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Oh, Moi Renee.....




Moi Renee was a drag performer and singer from New York City. Renee gained an underground following in the early 1990s. Renee became a fixture at The Shelter, a now defunct nightclub. Moi Renee's performances are noted as high camp. Moi Renee released one Dance single titled, "Miss Honey" during the early 1990s. It was made avaliable on 12" Vinyl Record from Project X Records. "Miss Honey" is noted for its dramatic spoken word vocals. The song received heavy airplay at the gay dance clubs in 1992. In 1997, Renee was found dead in a hotel room. The was an investigation however the death was eventually ruled out of to be suicide. In 2008, a video clip of Moi Renee performing "Miss Honey" live on The Sybil Bruncheon show was posted on YouTube. The video became popular. It currently has received over 114,000 hits.




When I heard Beyoncé's latest single Pure/Honey, I was like, serve, Bey! It's cunty, it's sick, it's dance the boots down honey and it's fab. Very House Music, very Ballroom scene. Bey has been very dance-y as of last and I'm here for it, of course. But the real surprise came at the end, when I hear Moi Renee singing her signature 'Miss Honey'. Wonders never cease. How come a niche, underground drag performer's little bitch track got to be noticed by the Queen Bee herself? Will probably never know. But Ballroom and Drag culture and Club Kid culture are intertwined and House Music is part of all three. 



I had heard a House version of Miss Honey many, many times, back in my warehouse days when we used to go dancing in very tiny t-shirts, JNCO jeans, jelly bracelets and carried at all times two bottles of water. (cause Molly makes you thirsty and you did not want to leave your friends dry up) Miss Honey would crowd the dance floor in three seconds. I timed it. 

Miss Honey was that song that every DJ played at one time or another during their sets and that everybody (literally everybody) would dance to. As it is the case with so many House Music favs, I had no idea where it had come from, all I knew is that I HAD to dance to it. And here it is, being sampled in 2022. Many, many years after I first heard it. You really cannot keep a good bitch track down. 



The song was popularized by Moi Renee, a fab and fierce Drag artist who was apparently very well known in the scene in the early nineties. Miss Honey is a Bitch Track, something that we used to hear all the time in the nineties and early Oughts in every gay club (and every after party, natch). I think that little is known nowadays about Moi Renee, I literally went down a rabbit hole while trying to find more about her, but here she is, being sampled by one of the most celebrated artists nowadays (28 Grammys, 29 MTV Music Awards, 13 Billboard Music Awards, and the list goes on). When I heard Moi Renee sing/speaking her 'Miss Honey...! at the end of the record, I knew there was nothing more to say. She had left her stamp. Many, many years after her untimely death, and she was being celebrated. Werk!

It's funny, how world-recognized artists reach back and are able to bring to the forefront obscure, niche artists from years past and make them sound fresh once again. Beyoncé has 'quoted' queer artists before (she sampled Big Freedia in Break my Soul, another banger) so it was really not a surprise. She seems very in touch with her queer followers. The surprise to me was how absolutely queer Pure/Honey is. 

Check my technique... it should cost a billion to look this good.



XOXO

Comments

  1. here an interesting description that parallels yours. Happy weekend

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hahaha
      All the boys were wondering about Moi Renee!!! LOL

      XOXO

      Delete
  2. I love me a little bit of Miss Honey...dancing to that in NYC was a treat...and Moi Renee was my favorite type of drag as you know.... we saw her in one very early Wig Stock, and that may have been the last we saw of her as she passed toward the late 90's. She also had a fab show at Webster Hall that brough the house down. Those NYC queens and club kids set more trends and culture then they knew.

    Now Beyonce...I have a love hate with her. I by far like her dancy stuff far better, hence the love of her current material.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. OMG
      It was a staple. Almost every weekend somebody would play it complete or a snippet. And LOVE her drag: dime store, imaginative, subversive. NYC Queens are fab.
      Same with Bey....

      XOXO

      Delete
  3. I'll take Moi Renee every day. As for that OTHER one, come for me Beyhive, I loathe her.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hahahaha
      Oh, that Moi Renee track is FIRE!
      And Bey does require some getting used to, have to admit.

      XOXO

      Delete
  4. Sorry, don't do dance music, or house music, and I'm with Bob, Beyonce is one of the main reasons pop music has become so ephemeral.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, Dave
      I bet you'd be fun to bring to a rave. I swear, just listening to you deconstruct the whole thing would give us material to read those queens for filth.
      And I think music has become so ephemeral because it's all about the profit for the record companies while the artists go poor.

      XOXO

      Delete
  5. Anonymous12/02/2022

    Big says,
    Club/dance/House beat is not my thang... But as we all know: Everything old is new again. XOXO

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Absolutely.
      I love how she plucked Moi Renee from the 90's and brought her into the XXI century.

      XOXO

      Delete
  6. Thanks for this fascinating intro to Moi Renee and Miss Honey! It's a great song -- a real earworm too! And hopefully Beyonce's shining a light on Miss Honey will give Moi Renee a posthumous boost!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was totally fascinated.
      I have heard the song so many times... But with House music, you can seldom tell where the records come from. I was totally shocked when Moi popped up at the end of Bey's song!

      XOXO

      Delete
  7. Not a fan of Be-Bouncy. She can dance, sort of. But sings like a goat. And can't act at all... This song, on the other hand? That original clip is to die for as is that house remix. I get all sorts of Eartha Kitt vibes listening to this. It's a shame she was not more championed and encouraged to record more at the time. Great slice of Gay history. Such a tragic end. Thanks for this. Have a fab weekend, dear.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LMAOOO
      Be-Bouncy? The library is OPEN!
      And the original clip is fantastic (did you check the dancers out? They CANNOT be bothered! LOL) and the house remix?? I told you, it would bring all the boys to the dance floor in a second!

      XOXO

      Delete
  8. Anonymous12/02/2022

    HuntleyBiGuy:
    You know I lived a cloistered life, so there wasn’t much music growing up or in my early adult life. But I do like these cuts. They’re real toe tappers. 😎

    XOXO 👨🏼‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏽

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, I've seen you dance to House music. You go on and on about Polka, but I know...

      XOXO

      Delete

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