BFoundAPen, it’s absolutely serendipitous that I was looking at your draft of this article this morning just before my interview with Natti Vogel about his controversial new video, “Brown Rice.”

The very first thing Natti said to me (after good morning) was how excited he was about Janelle’s album and about her coming out. Thanks to you, I knew what he was talking about.

We talked for an hour about themes of erasure, being free, and being authentic artists.

While Janelle and Natti come from entirely different backgrounds and face different struggles, they share so much in common in their queerness and their quest for artistic expression.