Butta: But how is it that rap/hip hop, which is still predominantly an artform dominated by people of color, hasn't had the same problem as disco?
Ivory: Maybe because it doesn't have the gay? Is that what we're still afraid of here?
Remi: Hip hop doesn't have the masculinity-questioning factor that disco did.
Zo!: Because hip hop doesn't need a band to make it pop off.
D-Money: That, too, Zo!.
AudioDiva: People were afraid of the glitter and the gay with disco.
Remi: I mean, I sometimes forget that this shit's a real issue for some 'cause I'm a 6'6", 210-lb black guy, but I heard just the other day that there are dudes out there who can only bounce to Solange's "Losing You" in private. I wept for their souls.
- Advertisement -Zo!: You're right, Remi. There are still some ignorant folks who hear "dance" music and call it "gay" off the break.
Remi: And that's a uniquely American disease. (Okay I'm about to get deported, here. No, really -- God Bless America, folks!!)
- Advertisement -Butta: OK, so the sexuality aspect of disco is what turned the mainstream off. Well, now that the gay tide has turned and its the new normal, will that start a new disco wave you think?
D-Money: I don't think so.
- Advertisement -Remi: Nah.
Ivory: OH MY GOD I HOPE SO. But probably not.
- Advertisement -AudioDiva: I want it to be sooo badly.
D-Money: I think, like a lot of other genres, it's considered more of a niche.
- Advertisement -Remi: But if anything, the EDM wave could be its entree.
Butta: So we're still letting this punk-ass EDM cook, huh?
- Advertisement -Remi: If Butta EVER runs into David Guetta in a dark alley...
Butta: It'll be slow singing and flower bringing.
- Advertisement -Zo!: Notorious K.I.M.
Remi: But I think even the dreaded Guetta tried to do something remotely in that vein back in 2009.
- Advertisement -Ivory: Disco doesn't need him doing it any favors.
Remi: When Kelly Rowland gave her (predictably Kelly-esque) half-assed effort at becoming our generation's Donna Summer.
D-Money: Which was so sad, because Kelly really has the vocal chops to make it work.
Remi: "When Love Takes Over" wasn't disco, but it was the closest thing to it I'd heard in EDM in a long time. From syncopation, to vocals, to lyrical themes, to the breakdown. It was damn-near '74 again whenever that song came on.
D-Money: If only she weren't so interested in shooting herself in the foot.
Zo!: C'Lawd.
Ivory: I must have mentally blocked that from my mind because I have no recollection of it.
AudioDiva: Me too, Ivory. What does Kelly Rowland sing again? I dipped out after "Can't Nobody" (which was a jam and a half).
