‘People say my photos make me look like a gangsta,’ laughs Mz Fontaine, ‘but really I’m a softie.’ A couple of hours in the company of the UK’s first out lesbian rapper prove that she is, indeed, a ‘softie’ – warm, sincere and endearingly shy: ‘Yeah, I’m a shy one. To go up to a girl and say “We should hook up later”, that would take me at least four Jack
Daniel’s... ’

A founding sister of the UK’s flourishing gay hip-hop scene, 26-year-old Fontaine officially burst out of the closet when she won the ‘Ms Butch’ title at 2002’s National Lesbian Beauty Contest. She performed Pass Dat Crutch, her bawdy reworking of Missy Elliott’s Pass Dat Dutch. One of several standout tracks from Fontaine’s album New Era, it’s a sweaty, bass-heavy track in which she offers to ‘play your G-spot like a game of chess’. Fontaine’s not sure if Missy’s heard the cover: ‘She’ll either call me and cuss “What the fuck?!”, or say, “Yo, your shit’s hot!” I’d love it if she said, “Let’s just chill in a pool, work some girls, and work some music”!’

Born in Guyana, Fontaine moved to London at the age of 12. Her schooldays were far from ‘the best of her life’: ‘School was horrible, because my accent was very South American. Everyone was like, “You talk funny!” Then, they started calling me a lesbian. At the time, I didn’t know what one was. That’s when I went and did my research. Oh, God, I couldn’t wait to leave! I tried killing myself - I hated it, with a passion.’

At 16, she ran away from home, and ended up living on the streets for three months: ‘I used to wash people’s cars to get money to eat at McDonald’s, and have a wash in there. Even on the street I was obsessed with cleanliness.’
A lesbian police officer supported the young runaway: ‘She was very compassionate, and took me straight to a hostel. If it wasn’t for her, I'd probably be six feet under. I was in love with her!’

Things started looking up when Fontaine discovered a local gay youth group, realised that The Oak Bar was on her doorstep, and had her first lesbian kiss: ‘I was like “Woo! This is for me, definitely sold!”

She resolved to be upfront about her sexuality within the music business: ‘I thought, “No, I can’t see myself singing a song about a guy and really singing it with passion, because I’d be lyin’”. So, from that day, I changed all my songs – any bits that had “boy” in it, I changed it to “girl”.’



‘It’s there out in the open. No-one has to ask me questions, like why I look so boyish, and don’t I ever like wearing a dress? No! I don’t!’ She does like to dress up though. ‘I love going out, putting my suit on, checking my tie. I’m waiting for the day I turn up at the MOBOs in my suit with some fly chick!’.

She received few knockbacks from studios, but offers weren’t forthcoming, despite her obvious talent. ‘So I went to college and learnt how to produce music and run a studio, and I opened up my own business. It’s been running four years now, and I’ve never felt more free in my life.

Mz Fontaine explains her moniker: ‘The “Mz” is because I’m not a miss but I’m not a mister, and “Fontaine” just kinda happened ’cos I’m doing so much in the industry. Musically, I’m like a producer, an engineer, singer, rapper – and I do modelling, and web design – so I’m just like a fountain.’

Aside from a collaboration with Missy, Fontaine dreams of a role in Bad Girls: ‘It’d be like proper “gangsta”, I’d be some rapper in prison for smuggling grass on the Eurostar,’ she says wistfully. ‘And I’d love to be in The L Word, on the stage at The Planet. I passionately love it; I don’t miss an episode.’

I ask if there’s a Mrs Fontaine? ‘No; single as a dollar bill!’

Girlfriends complain they can’t tear Fontaine away from her computer, and that she works too much. ‘Music always comes first; that’s my first wife…’ Groupies? ‘I don’t get no time to even accommodate no groupies, even though I wouldn’t mind having some!’ she winks. ‘I need seven groupies, one for each day!’

Women inspire Fontaine: ‘I do write a lot of personal stuff. My writing’s very much geared by my emotional state. Kids asking me, “Are you a boy or a girl?”, that inspires me, too. I’ve yet to write about straight girls, ’cos there are a lot that look at me – they don’t know whether I’m a boy or a girl, but they still look and smile – which is cute. I always blow them a kiss, and then I go about my business.’

Fontaine’s confidence is less braggadocio than a mantra of hard-won self-belief. Towards the end of our conversation, she leans into the microphone and advises: ‘I’m a good shag. My pleasure is pleasing. I pleasure girls, I pleasure ears. I’ll be spreading the six-colour love ’til the day I die.’

Mz Fontaine’s new single All U Deserve and album New Era are available from www.mzfontaine.com