The lights are dimmed and as the jaunty synths of “Koi” intensify, a dark silhouette appears on stage. In a flash we see, hear and feel Le1f in full force – fabulously hooded, in a floor-length white fur coat and sultry low vocals over booty-popping bass. With one body roll Khalif Diouf sends the crowd at Le Belmont into a rage.

Le1f has garnered much attention since producing “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell” for rap group Das Racist. He is a producer, dancer and an influential figure in the avant-garde New York queer rap scene, which includes artists such as Mykki Blanco and Zebra Katz. His debut album Riot Boi, released November 2015, is a fusion of weighty political commentary, hefty, deconstructed beats characteristic of witch-hop, and syrupy-smooth lyrics executed with masterful wordplay. The album features collaborations with artists such as Junglepussy, Devonte Hynes (Blood Orange), House of Ladosha and producers including SOPHIE, Lunice and Boody. Tracks range from raucous bangers like “Koi” and “Umami / Water” to soulful slow-jams like the emotional “Taxi” and “Change” (which features Le1f’s mother, opera singer Miss Geri).

Joined by two other dancers, Le1f drops it low and purrs the opening lines of “Boom” from 2014 EP, Hey. The audience reacts with a fury of energy and acclamation and before starting “Lisa” he pauses to praise their enthusiasm. He undoes his high ponytail, tosses off his coat and struts smolderingly up and down the stage like a panther as the sitar-like riffs of “Spa Day” fill the space. His confident stage presence and sensual vogueing give the party life and as he moves on to his hit single and crowd favorite “Wut”, everyone is breaking a sweat.

Controversy broke out when Macklemore and Ryan Lewis received a VMA for the best video with a social message and Le1f accused them of stealing the signature beat of “Wut” for their song “Thrift Shop”. Not only did Le1f express his outrage at Macklemore for ripping off his music, but he also tweeted about the ridiculousness of exploiting the idea of gay rights and marriage equality for personal gain. The success of Macklemore’s song “Same Love”, which addressed a gay interracial relationship but did not take into account the fact that Macklemore is both straight and white, did not appear to benefit the LGBT community in Le1f’s perspective.

Yet Le1f does not like his music being categorized as “gay rap”. In an interview with the FADER the explained, “I am gay, and I’m proud to be a gay rapper, but it’s not gay rap. That’s not a genre. My goal is always to make songs that a gay dude or a straight dude can listen to and just think, ‘This dude has swag.’ I get guys the way straight rappers get girls. I’m not preachy. The best thing a song can be called is good.”

Not only is his music good, Le1f’s debut album bears bold and thoughtful political messages. He is self-educated and ha worked since his teenage years to write songs about political and social issues close to his heart (such as oppression related to being androgynous and being a gay black man). He wanted to write music that people could relate to, but that did not tell them how to live their lives. As Le1f recently told the FADER, “I feel like a lot of people – a lot of rappers especially – create music that makes them feel like they’re doing the work but they’re actually just complaining about really petty basic stuff because they’re not able to separate in their heads all the threads of first worldliness and materialism and family. They can’t understand the different levels of struggle that other people go through. That’s annoying to me.”

In the closing song of the set, “Rage”, Le1f calls on the crowd to “get lit”, and they respond with nothing less.

Photo credit: le1f.com