Culture Prairie Pop
Excellence is my Presence Multi-talented performer Billy Dean Thomas navigates identity, privilege and place on their rise to success. BY KEMBREW MCLEOD
B
illy Dean Thomas, a.k.a. “The Queer Biggie,” is a quadruple-threat: a rapper, singer, instrumentalist and charismatic performer whose dynamic presence permeates their live shows and music videos. In “Rocky Barboa,” the Harlem-raised MC can be seen rhyming and bouncing to a sparse, retrofuturistic beat while dressed in unique, stylish outfits tailor-made for this gender-nonconforming artist. After a New York City arts program unlocked something within them, music became a vehicle for reinvention, starting with their moniker, which emerged from a song they wrote years ago with their sister and best friend. Thomas recalled making a beat with a Biggie Smalls vibe and then began emulating the rap legend’s flow, something that inspired their sister to blurt out, “The Queer Biggie!” “Once it was said out loud,” Thomas said, “it dawned on me how similar to Biggie I actually was, which I had never thought about before. My birthday is the day after his, we both are rappers from New York City, we both are dark skinned, chubby and not really seen as commercially ‘attractive’ by Western beauty standards. However, we still possess our own swagger, appeal—and stand tall in our confidence.” While they are proud of their birth name, Billy Dean was given to them by their chosen family and it deeply resonated with them spiritually. “The name Billy Dean really allowed me to reintroduce myself to myself and claim me,” they told me, “in the same way that Malcolm X did with the letter X.” Thomas grew up in Harlem and was raised by parents who played music all the time, especially R&B. Their mother gravitated to ’90s
WATCH: Billy Dean Thomas, ‘Trump Vs. via the artist
Biden’ Ft. S’natra Mission Creek Festival 2021: DUOS, Mission Creek (mission-
singers like Mary J. Blige and Jaheim, while their father spun older artists such as Marvin Gaye, Ray Charles and the
42 April 2021 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV293
creekfestival.com), Thursday and Friday, April 29-30, 7 p.m., $20-195
