Lexxicon wants to leave as big a mark on dancehall as the genre has had on him. The Toronto musician may very well pull that off with Pink Fraternity (due out August 16), which he has proudly declared to be dancehall's first queer album. This new LP, his fifth, is rooted in a boyhood visit with relatives in Jamaica, where he was wowed by dancehall fans' moves at a local beach.
"I wasn't allowed to listen to secular music then, only gospel," he tells Exclaim! via video call, grinning and tossing his locs back over his shoulder to emphasize the ridiculousness of that childhood restriction.
Dancehall proved to be a dive into the secular deep end. He recalls how locals blared a song by Spice — the undisputed Queen of Dancehall — on that beach, then formed a circle and began "jumping and splitting," Lexxicon remembers. "They were clearly flexible! The aggressive, commanding vocals immediately pulled me in. And the percussion just makes you want to move, makes you want to shake."
Now he is blazing a dancehall trail with Pink Fraternity songs like "Adam & Steve," where he sings about "muscled-up chests" over strutting percussion, punctuated by slow-swaying strings and snake charmer flutes. "Batty Man Party," meanwhile, finds Lexxicon chanting "We coming out and we pretty like Barbie" over horns and keys balmier than that sandy shore where he first heard dancehall. What's more, "Give It to Me" has steely percussion thrumming at a breathless pace while Lexxicon beckons with his catchy refrain: "Love is love!"
This proud professional statement follows some serious personal work. Lexxicon says, "After having some talks with my family and friends, and healing some of these past childhood traumas, I got to this place where I was like: 'I'm just gonna be me. Forget what everyone else says.'"
He adds, "Having good queer support around me helped. And they all said: 'This is needed.' That encouraged me."
Lexxicon says dancehall is at a turning point. "There's been rumblings and rumours, but no one's openly come out and said anything. So I'm like, 'Okay, I'll just do it,'" he says of being a proudly queer dancehall pioneer. Lexxicon predicts closeted dancehall artists will follow suit, based on the enthused response he has gotten from not only the queer community, but also listeners in general messaging and commenting about the catchiness of lead single "Give It to Me."
He says, "I think it'll be like a dam breaking, boom, and a flood will come out."
R&B singer Kelela and rapper Lil Nas X's successes paved the way, says Lexxicon. "Before them, industry people would be like 'They don't know how to market you because you're queer.' As if it's so different than marketing for straight artists," he says of his earlier career, when he released dancehall, R&B, Afropop, and even drill-leaning LPs, on which he wasn't as openly out and proud.
Aside from breaking social ground, Lexxicon also prioritizes sonic inventiveness. From the snake-charmer melodies on "Batty Man Party" to the Latin flavours on other Pink Fraternity tracks, especially "Give It to Me," Lexxicon's eclectic tastes are unmistakable. He's quick to chalk some of those successes up to collaborators like DJ and singer Flavia Abadia, who was so good on "Give It to Me" that Lexxicon says he was inspired to rearrange the song to better fit with her contribution.
Abadia is quick to return the compliment in an email to Exclaim!, calling Lexxicon a "visionary" who is "versatile, and he's pushing boundaries, which I love."
Another Pink Fraternity contributor Lexxicon eagerly shouts out is ArtafactsMusic, a Jamaican-Dominican DJ in Edmonton. They met at a Toronto beat battle, and Lexxicon was so impressed by ArtafactsMusic's efforts at that competition that they stayed in touch and have collaborated repeatedly. Lexxicon says, "Producers in Toronto only want to make hip-hop and R&B. So I wanted to find someone who was Canadian-Caribbean who makes dancehall and gets it."
ArtafactsMusic found that flattering, telling Exclaim! in an email, "Working with Lexx has allowed me to experiment more. That really works well with all the vocal tonalities he brings to the records." The Edmonton producer goes on to call Pink Fraternity "a statement and a banger. Mos def a vibe for the summer."
Such talented and supportive collaborators, along with a growing like-minded audience, leaves Lexxicon energized about his new artistic direction. He says with a laugh, "I thought 'Give It to Me' was tame. After seeing the reaction to it I was like, 'Oh, clearly I can say what I want to say now.' So future songs are going to be less PG-13 than these ones!"