K. Love the Infinite

October 5 & 6
K. Love is Hip Hop Too!
by Rahne Alexander

K. Love the Infinite arrived in Baltimore two years ago fueled up and ready not only to develop her music, but to help organize the community around her, fostering other LGBT artists who are working to close the divide between queer and hip hop culture.

A veteran of the DC Kings and a familiar face at Women In The Life Association events, Love helped launch The Womb, a songwriting support group which met at the GLCCB. In short order, Love started We Are Hip Hop Too! (WAHHT!), and now also co-hosts Resonance, an open mic every fourth Tuesday at Kamp Night Club on Boston Street.

Love is recording and performing constantly, including gigs at this summer's PhaseFest Festival and the Charm City Kitty Club this fall. An EP is also scheduled for release this fall.

Gay Life interviewed K. Love from her Baltimore home.

You've already made quite a splash in Baltimore. How did The Womb get started?

For a long time I had wanted to have some sort of organization that was geared around music in the LGBT community. I just didn't know how it would fit, or how to put it together, until after The Womb was created. I was talking to a friend and said it would be really cool if there was a songwriting support group, and we could sit around and help each other. She said, you should pursue that. As a matter of fact, here's Gary's number from the GLCCB. Call him. I talked to Gary [Wolnitzek] and told him my aspirations, and he provided me with space to do what we named The Womb, which is basically a support program for LGBT women who are interested in developing their lyrics, their songs and poetry.

Was it an instant hit?

Ten people showed up the first time and introduced me to a lot of the LGBT artists in Baltimore. In working with them, I realized that there was a need here for other performance opportunities for LGBT artists in hip hop. That, along with my previous aspirations, came up with the idea of We Are Hip Hop Too!

Tell me about WAHHT!

We Are Hip Hop Too! is a collective of LGBT female artists – hip hop, soul, R&B. I kind of jumped out on faith by creating We Are Hip Hop Too; not necessarily with a clear idea of where it was going to go or how it was going to take shape. We're [always] looking for other LGBT artists who might find what I'm doing beneficial. It's not just a set amount of people. Other artists are definitely invited.

Is the mission of WAHHT! getting more clear?

It's in its baby stages, but the whole point of it is to attract LGBT females, and FTMs too, who are dedicated to doing their music, who are dedicated to being out while doing their music, and who believe in strength in numbers and in gaining visibility, equality and inclusion in the entertainment industry. It's based on helping each other support each other through development, education, promotion and marketing.

Do you have personal goals within WAHHT!?

My personal thing – and I'm working on it – is that I always have a fear about whether or not I will be accepted for my art. It was a positive affirmation. I've been writing hip hop for about ten years. For whatever reason, I’ve had a hard time getting myself out there. A lot of it was tied into being fearful of not being accepted because of my sexuality. A lot of my material is explicitly gay, pertaining to women or about my relationships. I had been trying to do other things instead of that. It got to a point where I could not suppress my need to be able to get into my art.

I was also fearful because when I first got into hip hop, I was with a group of people so I never had to complete a whole song. I would do a hook or a verse. So I never had a lot of confidence in my ability to write good songs. Over the years, typically what I've been writing is a combination of poetry and verses. What I'm getting into now is learning to take things out of my verses and coming up with hooks and choruses. I'm even experimenting with singing, incorporating soul and rock into my music.

Do you see this project sprouting beyond Baltimore?

The bigger things that I’m thinking about are really communicating to the community the importance of recording We Are Hip Hop Too! I see that leading into a national tour type of thing, where it's us and artists coming together collectively.

It's hard thriving as an independent artist without being queer, so adding queerness on, and being in the hip hop genre, where it might not be as accepting of queer artists as other genres, and define safe spaces for people who don't conform, who don't fit into that box of what a hip hop artist is supposed to be. To find safe spaces to perform and to market your music and to know who your audience is. It's difficult to do that individually but it's done collectively. We're all working together to come up with places we can go. Not just here in Baltimore and DC, but Philly, New York, and wherever we can manage to go.

The people who have been a part of We Are Hip Hop Too! so far are very talented. I can see them being phenomenal artists. What I see is that growing, and what I would like to see is artists coming together, not just focused on their own career, but focusing on a bigger picture. We all need to work together so that all of us have more visibility and inclusion in the industry together.

You played a few festivals this summer, including PhaseFest in Washington DC. How was that?

It was pretty cool. The last time I was at the Phase, I was on a drag king act. The energy has changed now that Mara [Levi, PhaseFest organizer] has gotten there. I really like it. It was a great opportunity. I had never performed for a crowd that was more rockers than hip hoppers. I wasn't exactly sure how well I would be received, but everyone was really nice. It was really good to see so many people coming out to support queer music. I think that trend will continue. Baltimore seems to be more of a poetry hub, and DC is a live music hub, so I see both of us collaborating to come up with more events.

Posted September 21, 2007

- Baltimore Gay Life

K. Love the Infinite
Phase Fest 2007
by Yusef Najafi
Published on August 16, 2007


IT'S NOT JUST about the music, says Kaye Love, the 27-year-old lesbian rapper who performs as K. Love the Infinite.''I feel like I have a message that needs to be heard,'' the Baltimore resident says. ''Whoever you are...if you have a passion, you need to do it and don't let anything hold you back from that.''

Love discovered her passion at 16, two years after she started writing poetry, when she began collaborating with other artists who helped her develop her poetry into hip hop. At that time, Love was also struggling with being open about her sexuality and how others would perceive her.


K. Love
''At 16, me wearing baggy jeans and bandanas and stuff like that, it was cute,'' she says, noting that other women in hip hop were dressing like that at the time. ''But as I got older they changed and I didn't see any more women like me, still dressing how I was dressing, and I felt intimidated,'' she says. ''My own issues with coming to terms with my sexuality played a part in not being able to own my musicianship and to move forward in putting myself out there as an artist.''

While she points out that it's a continuing process, Love says she has grown enough to be able to step on stage as the woman she is, without having to conform to what society or the hip-hop industry wants her to be.

To help other GLBT artists do that, earlier this year Love launched We Are Hip Hop Too!, a Baltimore-based organization that works to ''cultivate the development, visibility and inclusion of'' out hip-hop, neo-soul and spoken-word artists.

''I think there is a little bit more of a barrier in hip hop than in other genres of music,'' Love says about gay women performing in the genre.

''One of the biggest things I've done so far is [to say] to myself I can no longer use being a gay as an excuse not to try to thrive in my music and to develop my art,'' she says. ''I have to be honest with who I am and I have to share that, no matter what people may say about me.''

K. Love the Infinite performs Friday, Aug. 17 at 8:30 p.m.

- DC Metro Weekly

Is Queer Hip Hop An Oxymoron?: Conversations with Rap Artist K. Love the Infinite
By Meredith Moise

By now you have heard that most lgbt folks believe hip hop is homophobic. If you listen to hip hop, you may think that most artists are raging homophobes. From the blatant epithets to obvious references to gays, hip hop may seem anti gay from the outside. However, there is a stealth movement afoot to make hip hop more inclusive of all of its elements. Since its inception, gay men and lesbians have played an integral part in this global art form. Gay men and lesbians have been in front of the microphone and on the stage as artists and performers. They have also been behind the scenes, propagating the art form from its roots in the Bronx, New York to its worldwide proliferation today.
K. Love the Infinite One represents a new breed of out hip hop artists, willing to tell her life’s truth within the context of hip hop culture. K. Love, a native Washingtonian, now lives in Baltimore with her partner and fellow artist, Fatimah Odebe. She tells OUTloud how she views the art as an agent of truth and change and how gay people are speaking their own truth through the medium of hip hop.

OUTloud: When did you first hear hip hop?

K. Love the Infinite: I think I was like 7 or 8. I was staying with family for the summer in Houston, TX and my older cousins kept playing Salt and Pepa over and over and over...I got hooked then.

OUTloud: Is there is difference between rap and hip hop?

K. Love: Mos def! Rap is a technical term...it describes the act of putting together phrases that rhyme to a beat. It's a skill that can be taught that anyone can do. A lot of people think rap is synonymous with hip hop but it's not. Hip hop isn't a skill, nor is it just music. It's culture. Culture is the passing on of a society's beliefs, arts, traditions, etc. from one generation to the next. Hip hop includes rap, since it's a skill honed to express our culture, but so is jazz, spoken word, soul, dance, art, fashion etc.

OUTloud: Do you think hip hop is anti gay by nature? Why or why not?

K. Love: Yes and no. I do think hip hop has traditionally been less accepting of lgbtqq people. More so than other genres-like I can name out lgbtqq artist in rock, alternative, folk, even pop...but can't think of any hip hop artist. I wouldn't say it's natural though. To say its natural may seem like it's permanent. I think hip hop has adopted anti-gay, homophobic, or ‘don't ask don't tell’ policies out of default more than anything else. Hip Hop culture has been stolen, packaged, and re-sold to those of us who are in the culture...so maybe it's the people doing the packaging that has encouraged these policies...who knows. I just know it needs to change. At one point it was wrong to be Black, so we had to suppress our culture. And it was wrong to be a woman...so we had to suppress our power...and it's wrong to be lgbtqq -- so we have to suppress our sexuality - history has proven that suppression doesn't work. Hip Hop will change. We just need to demand it to.

OUTloud: Why did you start "We Are Hip Hop Too!"? What are your goals?

K. Love: I started WAHHT! For one reason, I don’t want other lgbtqq artist to suffer like I did growing up. For years, after I came out, I had lost hope in doing my music full time because I didn’t have any role models…didn’t see any other women rapping about loving women…I didn’t think that I’d be supported in the industry to live well through my craft, unless I tried to be something I wasn’t.
My goals are three-fold: I want to help show the music industry that there is an untapped pool of talent within Hip Hop that deserves the resources that straight (or pretending to be straight artist) get, and to encourage them to get on the ball with providing those resources, cuz if they don’t then we (lgbtqq community) will. Just because they can’t market us the same way they market their other artists doesn’t mean we’re not marketable at all.
The 2nd goal is to encourage lgbtqq Hip Hop artists, especially lgbtqq female Hip Hop artists to align with WAHHT! So that we can establish ourselves as a driving force in the music industry. (When I say Hip Hop I’m talking about rap, spoken word, and neo-soul- there’s no difference to me.) Major record labels won’t take the risk on us until we prove that we have a market. This means we have to come together, and help each other to continue to develop our craft as lyricists and as professionals to find, establish, and maintain a market of supporters to make it happen.
The 3rd goal is to encourage supporters of lgbtqq female artists to come to the events, buy the CDs and downloads, wear the t-shirts, and give time, money and resources to our artist in hip hop culture. Without the audience, we (as artists) cease to exist.

OUTloud: There has been a lot of talk about certain female artists in hip hop being gay. Do you think that helps or hurts gays in hip hop?

K. Love: I definitely feel like it hurts hip hop as a whole and it hurts all of the lgbtqq community. Hip hop is a powerful force that has affected the entire world, such as has black music historically. So much so, that the attitudes and beliefs that are put out there set the tone for the next generation. With so much power behind hip hop, denying one’s sexuality just re-enforces the cycle. The choices we make as artists don’t just affect us…its affects the world. So then we get another generation of repressed, depressed, un-empowered people that have to fight the same struggle we as African Americans and/or we as lgbtqq women have had to fight for generations.

OUTloud: How big is the gay hip hop scene in the Baltimore/Washington DC?

K. Love: I believe it’s as big as the entire lgbtqqa community in Baltimore/Washington DC. Hip Hop has affected all of us to some degree. If you don’t rhyme, you probably draw, or dance, or sing, or DJ, or do hair, or make clothes, or like to listen to the music, or the poetry, or in the business, or something…everybody’s is like 0-1 degree away from Hip Hop. That’s what’s so great about Hip Hop. It crosses all age, gender, class, and race lines. Everybody is Hip Hop.

OUTLoud: Do you consider yourself an artist?

K. Love: True Indeed! An artist is defined as a person whose trade or profession requires knowledge of design….That’s definitely me. I’ve decided to dedicate all my energy into my two trades…that of a lyricists and that of a business woman. Both which take creative skill and design.

OUTLoud: We hear that you are starting a gay hip hop showcase. Who will you feature at these showcases?

K. Love: Yeah! I’m very excited about this showcase. It will feature only lgbtqqa hip hop, neo-soul, R&B, and spoken word artist monthly. This isn’t an open mic…this is an event, a show, where lgbtqq artist who are dedicated to their craft get to shine in front of an audience that completely accepts their sexuality and welcomes the honesty in their expression. The Kick Off event will be at The 5 Seasons in Baltimore – June 29th at 7pm. There’ll also be an after party to celebrate the launch of WAHHT! Featured artist for the first show include artist from DC, Bmore, NY & VA. Check out the website for the line up www.WeAreHipHopToo.com

OUTLoud: Is there a large demand for gay hip hop?

K. Love: There’s a large demand for equality in all areas of life for gay people. I think the demand for gay hip hop will be large. Listeners might not be demanding it right now, but I don’t think it’s because it’s not wanted. Lgbtqq women flock to Meshell Ndegencello’s, and Stacy Ann Chin concerts not only because they are good artist, but also because we resonate with their stories and songs at a deep level, maybe even deeper than an artist who’s not lgbtqq. With Hip Hop being as powerful and popular as it is, I would expect the same type of “flocking” response. I think we as artists just have to do a better job of putting ourselves out there so that the lgbtqq community can support us in our endeavors. If we can't find them, we have to make them come to us. Once we do this collectively…I think the lgbtqq community will be like “How did I ever live without this for so long?"


OUTLoud: What will you accomplish through the showcases and your website?

K. Love: WAHHT!’s mission is to provide resources for lgbtqq artist throughout each stage of their development. We already offer writers and performance workshops called The Womb (1st & 3rd Wed at GLCCB) to help lgbtqq women hone their craft. We’ve also just recently started an intimate open mic called ‘Resonance’ (2nd Wed at Mayorga Cafe) where artists can begin to build their audience and stage presence.
The showcase is called ‘Recognize’ and provides a space where artists can further develop their art and business as independent artists outside of the open mic circuit. It also provides a space outside of dance parties at night clubs for the lgbtqq community to have a great time in an environment that’s positive and affirming.
The website is the main portal for interested persons to access information on affiliated artist, events and news. It directs viewers to artist pages to listen to or buy music, to buy tickets and/or register to WAHHT! Events and workshops, donate or buy t-shirts and apparel. It’s great because it works like a co-operative. As one artist promotes their show and music, they also promote all lgbtqq artist affiliate with WAHHT! and visa versa. It's a way of unifying our efforts.

OUTLoud: Where do you see gay hip hop going in the future?

K. Love: Okay…let me look into my crystal lgbtqq hip hop ball ---- I see the lgbtqq community taking the lack of inclusion in hip hop into their own hands and investing in lgbtqq hip hop record labels. I see lgbtqq artists becoming more visible and getting a positive response from the lgbtqq community. There might be a bit of controversy from some…at first…but it will pan out and end up with major record labels partnering with indie lgbtqq labels to form a bridge between gay hip hop and hip hop as a whole. The we all live happily ever after

- Baltimore OUTLoud