Saying what’s needed

Rapper Adair Lion’s “Ben” (video above) is something that hip hop has been missing: An obviously pro-gay message. So much of rap and hip hop are misogynistic and anti-gay, so it’s refreshing when a rapper isn’t. It’s downright shocking when one is actually positive about GLBT people.

On his site, Adair says that his best friend in college came out to him, and, later, he was influenced by Dan Savage’s “It Gets Better” project. He added that while he was producing music for his new album, "Michael & Me", he came across the a cappella of Michael Jackson's "Ben", and “It amazed me at how perfectly the lyrics fit if one were to think of Ben as the gay community.”

Funny thing, that. I remember the song when it was new, and it’s message of unconditional acceptance of a friend that everyone else rejected struck a chord with me—though, since I was a kid myself, slightly younger than Michael, I kept coming back to the fact Ben was a rat. Even so, it was the first time I can remember a pop song giving me such a useful message.

On his site, Adair also talks about the symbolism in the video (and how he quotes Harvey Milk). I liked the video, especially after reading what he had to say about it, but I loved the multi-racial, multi-ethnic scene at the end. Such things give me hope.

I hope Adair does well with his song and his album. I think he might have found a new fan.

Tip o' the Hat to Kyle in Hawaii who shared this video on Facebook.

Update 23 August 2012: I'd planned on a new post today, one highlighting the praise—and success—Adair has received for doing this song and video. I was going to link to an LA Times article in the Chicago Tribune, and some of the positive things it talked about. I was also going to link to this post so that readers could watch the video. But today—unlike when I first posted the video—it’s been blocked in New Zealand (and, I assume, other countries) by Universal Music Group “on copyright grounds”. Apparently UMG would rather people download an illegal copy somewhere than view it through a legitimate source. And this sort if stupidity is why the big entertainment companies have such a problem with piracy: They treat their customers and potential customers as enemies. This is the very definition of corporate stupidity.

Update 2: Although I didn't know it when I posted the above update, a different version of the video had been uploaded in May, 2012. Apparently UMG made the copyright claim because of brief samples from Michael Jackson's "Ben". They ordered it taken down after 13 days and 155,000 views. I've replaced the original version with the one above. It features only Adair (no MJ samples) and, in my opinion, isn't as strong as the original. Still, this is now the only way for anyone to see what I was talking about, so this will have to do.