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Feloni Lays it Down

Hip-hop artist Feloni has never been in trouble with the law – which is exactly why she chose this play-on-words MC name.

“I chose that name because unlike a lot of my friends I ran with as a teenager, I’m one of the few who never caught a felony,” the rapper said. “It’s also an acronym for something, but I’m going to keep that one to myself.”

Feloni (nee Trish Best) has been a part of the Detroit hip-hop community for several years. As an out lesbian, she says she’s observed more misogyny than homophobia in her world, but it’s never deterred her. Quite conversely, it seems to add fuel to her fire.

“I think it’s fair to say that not all male rappers consciously try to be misogynistic,” Feloni said. “A few of them are just using what they feel is the best street adjective to describe the situation, and are not necessarily referring to all women in general.”

“I’m really hoping that since we now have Michelle Obama as the first African-American, first lady that these guys will wise up to show more respect. Obviously, having their mothers and Oprah wasn’t enough.”

An MC who has more to rhyme about than the women she’s with, Feloni has been able to deter comparisons to other lesbian rappers and be known as a rapper first, lesbian second. She said that early in her career, she was warned that being out would hurt her financially, and that it would make getting a record deal more difficult.

“They were right,” Feloni said. “Yet I didn’t care about any of that.”

Her 2007 debut album, A Woman’s Revenge, took the misogyny of the hip-hop industry head-on.

In her hometown, where male rappers seem to be groomed from the crib and go on to have profitable careers, Feloni has held her own and created a record label, Trak Diamond Records, and a name for herself without having to worry about benefiting anyone else in the process.

Songs like “No Fear” tout her ideas about using her pain for her passion to write and rhyme, while others like “Fien’n 4 U” are about meeting a woman who is more than what she does for a living.

“I actually wanted to be that rare artist who came ‘out’ first, as a new artist, because it was challenging,” she said.”I wanted to see how far I could get based on word of mouth alone, which is why I never hired a PR person or manager. I don’t even spend on advertising.”

If you’ve heard of her then, it’s for her talent – on her own album, or her track with Lori Michaels called “Girl Thing.” The producer of “Girl Thing,” Bruno, had worked with Kanye West, and Feloni said she liked the concept of the song, so she “jumped on it.”

Feloni recently performed with Michaels live in New York at an L Word Premiere Party in conjunction with the HRC.

“The fact that it was with a sold out crowd of over 2,600 stunning women definitely had me in sensory overload,” Feloni said. “Whenever I think of New York, I think of banging parties. So, the experience definitely lived up to my expectation. The L Word has a beautiful following.”

It was her first performance in New York, as Feloni has maintained most of her career in Detroit. Her history lies within a largely straight male demographic, having worked with groups B-Like Boys and members of D-12. The recently deceased MC Big Proof, Feloni said, was a friend who was supportive of her being out.

“It was Proof who first said to me that hip-hop would fight to keep me out because I’m gay,” Feloni said. “He told me no matter what happened, I had to keep moving and stay focused.”

Being from Detroit is a large part of who she is and what she rhymes about. The city, Feloni said, “is always burgeoning with talented, new and upcoming artists from all genres. It’s just in our blood.”

With a new album coming out sometime this year (Feloni is thinking spring or summer, but says she might “change her mind … because I’m the boss”), she’s preparing to reach a larger audience, and not just a gay one.

“I understand there will always be homophobic people, which means there will always be people in hip-hop who are uncomfortable with homosexuality,” Feloni said. “I recently gave props to Russell Simmons for speaking out against homophobia in hip-hop at the 2008 BET Hip-Hop Awards, which is unprecedented for a show like that. Here you have the Godfather of hip-hop basically saying, you need some serious introspection because true growth and success does not entail embracing hate and discrimination, especially as African-Americans who already know how it feels to be judged based on difference.”

The new album, Love Spent, will be significantly different from A Woman’s Revenge, and not just by name.

Feloni said she felt like she “sacrified a lot” on her debut album, and she’s ready to move forward on a more optimistic note. She’s also working on a music video, and trying to beat out Uh Huh Her for the top spot on MTV’s Soundtrack homepage, where’s she’s under them at number two.

“I just think it’s cool,” Feloni said, “that two out artists occupy the top chart positions on a mainstream music website.”

It could be that America is getting less homophobic, or simply that music lovers are developing better taste. Either way, Feloni’s talent is not something for lesbians only.

“I’m known by my fans as the Godmother of the out urban, lesbian hip-hop movement,” Feloni said. “There’s no changing that now. In my eyes, it’s all good. I’m in no rat race, and I’m not competing with anyone for anything. Eventually, the straight fans I do have will forget my sexuality.”

In the meantime, Feloni said one thing she’d have fun with would be to battlerap the blatantly misogynistic rapper Too Short.

“And I don’t even battle rap,” Feloni said, “but I’d rip his ass apart on general principles … He makes it very clear that he’s misogynistic, and proud of it. It would be funny.”

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