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Summertime Realness

The LGBTQ+ Summer Anthem

By MR. ERIQPublished 4 years ago 3 min read
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How would you describe your ideal summer? I would imagine barbeques with record-breaking heatwaves by the beach, warm summer nights with friends, and an ice-cold drink in hand. This seems to be the best description for a perfect summer. Throw in a party and parade in June and you have the makings for an excellent LGBTQ+ Pride season. One common denominator between the two will have to be a soundtrack full of hits to set the mood and start the party. Sadly, this year, we traded beach trips with doctor’s visits. Lines outside of bars are replaced with lines around the corner for the grocery store. Block parties and Pride marches became protests and marches for worthy causes. With everything going on in the world, one has to ask will there be a song of the summer this year?

With tensions rising at protests and marches and people going stir-crazy with stay-at-home orders during the pandemic, this year is getting bleaker than a whole month of June Gloom. Music seems to be the only escape, but what holds the key for you? Typically, songs deserving of the title narrate adventures and parties of the season. How can we have a soundtrack to activities that are canceled? No one wants to listen to danceable hits about face-coverings and summer romances through Tinder. I hear cars driving by blaring music and I would normally be annoyed by the loud music. Now, I can’t help but sing along to classics and discover artists to add to my library. Like people watching, listening to music around the neighborhood has become the hottest new socially distant activity.

One song stood out among the crowd. It made me pull out my phone and open up Shazam. Summertime Realness by Big Dipper or as vulture.com calls him, the hairy Nicki Minaj.

Big Dipper is a celebrated LGBTQ+ rapper and activist with a reputation of pushing limits of the concept of NSFW (Not Safe For Work) content. With an old school beat, this song is catchy, gay, and fun with the right amount of raunchy to make any summer Pride partygoer blush and want to dance along. The music video is a party in itself. The visuals give us everything we wish we could be doing if our actions didn’t put others’ health at risk; beach parties, dancing crowds in the streets, busy storefronts, and acting like fools at barbeques with friends. What’s even better is the fact that the video features all facets of the LGBTQ+ community. You’ll see feminine and masculine people of all shapes and sizes riding bikes and having fun together.

This kind of fun body positivity is what is needed in a summer anthem. It should make you feel great about yourself and want to show it off to whoever will listen. The song should invite others to join you as they listen and dance along. Summer songs like outings with friends, have to be memorable and instantly put a smile on your face. There should also be a story behind the song. In this pandemic, I guess the story will be where we wish we were. After watching the music video, you will wish you could jump through your screen and join the block party, or at least get a gold chain and lime green swimsuit. Even though the song is 7 years old, with everything that’s going on in the world, I think everyone needs that kind of feelgood song. This song may not be your idea of a perfect summer but this is definitely the kind of summer I look forward to once restrictions are lifted.

pop culture
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About the Creator

MR. ERIQ

I wanted this to be a fountain of knowledge but let face it, its a junk drawer of word vomit with morsels you can use.

But for those who want to know:

I'm a singer, writer, and queer teaching artist who enjoys talking out loud to himself

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