As it turns out, the pandemic has been good for music. We’re all looking for silver linings everywhere, and this one is sterling.
Because Florida has been relatively open through the past year and we have the infrastructure to support music-making as well as venues for concerts big and small, Central Florida has been a hot spot for recording and performing.
In the world of hip hop, we had visits from major acts. Jack Harlow stopped by Tier Nightclub and put in some studio time while he was in town. City Girls did a show at Gilt Nightclub. Tyla Yaweh came home from Los Angeles to record and perform. DaBaby played the Central Florida Fairgrounds.
Through the pandemic, another act, this one less known but on the come up, Stud Passion, was brewing. Yonk Trendsetta and Big Vision both drove down from Gainesville to perform at Soundbar on West Pine Street in Orlando, but not together. They also did shows at Pegasus Lounge in Tampa, but not together. The merging of their talents was yet to happen as they independently released and performed their music through the pandemic.
These two women live and breathe music. After being struck by one of Yonk’s YouTube music videos, Vision had an inkling that they might work well together.
“She was rapping but I could just tell she can also sing. I just knew she had both in her. I told my friend I wanted to work with Yonk and she shut me down. ‘She not gonna do a song with you, bro. She bougie.’ But I sent her a message anyway. I was like, I ain’t never seen you before. You just popped out. Goddamn, you put it in my face,” says Vision.
With no response, Vision was persistent. She tried DMing on Instagram. But when you aren’t connected on social media, such messages are relegated to that other inbox. Eventually, Yonk saw a message from Vision inviting her to a show at Gainesville’s artist development and showcase venue Cypher House, and she responded.
Yonk dipped her toe in tentatively. The Cypher House crowd gave her a lot of love, which was overwhelming. Pretty soon, Yonk was won over.
Soon, she and Vision were recording together, and Stud Passion was born. The story of this grouping mirrors the women’s yin and yang dialectic. They both bring powerful voices, warm laughter and quick quips to the table, with Yonk pausing more to collect her thoughts, sometimes hesitating before sharing big stories. Vision puts it all out there immediately and forcefully. Neither misses a beat.
Their recent release, “Eat Hoe,” is a brazen celebration of lust, borrowing from the bag of tricks you’ve heard in raps by men. The chorus is sticky and you may find yourself singing it in the check-out line at the grocery store, which could be awkward.
Fuck it up
You better eat hoe
Ride out ride out ride
Pussy popping in ya tip toes
Ride out ride out ride
Vision’s bold verse shines. The musicality in her rapping fuses with Yonk’s trademark melody ay-yay-yay-yay ringing in the background.
She Meg the Stall with the knees
Make me wanna give her cheese
But she a track star so she always on leave
Booty bigger den a Georgia peach
Repercussions for LGBTQ+ rappers
Watermark asked Stud Passion if they’ve gotten any blowback in the hip hop community for being openly lesbian.
“Gay men have it harder than we do. Because we are women, personally I feel like men sometimes in their minds feel like sex is still, you know, a possibility,” explains Yonk. “If I were a man, they would be nasty-nasty to me.”
For evidence of the differing situations experienced by gay male and female rappers, scroll through Miami native Sissy Rich’s Instagram (@sissyrich) followers and look for follows from established straight rappers in Orlando or elsewhere. While Sissy lived here during his core performance years, you won’t find those followers.
In the early 2000’s, Sissy became known as the first gay male rapper to come onto the scene fully out. All these years later he’s still the poster boy for gay rap. We checked in with music industry executives and established rappers around the U.S. asking what they knew about the gay rap scene, and Sissy was the first name to come from their lips.
While Lil Nas X is clearly the most famous gay rapper, somehow that doesn’t count in their books, because his music went viral before he came out. There seems to be resounding agreement that had he been known as gay, “Old Town Road” wouldn’t have been heard.
Of course, none of the execs wanted to be quoted on the record, out of concern for being connected with the topic in any way.
Conversely, look at Orlando-based Twissy’s Instagram following (@613_Twissy_) and you’ll see the support the lesbian rapper is getting from the local industry.
Their second single “Lied 2 Me” hasn’t officially been released, though it is in circulation because Stud Passion’s live performances have been captured and posted to YouTube.
The song is a pained but steady-moving eulogy for a relationship gone wrong, voiced by a paramour who’s been duped.
Girl you had the wool
over my eyes for so long
So close to the trees
That I couldn’t see forest
Had so many warning signs
That I steady was ignoring
Said you’d always keep it real
Turned out to be a phony
In the end, the singer learns that the woman whose affection she had enjoyed was secretly partnered with a man all along.
“Eat Hoe” and “Lied 2 Me” are both winning fans wherever Stud Passion shows up.
The duo is recording a foundation of songs, gearing up to trickle out a self-titled mixtape early this summer, even as they continue to pursue their individual projects.
Yonk says, “I think we’ll put out one song at a time and build some momentum for Stud Passion, you know?”
For details on upcoming Stud Passion live performances and releases, follow their Instagram accounts at @yonktrendsetta and @big_visionn.
