Moi Renée

Moi Renée
Moi Renée performing "Miss Honey"
Background information
Born
Jamaica
OriginNew York City, U.S.
Died1997 (1998)
GenresHouse music
Occupations
  • Singer
  • performer
Years activeEarly 1990s–1997
Labels
  • Project X Records
  • Slip 'n' Slide Records

Moi Renée (died 1997) was a Jamaican-born singer and performer active in New York City's underground queer nightlife scene in the early 1990s.[1][2] Renée released the 1992 dance single "Miss Honey", one of the earliest "bitch tracks", a subgenre of house music.[2][3] "Miss Honey" was later sampled by Beyoncé in her 2022 song "Pure/Honey".[4]

Early life

Renée was born in Jamaica.[1] As a child, he[a] was known as Sam.[6] He faced anti-gay harassment from a young age.[1]

In 1971, Renée and his family emigrated to Philadelphia, where he was known as Peanut.[1][6] In junior high school, he was physically and sexually assaulted.[1] His first crush, a classmate named Keith, was shot and killed by a relative.[1]

He moved to New York City in 1979,[1] where he became known as Renée.[6] His jobs included window designer at B. Dalton.[1] By the early 1990s, he was studying at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.[2][6]

Career

Renée was openly gay and visible in Flatbush, Brooklyn, a predominantly West Indian neighborhood: "If I feel like walking with a switch or behaving openly effeminate I do it... I feel proud to go out and be myself."[1]

Renée appeared on the cover of a 1993 Village Voice issue; the accompanying story described him as a "singer, songwriter, dancer, actor, and comedian."[1] He became a regular performer on New York City's queer club circuit, appearing at venues including Better Days, Midtown 43, One Hot Spot, and Tracks.[2][6] Renée became one of the most popular entertainers at The Shelter, known for his camp late-night sets.[2][6]

His personal style blended designer labels like Calvin Klein and Emilio Pucci, colorful barrettes, and Rasta colors with do-it-yourself creations like outfits made from caution tape.[1][7] Renée performed in wigs and women's clothing, but rejected the drag queen label that later sources would apply to him: "I am not a drag queen."[1]

"Miss Honey"

In 1992, Renée released "Miss Honey", a spoken-word dance track produced by Franklin Fuentes. The 12-inch single was released on Project X Records in the United States, followed by a UK pressing on Slip 'n' Slide Records in 1993.[2][8] The track was widely played at gay clubs, tea dances, and balls.[2]

The single has been described as one of the earliest "bitch tracks", a subgenre of house music built on boastful, confrontational vocals, often used for solo showcasing and voguing at balls.[2][3][6] In February 1993, Billboard reviewed "Miss Honey" among a group of tracks with "a finger-snappin' female impersonator with talent for nasty 'bitch-talk'" which also included "Supermodel (You Better Work)" by RuPaul and "Get Her" by The Ride Committee Featuring Roxy.[9]

Renée appeared on Stonewall Place After Dark, a late-night talk show on the Gay Cable Network, where he was interviewed and performed the song.[2][5][6][10] He wore white lipstick, a towering green wig, and a black bodysuit by Douglas Says; two uninterested backup dancers flanked him onstage.[5][6][11][12] Writing in 2008, Village Voice columnist Michael Musto called the clip "a tiny piece of gay history" and described the track as having become "a cult classic."[12]

Death

In 1997, Moi Renée was found dead in a hotel room.[2][6] Authorities ruled the death a suicide, though some who knew her disputed that finding.[2][6]

Legacy

In 2003, house producers the Ride Committee released "Curtains for You (A Tribute to Moi Renée)" on Wave Music.[13]

Throughout the 2000s and 2010s, "Miss Honey" was remixed and sampled by DJs, including Eats Everything, whose 2020 "Honey" used Renée's vocals.[2][14]

In 2022, Beyoncé sampled "Miss Honey" in "Pure/Honey" on her album Renaissance and credited Renée as a songwriter.[6] The Fader wrote that the sample "[ties] it all together at the end".[15]

Renée is the subject of several collage works by mixed-media artist Beau McCall, which were exhibited at the Wallach Art Gallery and the Stonewall National Museum and Archives.[16][17][18]

Miss Honey: The Catsuit (2024), a short documentary directed by Brandon R. Nicholas, traces the creation of the bodysuit Renée wore on Stonewall Place After Dark. It premiered at the aGLIFF Film Festival in Austin, Texas.[5][19] Nicholas is developing a feature-length documentary about Renée.[7][19]

Discography

Singles
Year Title Label Cat. No. Format
1992 "Miss Honey" Project X Records (US),[20]
Slip 'n' Slide Records (UK, 1993)[8]		 PX 10016,
Kick 33		 12"
Unknown "Cum 4 Me ... Bitch !!!"[21] Joy Luv Records JL-8004 12"

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The 1993 Village Voice profile, the only substantial source from Renée's lifetime, uses he/him pronouns. This article follows that usage. Friends and later commentators use she/her or they/them pronouns.[1][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Noel, Peter; Marriott, Robert (January 12, 1993). "Batty Boys in Babylon: Can Gay West Indians Survive the 'Boom Bye Bye' Posses?". The Village Voice. Vol. 38, no. 2. pp. 29–36. ISSN 0042-6180. Excerpted in Ressler, Paula (2002). Dramatic Changes: Talking About Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity with High School Students Through Drama. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. pp. 98–99. ISBN 978-0-325-00414-3.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Mahale, Jenna (April 16, 2021). "Everything You Need to Know About 90s Drag Legend Moi Renee". i-D. Archived from the original on April 20, 2021.
  3. ^ a b Ruff, Rivea (July 29, 2022). "The Samples That Shaped Beyoncé's Renaissance". Essence.
  4. ^ Daw, Stephen (August 3, 2022). "Drag Icon Kevin Aviance on the 'Validation of Being Heard' With His Sample on Beyoncé's 'Renaissance'". Billboard. Retrieved March 1, 2026.
  5. ^ a b c d Miss Honey: The Catsuit (trailer) (short documentary trailer). 2024 – via Vimeo.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Hudson, David (July 30, 2022). "Who Was Moi Renée, the Late Drag Queen Sampled on Beyoncé's New Album?". Queerty. Retrieved May 7, 2025.
  7. ^ a b Nicholas, Brandon R. (May 20, 2025). "How Miss Honey Helped Me Reconnect with My Trini Family". INTO.
  8. ^ a b "Moi Renée – Miss Honey (UK release)". Discogs. 1993. Retrieved May 7, 2025.
  9. ^ "Flip Your Wig". Billboard. Vol. 105, no. 6. February 6, 1993. p. 26.
  10. ^ Closs, Larry (1999). "I Want My Gay TV". In Gross, Larry P.; Woods, James D. (eds.). The Columbia Reader on Lesbians and Gay Men in Media, Society, and Politics. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 468. ISBN 978-0-231-10446-3.
  11. ^ Tyson, Taylor (February 10, 2016). "Remixers: The Blurring of Gender and the Feminization of Electronic Music". Lambda Literary.
  12. ^ a b Musto, Michael (February 6, 2008). "Another Treasure from the YouTube Vaults: 'Miss Honey'!". The Village Voice. ISSN 0042-6180.
  13. ^ "The Ride Committee Featuring Roxy – Curtains for You (A Tribute to Moi Renée)". Discogs. Retrieved May 7, 2025.
  14. ^ DJ Brenda Black (March 17, 2006). "Will J.Lo Leave Her Man?". HX Magazine. p. 28, Chip Chop Top 10.
  15. ^ Darville, Jordan (August 1, 2022). "Song You Need: Beyoncé Brings Us to Her Ballroom on 'PURE/HONEY'". The Fader. Retrieved May 7, 2025.
  16. ^ "Artist Beau McCall—'The Button Man'—Celebrates Pride Month with Nostalgic Collage". Ebony. June 2, 2023.
  17. ^ Miss Rosen (July 12, 2021). "Beau McCall's Beautiful Collages Celebrate the Black LGBTQ Community's Lost". Dazed.
  18. ^ "Beau McCall". Wallach Art Gallery. Columbia University. 2023.
  19. ^ a b Thompson, Kayla (September 3, 2024). "Voices of the Industry: In Conversation with Filmmaker and Creative Brandon Nicholas". GLAAD.
  20. ^ "Moi Renée – Miss Honey (US release)". Discogs.
  21. ^ "Moi Rene – Cum 4 Me ... Bitch !!!". Discogs.
Wikiquote has quotations related to Moi Renée.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.