When I was cleaning out my stuff in the Bay I came across an old issue of The Source featuring an interview with an Aquemini-era OutKast.  In it, André talked about how people were accusing him of being gay because he wore bead necklaces over his basketball jerseys.  Today we have another artist who has proven to push the visual boundaries of musicianship, and since Lady Gaga is queer-identified, the rumors have spread that she’s actually a dude.  Oh, homophobes…always a step ahead!

But of course an artist’s gender or sexual orientation is never a reason to not like them or their work, and so the other argument that I’ve been hearing against Gaga is that she just does too much.  Like, you know…it’s not that she does it, it’s that whatever it is that she does, she does so much of it that it exceeds the allotted amount of muchness that one is normally allowed to do.  Now, don’t get me wrong…there are certainly key moments in history when someone is actually “doing too much“…and yes, it’s understandable that for some, having anime eyes that cry blood might be a lot to process.  But for real, people????  Do we really want to live in a world where artists have to constantly fear being accused of “doing too much?” If it’s not the artists who are pushing the way we listen to music, view fashion, or interpret art in general, then who?  WHO, I SAY??  Look, I know some of the naysayers are older people, but I’m convinced that most of the Gaga haterz are people of my generation who have been raised in such a mundane and manufactured pop culture environment that they’ve been convinced that rapping a line or two about being an alien suffices as “weird.” Because if that’s all it takes to be weird, then I must be nutso insane.  And I really hope I’m not.  Like I reeeeeeeeeeeallly.  Hope.  I’m.  Not.

On a final note, here’s a brief history of artists who might not have fulfilled their destinies had YouTube comments existed during the time of inception.

For real, Michelangelo?? You’re gonna paint ALL them angels?  That’s just doing to much.

For real, Egyptians?? You’re gonna build a giant statue of a lion with a person’s head that people can’t even live in?  That’s just doing too much.

For real, Michael? You’re gonna be chased by claymation tourists, turn into a claymation rabbit to escape, only to then engage in a desert dance-off with that rabbit?  That’s just doing too much.

Not to say that Lady Gaga is equivalent to Michelangelo, Michael Jackson, or the entire ancient Egyptian civilization, but you get my point.  A shawl made of Kermit the Frogs is small potatoes.

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