Diversity Rules Magazine

5 Diversity Rules Magazine April 2014 Amazon R&B New Releases Chart in 2012. at must have been very exciting!? L: To me, it was a shared excitement with other fellow independent artists. I am on a small label that is not backed by a major subsidiary, yet I managed to reach #1 on the R&B New Releases Chart of iTunes. It also gave me vindi- cation because at that point there were some racist people who were using my skin color and ethnicity by saying that I would never succeed in the R&B genre. Unfortunately, the matter was made worse because that small group of naysayers was also gay. ey were quick to praise a straight artist like Be- yonce (who is amazing), but the dag- gers came out for their fellow gay brother. We are our own worst enemy. JRK: Another song "Foolish Beat" was featured on PerezHilton.com. How did that come about? L: at's another example of gay on gay hate, and how we set ourselves up for failure. Perez was already familiar with me. ere were even personal tweets of support for my other songs, but never an public acknowledgement. However, the one song that he doesn't like from me - the "Foolish Beat" remake, is the one that he decides to publically write about on his website. I was thrilled though, because - let's be real - I am nowhere near the opularity level of all of the artists he blogs about (i.e. Madonna, Rihanna, One Direction). So for an independent artist like my- self to even be on his radar was an indication that my fan base was growing. I'm very thankful to him! JRK: You have a new album being released this month that is a col- lection of remixes. Can you tell us about that? L: I just launched a record label with my producer Infinite, called Pathway Records/34 Whale Enter- tainment, which is a combination of both of our music companies. We have signed a few artists, and will be releasing singles and EP's from them throughout the year. To introduce the label, we are releasing "I Wanna Be Loved - e Remix Album" in April. It is a compilation of various mixes of my dance songs in differ- ent phases of my career. I have the freestyle throwback of "ese Tears", including a mix that was never available for download before. I also have a revised version of "Turn Around", with three remixes that were never available for sale before, but which charted here in the U.S. and in Germany as well. ere is the old school 90s house vibe of "Right Here" (which is my favorite song that I have ever written), a radio mix of "Take It To e Top" - my collaboration with Robey (TV's "Friday e 13th"),, and about a dozen mixes of my current single "I Wanna Be Loved." JRK: You recently collaborated with the legendary Robin Byrd on your newest single. You also had a world premier of the track with a performance at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center NYC on March 23rd. Can you tell us about that collabora- tion and the premiere? L: Robin Byrd, like Madonna, was one of the pio- neers to gay men in the 80s/90s, because she treated male on male sexuality and relationships as no big deal and as sensual. While so many others at the time were beating around the bush or hinting at it, or using it as a ploy to "shock" people, Robin simply had gay men right alongside straight couples on her shows and ba- sically was like "So what?" Needless to say, that made a huge impression on me as a teenager. We know each other from the NYC nightlife entertainment circle and to record a song with somebody that you admire greatly is a dream come true. I have to shoutout my godmother, my aunt Michelle Beanbuster, who is the person that showed me Robin Byrd's show on TV when I was a teen. As far as recording "Touch Me" together, she has a very ethereal voice. (Con't on page 6)

• Cover