Kiddy Smile: French DJ and LGBTQ+ Activist Shaping the Music Scene
ARTIST BASED IN SPAIN
THE READERS
“WE ARE AT WAR AND ALWAYS HAVE BEEN, CHOOSE YOUR WEAPON. MINE IS LITERATURE."
KIDDY'S WEAPONS ARE THE ART OF DANCING AND SINGING.
HE AND I GO WAY BACK, EVEN THOUGH WE ARE NOT CLOSE FRIENDS, WE HAVE ALWAYS FOLLOWED OUR RESPECTIVE CAREERS AND STILL TRY TO SEE EACH OTHER AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE WHEN OUR PATHS CROSS.
IT STILL FEELS ODD TO CALL HIM KIDDY, BY THE WAY.
I MET HIM IN THE DANCE SCENE WHERE WE WERE BOTH DANCERS. THEN HE BECAME A DJ AND A SINGER.
HIS MUSICAL CAREER BLEW UP AFTER HE HAD MET BETH DITTO AT A JEREMY SCOTT FASHION SHOW, BETH LATER INVITED HIM TO SHARE THE STAGE AT COACHELLA AND THE REST IS HISTORY.
YOU PROBABLY KNOW HIM FOR HIS PARTICIPATION ON JUNE 21, 2018 AT THE FÊTE DE LA MUSIQUE IN OUR PRESIDENTIAL COURTYARD, WEARING A T-SHIRT WITH THE WORDS "BLACK, F*** AND SON OF MIGRANTS" WHICH CAUSED CONTROVERSY IN FRENCH POLITICAL CIRCLES BUT ALSO IN THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNITIES.
WEARING THIS SHIRT IN THIS VERY SYMBOLIC PLACE OF ECONOMIC POWER AND COLONISATION, AT A TIME WHEN LAWS LIMITED THE EXISTENCE OF LGBTQ+ COMMUNITIES, WAS A BOLD MOVE.
THE CATCH PHRASE SPARKED CONTROVERSY AND CRITICISM FROM CONSERVATIVE POLITICIANS AND MEDIA OUTLETS IN FRANCE,WHO ACCUSED HIM OF BEING DISRESPECTFUL TO THE PRESIDENCY.
ME, I PRAISED THE USE OF FASHION TO CELEBRATE MARGINALIZED IDENTITIES, AS WELL AS UTILIZING PLATFORM TO PROMOTE SOCIAL CHANGE AND PROGRESS. AT LEAST, THIS PERFORMANCE HAS PROMPTED A NATIONAL CONVERSATION IN OUR COUNTRY ABOUT IDENTITY, REPRESENTATION, AND THE ROLE OF ART AND CULTURE IN POLITICS, AND FOR THAT I THANK HIM.
KIDDY UNDERSTANDS VERY EARLY IN HIS LIFE THAT AS A BLACK, PLUS-SIZE, GAY MAN, HE WILL NEVER FIT INTO THE FRAMES OF OUR RACIST HETERONORMATIVE FRENCH SOCIETY.FACING INTERSECTIONAL DISCRIMINATION AND MARGINALISATION HAS MADE IT DIFFICULT FOR HIM TO ACCESS RESOURCES AND OPPORTUNITIES, BUT HAS SHAPED HIS IDENTITY, HIS RESILIENCE AND HIS STRENGTH. BREAKING FREE FROM GENDER NORMS WAS HIS ONLY WAY TO SURVIVE.
SMILE HAS NATURALLY BECOME A KEY PILLAR OF THE BALLROOM SCENE, PROVIDING A SAFE SPACE OF EMPOWERMENT FOR THE COMMUNITY. HE IS KNOWN WORLDWIDE FOR HIS OUTSPOKEN SUPPORT FOR THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY AND FOR USING HIS FASHION AND DANCE NETWORK TO CELEBRATE, HONOR AND SUPPORT QUEER AND OTHER MARGINALIZED IDENTITIES.
IN ADDITION TO HIS MUSICAL CAREER, HE IS WORKING AS CO-DIRECTOR ON A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT NIKKI GUCCI, THEE PIONEER OF THE BALLROOM SCENE IN FRANCE, BUT ALSO ABOUT HER LIFE AS A BLACK WOMAN WHO CAME OUT AS A TRANSGENDER AT THE AGE OF 40.
HERE HIS BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS :
An Abolitionist's Handbook: 12 Steps to Changing Yourself and the World
In An Abolitionist's Handbook, Cullors charts a framework for how everyday activists can effectively fight for an abolitionist present and future. Filled with relatable pedagogy on the history of abolition, a reimagining of what reparations look like for Black lives and real-life anecdotes from Cullors.
An Abolitionist's Handbook offers a bold, innovative, and humanistic approach to how to be a modern-day abolitionist. Cullors asks us to lead with love, fierce compassion, and precision.Coeur du Sahel by Djaili Amadou Amal
Best known for Les Impatientes (2020), which illustrates, from the contrasting perspectives of three main characters, the consequences of polygamy and arranged marriages on young women. In Coeur du Shale Amal spoke about the apparently unbridgeable divide between social classes (including the vestiges of Cameroon’s caste system). In Cœur du Sahel, the oft-repeated phrase is “nous ne sommes pas du même monde” (you and I come from different worlds). What this novel reflects is found in many of the countries on the African continent: the stark economic and cultural contrasts between a growing, relatively prosperous urban middle class and the less-educated rural villagers who are still trying to survive on subsistence agriculture.
Salvation: Black People and Love by Bell Hooks
Written from both historical and cultural perspectives, Salvation takes an incisive look at the transformative power of love in the lives of African Americans. Whether talking about the legacy of slavery, relationships and marriage in Black life, the prose and poetry of Martin Luther King, Jr., James Baldwin, and Maya Angelou, the liberation movements of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, or hip hop and gangsta rap culture, hooks lets us know what love’s got to do with it.The Anti-Racist Organization: Dismantling Systemic Racism in the Workplace by Sherren Daniels
In The Anti-Racist Organization: Dismantling Systemic Racism in the Workplace, HR strategist Shereen Daniels delivers an incisive and honest discussion of how business leaders can change workplace practices to create a more anti-racist and equitable environment. The author draws on her personal and client-facing experience, historical fact, legal proceedings, HR insights, and quantitative analysis to equip readers with the knowledge and tools they need to transform their companies.
Papa doit manger by Marie N’Diaye
Dad has been gone for so long that no one hopes for his return. But now Papa comes back, now Papa demands to return, sure of his right, to the life he fled ten years before. Who still loves Papa? Who can claim to need him? He has the appearance of wealth and an improbable youth. He shines with an unusual brilliance in Courbevoie. Above all, he knows what we owe him, even if it is not justified, and that we still love him, that we will always love him.