". Following her departure from XL Recordings, Banks dropped her stage name, opting to use her legal name, Azealia Banks.
Rashard Bradshaw, better known as Cakes da Killa, is an American rap artist who fuses genres of hip hop, house, and electronic dance music. He came to prominence in the "queer explosion" of hip hop music stemming from New York in 2012 and is among the credited performers for the current trend of acceptance of LGBT people in the rap community. Bradshaw is currently based in Atlanta and his second full-length studio album Svengali was released on October 28, 2022.
"Chasing Time" is a song recorded by American rapper Azealia Banks for her debut studio album, Broke with Expensive Taste (2014). It was released as the third single from the album on September 22, 2014. Production of the song was handled by Andrew "Pop" Wansel, while it was written by Banks, Ronnie Colson, Warren "Oak" Felder, Jonathan Harris, Steve Mostyn, Kelly Sheehan and Pop Wansel. Lyrically, the track discusses Banks recovering from a breakup.
Juliana Huxtable is an American artist, writer, performer, DJ, and co-founder of the New York–based nightlife project Shock Value. Huxtable has exhibited and performed at a number of venues including Reena Spaulings Fine Art, Project Native Informant, Artists Space, the New Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, and Institute of Contemporary Arts. Huxtable's multidisciplinary art practice explores a number of projects, such as the internet, the body, history, and text, often through a process she calls "conditioning." Huxtable is a published author of two books and a member of the New York City–based collective House of Ladosha. She is on the roster of the talent agency Discwoman, a New York based collective and talent agency that books DJs for parties and events around the world. She previously lived and worked in New York City, and has been based in Berlin since 2020.
The African-American LGBT community, otherwise referred to as the Black American LGBT community, is part of the overall LGBTQ culture and overall African-American culture. The initialism LGBT stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender.
Slay-Z is the second mixtape by American rapper Azealia Banks. It was independently released as a free download on March 24, 2016. The eight-song project features collaborations with Rick Ross and Nina Sky; its production was handled by various musicians, including Benga, Coki, An Expresso, and Kaytranada. On July 12, 2017, it was re-released under Banks' record label, Chaos & Glory Recordings, to the iTunes Store and other online music stores.
"The Big Big Beat" is a song recorded by American rapper Azealia Banks for her second mixtape Slay-Z (2016). It was released as the lead single from the mixtape on February 19, 2016 after Banks had announced the mixtape in the previous May. Production of the song was handled by new producer An Expresso, while the song was penned by Banks alone. The song contains an uncredited sample of The Notorious B.I.G.'s voice. Lyrically, the track discusses staying true to your roots when you become famous.
"Anna Wintour" is a song recorded by American singer and rapper Azealia Banks. It was released on April 6, 2018, by eOne and Chaos & Glory as the planned lead single from her mixtape Fantasea II: The Second Wave. Production of the song was handled by Junior Sanchez, while the song was penned by Banks, Sanchez, Dorian Strickland, Kevin James, and "Shug". The song is named after Anna Wintour, who is the editor-in-chief of Vogue, and is about self empowerment. The music video was released on May 24, 2018, and surpassed 1 million views in 48 hours.
Queer art, also known as LGBT+ art or queer aesthetics, broadly refers to modern and contemporary visual art practices that draw on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and various non-heterosexual, non-cisgender imagery and issues. While by definition there can be no singular "queer art", contemporary artists who identify their practices as queer often call upon "utopian and dystopian alternatives to the ordinary, adopt outlaw stances, embrace criminality and opacity, and forge unprecedented kinships and relationships." Queer art is also occasionally very much about sex and the embracing of unauthorised desires.