Angel Haze continuing covers/freestyle series, addresses her sexuality, playing Webster Hall (streams & poetry video)

by Andrew Sacher

Angel Haze at Lollapalooza 2013 (more by James Richards IV)

Rapper Angel Haze has still not announced a release date for her much-anticipated debut LP, Dirty Gold, but last month she kicked off her #30Gold series, a month-long series of covers and freestyles over other songs to precede the album. The newest #30Gold installment is the cover of young British pop breakout John Newman’s “Love Me Again.” You can stream it below, along with covers/freestyles of Lana Del Rey, Miley Cyrus, Macklemore, A$AP Ferg, Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Jay Z, and Kanye West.

In her “Same Love” (Macklemore) freestyle, Angel Haze addresses her sexuality, rapping:

At age thirteen, my mom knew I wasn’t straight
She didn’t understand, but she had so much to say
She sat me on the couch, looked me straight in my face
And said you’ll burn in hell or probably die of AIDS
It’s funny now, but at thirteen it was pain
To be almost sure of who you are and have it ripped away
And I’m sorry if it’s too real for some of you to fathom
But hate for who you love is not exactly what you’d imagine
And I guess it was disastrous
Because everything that happened afterwards was just madness
Locked away for two years to keep me on the inside
Because she’d rather see a part of me die than me thrive
And it’s tougher when it’s something you can’t deny
And ignorance teaches us it’s something you decide
You’re driven by your choices, an optical illusion
Here’s to understanding it’s not always confusion

Read the rest of the lyrics below. Following that song’s release, she did an interview with Fusion TV, saying that if she to label herself (though she’d prefer not to) it’d be “pansexual.” “To identify as pansexual to me means to just want love and to want a connection with anyone you can find it with,” she said.

That freestyle isn’t the only genuinely moving thing Angel Haze has done in recent memory. Last week, she posted a video of herself reading a poem she wrote titled “You Broke My Heart.” You can watch that below, and to say the least, you’ll feel her pain.

Later this month, Angel Haze will be appearing live in New York (you know, the city she runs) at Webster Hall on November 21 for a Girls Night Out party. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Streams, poem video, and “Same Love” lyrics below…

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Angel Haze – “You Broke My Heart” (Poem)

Angel Haze – “Love Me Again” (John Newman cover)

Angel Haze – “Summertime Sadness” (Lana Del Rey cover)

Angel Haze – “Wrecking Ball” (Miley Cyrus cover)

Angel Haze – “Same Love” (Macklemore cover)

Angel Haze x A$AP Ferg – “Shabba Ranks” Freestyle

Angel Haze x Kendrick Lamar – “Backseat Freestyle” err.. Freestyle

Angel Haze x Drake – “Worst Behavior” Freestyle

Angel Haze x Jay Z – “Tom Ford” Freestyle

Angel Haze x Kanye West – “Black Skinhead” Freestyle

Angel Haze – “Same Love” (Macklemore freestlye) Lyrics:

[Intro]
Hi Mom
I’m really scared right now, but I have to

[Verse 1]
At age thirteen, my mom knew I wasn’t straight
She didn’t understand, but she had so much to say
She sat me on the couch, looked me straight in my face
And said you’ll burn in hell or probably die of AIDS
It’s funny now, but at thirteen it was pain
To be almost sure of who you are and have it ripped away
And I’m sorry if it’s too real for some of you to fathom
But hate for who you love is not exactly what you’d imagine
And I guess it was disastrous
Because everything that happened afterwards was just madness
Locked away for two years to keep me on the inside
Because she’d rather see a part of me die than me thrive
And it’s tougher when it’s something you can’t deny
And ignorance teaches us it’s something you decide
You’re driven by your choices, an optical illusion
Here’s to understanding it’s not always confusion

[Hook]
And I can’t change even if I tried, even if I wanted to
And I can’t change even if I tried, even if I wanted to
My love, my love, my love
She keeps me warm, she keeps me warm
She keeps me warm, she keeps me warm

[Verse 2]
I’ve walked the halls of my school
And I’ve seen kids hide behind walls and footballs and things like pride
I’ve seen innocent children suffer beneath bruises
Suffer beneath every single hand that chooses
Ignorance, fuck your religion
Fuck constitutions, fuck superstitions
There are no lakes of fire; they’re here on earth
And the only thing to do is put love first
And so I stand for the boy who died by his hand
To the sound of his father screaming “woman loves man”
This is Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve
And I stand for the girl with the cuts up her sleeve
And the heart in her hand and a chip on her shoulder
And I stand for it all until ignorance is over
This is for you, for knowing who you are
For never letting your magic outside of your heart
Be you, be brave and understand that things do change
I accept you for you when I don’t understand
And I love you for you cause this is who I am
I accepted you for you when I didn’t understand
Now love me for me cause this is who I am

[Hook]

[Verse 3]
Here’s a message to the people who just don’t get it
Love is love, there is no difference
Not a medication to fix it
There is no prescription
No rehab to visit, it is not an addiction
It’s love and it’s selfless
It’s yours and everybody else’s
So don’t badger and abuse the solemnly defenseless
See us as yourself, there’s no equality in difference
Until we all get it, we’ll be drowning in the same blood
Despite orientation, we all feel the same love
We’ll be drowning in the same blood
Despite orientation, we all feel the same love

[Hook]

[verse 4]
We are boxed in and labeled
Before we’re ever able to speak who we believe we are
Or who we dream we’ll become
Like drum beats forever changing their rhythm
I am living today as someone I had not yet become yesterday
And tonight I’ll only borrow pieces of who I am today
To carry with me to tomorrow
No, I’m not gay
No, I’m not straight
And I sure as hell am not bisexual
Damn it I am whoever I am when I am it
Loving whoever you are when the stars shine
And whoever you’ll be when the sun rises
So here’s to being able
Here’s to love
Here’s to loving just because
Here’s to acceptance
Here’s to never fearing the fear of rejection
Here’s to love and never neglecting who you feel you are
Here’s to bullies because beatings cannot last forever
Heres’ to the moment you realize things do get better
Here’s to the parents who will get it when its too late
Here’s to second chances
Here’s to new fate
Here’s to every single moment you’ve ever had to hide you
Here’s to the single star shining bright inside you, asking you to guide you
Here’s to who you’ll be when you figure it all out
Here’s to momentary doubt
Here’s to feeling, because we all feel it the same
Here’s to the moment that things will change
Because we all feel love, we all feel it the same
Here’s to love, here’s to change [via RapGenius]

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