June not only kicks off the summer months, but celebrations of queer excellence and barrier-breaking musicians who fearlessly shape culture and defy boundaries year-round.  

From challenging genre stigmas and forging multigenerational connections, to obliterating social norms for marginalized groups, Black and queer culture have historically met at the crossroads of transformation and innovation, and DMV artists like Billy the Goat are determined to carry on that storied responsibility. 

“And it is that – a responsibility,” said the rapper. “This is about…changing the narrative, shifting the perspectives, and really opening up the conversations to be had about where gay, queer men and women stand in this world, and especially in the entertainment industry.” 

Amid the national recognition for both Black Music and Pride in June, Washington, D.C., not only holds the stomping grounds for festivities, but the roots where many Black queer artists and industry leaders fruited their passions as a vessel for something greater.

While celebrations commence and energy pours into the city, local queer trailblazers are reflecting on the roots of their craft and how to propel the next class of Black creators with a renewed vision of what the future looks like. 

“The mission is to save the world,” Billy the Goat told The Informer, “it just so happens that we’re doing it through the way of the music.”

Fresh off multiple performances during D.C. Black Pride (May 23-26), Billy the Goat considers his musical origins to be as early as 7 years old, recalling core memories of his father playing the congo with Chuck Brown and other local bands – and even starting one himself. 

Though his grind didn’t fully skyrocket until post-COVID, the local artist had long recognized music as a calling that he said “would not leave me alone.”

He transformed a keen interest in beats and poetry-turned-songwriting, into a mission to defy societal ideologies, namely in the world of hip-hop.

“That’s the one forbidden area for us. We just have not been openly accepted, we are publicly outcast and humiliated…so it’s like, why would you want to be a part of it?” said the Southeast native. 

Simply put, his passion serves at the betterment of others and a time for change.

“It’s my job to bridge that gap between the heterosexual and the homosexual community,” Billy the Goat explained, “and bring all of the creative elements together for the greater good of everyone.”

Similarly, vocalist Ari Voxx, affectionately known as D.C.’s dream princess, leverages creativity to challenge cultural stigmas and raise mental health awareness.

 A Black, queer woman, Voxx highlights the beauty of music as a catharsis in bouts with identity, trauma, sexuality and other internal struggles, something she’s benefitted from as a creator.

“In the Black community I grew up in, expressing feelings of depression or anxiety was generally seen as showing weakness. I am weak. And strong, and scared, and brave, and passionate, and apathetic, and humorous, and morose,” she declared. “The more parts of yourself you show to the world, the more reasons people have to love you.”

Voxx considers her music pertinent to her own identity, expression and navigations of self, adding it’s a “double win” should it spark a connection or interest in any listener. 

Beyond lyricism, she particularly touted the freedoms of melody, tone and inflection, in alignment with the symbolic presentations and atmospheres of musical compositions.  

Further, the frontman of Ari Voxx and The Sad Lads band commended Black artists who “break out the boxes they’re often put in” with genre exploration, noting her own group’s unique sound as a blend of pop, rock, synthy, indie, dreamy, glitchy, “and sometimes pretty damn weird.” 

“I think because of my Blackness, many people are inclined to pigeonhole my original music, without even really listening to it first. They see a Black woman who sings, and just assume the music is R&B,” Voxx told The Informer. “The best art is multifaceted, multidimensional, just like people.”

Evidently, these qualities of transcendence exist at the root of Black creation, according to Tiyale Hayes, BET’s executive vice president of Insights and Multiplatform Analytics.

Hayes, who attributes Black music as “integral” in his existence, shared his point-of-no-return as his discovery of Biggie Smalls during his sophomore year at Hampton University, a moment when intercultural exposure illuminated a time of self-discovery and community.

Drawing on his own examples, the Virginian credits the “energy of soul” and presence of life that thrives in Black music as the core of its ability to outrival time, often being borrowed, sampled, or shared to bear new fruit across genres and generations.

“It proves, every year, every album that comes out, every season of music, that Black music does move culture forward. It advances culture, it stretches culture, it expands culture,” Hayes lauded, proudly noting his legacy in preserving Black artistry. “Just like my mom gave me certain music (Diana Ross), my son got Lauryn Hill from me.” 

On the dawn of the respective Black Music and Pride Month, Billy the Goat touts the storied role of Black and queer influence in the “greats” of history, from company stakeholders and board members to the favored musicians whose voice paved the way for centuries to come.

After unapologetically stating “everything is gay and Black,” he highlighted the need for people to “get realistic” about the push for exclusion in America and recognize that the fight for LGBTQIA+ rights is not a fight bound to merely the queer community. 

“I feel like any subsidy of a people of a minority, whether you’re Black, Latino, gay, disabled, we need to all be banding together, because they’re all against us,” the hip-hop artist pointed out. “If we come together as a people and prioritize that, prioritize us as Black creatives, as gay creatives, then we will have such an abundance.” 

Joining that push for abundance is BET and Hayes, who spearheaded the media network’s third annual Black + Iconic Soirée – and inaugural celebration in the nation’s capital – on May 24. Featuring tribute awards, soul-stirring medleys, and a theme of “Excellence Ascending,” the cultural celebration rose as a means to honor the breadth of Black LGBTQ+ influence across various sectors, including changemakers in civil rights leadership, reproductive justice and more.  

“What we were trying to give [attendees]…is an internal sense of pride. To say, ‘you are worthy, you matter. We see you in this space. You’re not an afterthought. You’re not a secondary part of our culture,’” Hayes said, before offering a charge to all attendees. “And then take that as a call to action to go exist.”

Hayes emphasized this notion on account of the pivotal histories of Black queer figures whose contributions went overlooked due to their sexual identity. He touted the story of African American activist Bayard Rustin, an openly gay Black civil rights advocate and principal organizer of the 1963 March on Washington. 

Despite his integral role in the Civil Rights Movement, Rustin’s story has historically gone untold, with artistic attempts to correct this historic wrong including the 2023 Netflix biopic “Rustin,” which was backed by former President and First Lady Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground production company. 

Hayes emphasized the benefits of increased visibility that exposing these historic truths and influences can have on the betterment of children, parents and society overall. 

While he noted the music industry is “very similar” in terms of minimizing queer contributions, Billy the Goat envisions a disruptor of that system. 

“Gone are the days of us living in the shadows of your favorite people, gone are those days of us having to just be in the background,” he proclaimed. “We’re so much more than the nails and the hair and the heels and the [colloquials]. We have so much depth to us and so much to offer.” 

With hopes to see more physical, safe spaces for like-minded artists, musicians, and queer folk overall, Voxx commends the direction in which Black queer culture is evolving. 

She and Hayes advised creatives to move with authenticity, transparency, and a focus on creating joy. Hayes added the prompt to invest in music ownership and find “innovation inside the blur,” what he says to be a realm of limitless creativity for many Black mold breaking musicians that create a space in the industry. 

Meanwhile, Billy the Goat encouraged self-advocacy and forging one’s own reality of the future of Black music and what it can be. In his realm, that means getting to a point where the idea of a Black, gay rapper is about as taboo as the likes of Nas, Drake and Jay-Z. 

“They never wanted a gay, little Black boy running around rapping, and it’s happening now,” he triumphed. “I say to all my Black creatives that are making music, don’t stop. We are the change–we are the music.”