Back in 2011, I decided to start blogging for only two reasons.
The first was to stop complaining about other websites and provide an online voice for masculine gay men of color on a variety of issues. A voice that didn’t discuss topics from the perspective of a fabulous flamboyant caricature or sex-starved stereotype.
The second reason was to do what every other mainstream (aka heterosexual) entertainment website did but no black gay website had done, provide detailed reviews of the creative media produced by talented gay men of color. To give honest opinions about the quantity of the content, not just share links of give out participation trophies that children get just for showing up.
Both goals were (and continue to be) met. Cypher Avenue, flaws and all, is still the only website to provide an unfiltered, uniquely masculine gay point of view. And by masculine I mean “traditionally masculine”, not some newly redefined hybrid of masculinity propagated by gay feminists on the web. Here on the Ave, we may not be hyper-masculine prison thugs, but we’re still clearly “Guy’s Guys.”
We never pretend to represent ALL masculine homosexual men, however we undeniably demonstrate that all gay men do not think alike, talk alike, nor do we have the same interests.
Over the years we’ve written many “tough love” articles that not only criticize the black gay community, but we also offer advice on how to improve.
From reasons why gay men #fail to why they are not relationship material to why young gays need to finally grow up and become responsible adults, we’ve touched on it all.
The response by some is to call us “haters.”
Many gay men don’t like when you hold the mirror up to them and tell them something they’re doing may be wrong…especially when it comes to art created by black gay men.
Cypher Avenue is still the only black gay leaning website to feature full reviews of books, music, web series, movies and even other websites created by gay men.
Oh sure, other sites highlight “works of gay art” by providing a link or video embed with a brief paragraph stating how much the blogger loved the project.
That is not a review, its a blurb.
At least it’s not the type of in-depth critique that helps or informs the artists on what specifically they’d done right or wrong. It’s also not the type of reporting that informs the audience if the work of art or project will be worth the time to support or view.
Although I’d never consider myself a professional critic, I was inspired to push for full reviews on our site by seeing what other entertainment news sources such as The New York Times, Variety, Roger Ebert, Rolling Stone, The Source Magazine, etc were posting.
Those media hubs drop real reviews, not just short press release notices.
To put things into perspective:
The New York Times Review of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes clocks in at over 950 words.
The Hollywood Reporter review of FX’s new horror series The Strain is over 700 words long.
The Billboard track-by-track review of Pharrell Williams’ album “Girl” is 1100 words long.
These kind of numbers are commonplace for Cypher Avenue reviews. Even this essay will be longer and more in-depth than any seen on other black gay blogs and websites.
True, longer articles are not necessarily better articles, but when it comes to reviewing and critiquing black gay content that doesn’t get much attention elsewhere, size does matter….details matter.
Cypher Avenue is the same website that published a well-researched 6,000-word article on the lack of financial support for content creators in the black gay community. Where else will you see that kind of information and content?
We even spend weeks selecting and summarizing our BEST OF THE YEAR selections in a time-consuming detailed list that we drop every January. No other black gay website does this for its readers.
This is not to say that Cypher Avenue is better than the black gay sites that only copy and paste a paragraph or two of the content creators’ Facebook fan page summaries and call it a “review.”
Well, actually I guess it is to say that.
We ARE better than those other black gay websites.
We put in work! We put ‘em in the dirt!
Regular readers know that the editors of Cypher Avenue are first and foremost two masculine-identifying gay men raised in the braggadocios culture of Hip Hop and Sports.
No matter how many more page views, link backs or social media “Likes” and “Followers” another gay website may have, we still know that our site is better than theirs. Hands down. And we’re not afraid to say it.
We’re not afraid to die on a treadmill and we will not be out-worked.
BLOGGERS “HATE ON” EACH OTHER TOO
As new bloggers (who had no aspirations to become bloggers), we celebrated like a mofo when third-party web ranking websites (Online retail giant Amazon’s Alexa.com and Similarweb.com) first reported that our site was one of the top non-pornographic black gay websites in the world. Some other black gay bloggers took offense to this.
One day, the rising black gay personality and creator of the G-List Society (a site we’ve promoted in the past) went ballistic (out of no where) and attacked Cypher Avenue calling us the “dregs of the black gay community” merely because we agreed with someone who disagreed with him, we bragged about our Alexa web rankings (his site was listed far below ours) and we told the truth about most popular gay black bloggers giving more attention to Divas and reality show stars yet little attention to the work of black gay content creators.
In the middle of his rant he stated:
He added more on Facebook and Twitter but you get the gist of it. This is the same blogger that celebrates “reading” and “throwing shade” towards people that were once his friends with the use of strike-through text on his site , yet we were the dregs of the black gay community.
This is also the same professional blogger whose had multiple major top-menu pages “under construction” for well over 2 years now.
Instead of posting our own attack blog post directed towards him (adding fuel to an odd one-sided beef), this was our response:
I only mention it now because it helps to prove my overall point about self-perceived haters and criticism.
All of those other websites he claimed that we “took jabs at” in his rant are online friends of ours…having said that, we’re also players in the same sport…and in the spirit of friendly competition, Cypher Avenue will always openly celebrate our accomplishments. No matter how envious they may make others feel.
We may be fellow black gay bloggers and online friends but “if we get on the treadmill together, you’re getting off first or I’m gonna die.”
Also, family and friends can tell each other when they need to step their game. We’ve repeatedly stated that we’d like to see more black gay bloggers promote black gay content creators more often and more consistently.
We want to see more black gay websites posting substantive “articles” longer 2 or 3 short paragraphs.
We’d rather see a “logo or blurry photo” than see a prominent & respected black gay activist/journalist posing topless or in a tight wife-beater in his main photo avatar on Facebook or Twitter.
This is not jabs or “shade” or “hate.” This is valid criticism.
But criticism is a two-way street. Even our website has been criticized.
CYPHER AVENUE’S OWN RESPONSE TO CRITICISM
Over the years we’ve strived to make the Cypher Ave experience not only one-of-a-kind but also a quality, entertaining and worthwhile experience. That work has been paying off.
People may disagree with our opinions, but they can’t say we’re not running a quality website that is clearly unique.
But we’re not perfect. Even our site has received criticism, namely for our typos and proofreading errors. Over the years we’ve worked hard to get better at keeping these grammatical mistakes down to a minimum but even the major mainstream sites have bugs slip through the cracks.
Even this article might have a few errors that I’ve missed (if so, give me a shout and I’ll fix them, lol).
Another criticism we’ve received was the notion that we discussed “Masculinity” way too much. Initially we were taken aback by this because only 10% of our over 650 articles have even mentioned masculinity or femininity.
In response, we changed our direction by going out of our way to highlight even more films, video games, music and universal topics that had NOTHING to do with gender or homosexuality. This led to an even greater criticism that we were self-hating and anti-fem since we refused to talk about Beyonce, reality show stars or embrace American Horror Story Coven (topics we have zero interest in but are favored by many gay black men).
We heard that our podcast audio quality was super shitty. So to improve, we purchased two new microphones to enhance the listener experience.
Another criticism that we heard was we were too negative and too hard on creative gay men of color and their work. They said we were never positive about anything.
This is another one that confused us because we’ve gone out of our way to praise artists such as Lasto, Deondray and Quincy Gossfield, DJ Baker, Kaoz, Earthtone, Sean Anthony, Lamont Pierre and Seek the Poet. Not to mention our aforementioned annual BEST OF THE YEAR list that features specific categories for our favorite gay content creators.
Here’s a fan critique interaction that I had with a Cypher Avenue reader/podcast listener on YouTube:
Eventually, we realized that this criticism was not about the work itself but about certain people wanting Cypher Avenue to be something it was not.
They wanted the masculine leaning website to celebrate and praise the same topics and personalities that the feminine leaning gay websites did. They wanted us to not discuss masculinity unless we were doing so to celebrate femininity. They wanted us to ONLY praise the work created by black gay men, not be critical of them at all because that would “tear down the community.”
We’re adults, not children. No topics should be off limits…this includes masculinity, femininity and honest critiques of the creative works of gay men of color.
One observation: In all of the criticism we’ve seen, no one has ever stated that Cypher Avenue wasn’t a quality website. No one has stated that our photos were distorted or that the text was formatted sloppily on web pages.
From what we’ve seen, most of the dislike of the site comes from a disagreement with the opinions shared and/or the overall mannish, chest-out vibe that the site projects.
IF YOU CAN’T SAY ANYTHING NICE…
There once was a time when for many professional filmmakers, novelists, musicians and theater playwrights when the official New York Times Reviews were the only reviews that mattered. These reviews were either highly praising of the work or totally unforgiving. These became the reviews of record, sometimes even killing ticket sales after opening night.
The gay community needs more of this type of blind criticism.
There seems to be this notion that just because Patrick-Ian Polk is one of the rare black gay filmmakers providing film content that makes his work immune to criticism. Or that we can’t criticize Trey Melvin’s coming out video merely because he was “brave” enough to do it.
The problem with stating your honest opinion in the black gay community: you’re labeled a “Hater.”
Just because someone is “doing it”, that doesn’t mean that what they did is perfect in every way. Here’s a comment from a reader on our website that was spot on:
Once we started posting our in-depth reviews, I realized we were the only ones reviewing black gay content by Google searching for other reviews. Zero results. Our site was always the only website with a review longer that was more substantive than a couple brief dick-riding paragraphs.
I knew then that Cypher Avenue would have to be The New York Times Reviews for the black gay community. I wanted content creators to want a positive review on Cypher Avenue just for the bragging rights alone. Not because they thought they would get more exposure or page views or album sales…I wanted this because they would know that we actually critiqued the work. We didn’t just give them a gold star for trying, like a kindergartner.
ALWAYS BUSINESS, NEVER PERSONAL
For the most part, I’m a nice guy…but I can be very snarky and sarcastic. There’s a certain Jerry Seinfeld and Jon Stewart vibe to me, especially in my writing. I like to point out and make light of obvious quirks that most people generally ignore. This is evident in my essays as well as my film, music and web series reviews.
When I give a negative review, it’s very clear that the impetus is not because I don’t like the creator or their team. Even through snark and satire, I give SPECIFIC well-articulated reasons why I didn’t like the work.
It’s not quite the same as “throwing shade” because I rarely ever get personal with my critiques. You’ll never see me making fun of the artist for their weight, financial status, appearance or clothing (or lack thereof) UNLESS the artist inserts themselves into the art itself.
For example: If the respected creator of a black gay interview web series is conducting interviews with men while half naked in a hotel room bed, they’ve given me permission to add their on-screen persona to my critique of their show.
However, I’d never try to dig up irrelevant personal dirt on creators to “throw shade” or “expose them”, so to speak. I stick to the work presented for consumption and/or relevant information that already exists in the public domain.
We’ve stated MANY times that we’re sure the content creators of all of these works are likely very great guys in person…but that doesn’t mean we can’t honestly critique the work they create.
Are we always right? No, but we at least will state our honest opinions.
Even still, what I’ve said isn’t NEARLY as bad as what mainstream sites say about mainstream shows and films. There was once a popular snarky daily review website literally called ‘Television Without Pity.”
If you’re an artist with honest people in your circle (not yes-men), they should have already told you everything a negative review has said and more.
“I have friends who will critique me much harder than any review.” – Wynton Marsalis
ALL BLACK GAY MUSICIANS ARE NOT TALENTED
If acclaimed musician Wynton Marsalis says his friends are hard on him then many of the black openly gay musicians that submit music to our site must not have any honest friends at all.
Regularly we get submissions from awful gay singers and rappers requesting to be featured on Cypher Avenue and we often have to make the decision to ignore them or give them what they were asking for, critically ripping their work to shreds.
Like it or not, Cypher Avenue has developed a brand. Our brand is that we shout from the rooftops when we love something but (unlike other gay sites) we also make it VERY clear when we think something is gah’bidge!!!
Most of the music submissions we receive are garbage. Point blank, period. Either the production sucks, the rapping sucks or the singing sucks. And to be honest, some of the more effeminate gay artists are just not making the kind of music that caters to us and our audience. Why would we even consider highlighting them on our site?
So as reviewers on one of the most visited black gay websites in the world, do we keep posting negative reviews of these young, hopeful aspiring gay artists, potentially crushing their spirits?
Many would say “yes, they need reality checks and Cypher Ave is the only site that will actually give it to them.”
Part of me agrees with that.
But what could evolve from that stance instead is a perception issue not for the artist but for Cypher Avenue. We’d become the “Haters” website even more.
We’d also tarnish our own brand by having poorly produced gay music videos and low quality web series littered all over our web pages. If you see something posted on Cypher Avenue, that means we somewhat vouch for it, even if the review is negative. We don’t just post about anything just because its “gay.”
Speaking of web series…
ATTACK OF THE BLACK GAY WEB SERIES CREATORS
Initially I started writing my reviews very straightforward. Here’s what I liked, here’s what I didn’t. That got boring.
Slowly I started adding sarcasm to the text (like many other professional reviewers) and found that not only was I developing a specific voice, I was also gaining more readers.
Many people became new Cypher Avenue fans just because of our reviews. I was getting direct emails from people asking me to review web series and gay films that they themselves had already seen but they wanted to hear our unique, witty opinions on them.
One day I came upon a site called “Video Gum” which, like many other pop culture websites, had posted weekly “recap reviews” of new episodes of popular television shows. The difference, they turned the sarcasm meter to TEN! And it was hilarious!
Check out one of their reviews of an episode of The Walking Dead HERE.
Their use of photo memes, word balloons and animated gifs made me not only want to read more of their reviews, it motivated me to watch the shows being discussed just so that I could get all of the jokes and references.
What a great idea for black gay web series, I thought. Not only would it bring new readers to our site, it would also serve to promote new episodes of the series as they were released online…and possibly give the artists some real feedback instead of merely the constant praises seen in the YouTube comments.
I started with what was going to be a list of the BEST BLACK GAY WEB SERIES. It wasn’t until I started to actually to watch these shows that I realized most of them weren’t very good at all…at least not in my opinion. Either the lighting was bad or the audio was horrible or the acting was unwatchable or the writing was uninspired.
How do I discuss these awful shows while still making the reviews entertaining? I decided to follow Video Gum’s lead and make the reviews fun and humorous. The result was one of our most visited review post in the history of our website.
At that time, the only two web series consistently releasing episodes were FREEFALL and NO SHADE. So I posted a POSITIVE in-depth review of a bulk of episodes of No Shade.
After that, I released a lukewarm, snark-heavy review of a new episode of FREEFALL. That became one of our most commented on reviews in the history of the site.
As a matter of fact, FREEFALL has always been a polarizing, highly discussed series on Cypher Avenue. It’s also the most prolific, already on its third season in less than 2 years. We’ve covered this show more than any other black gay series since we began the site in late 2011.
We were even told by the creator Lamont Pierre that the web series was partially inspired by our blog and articles on masculinity in the media.
The problem: The show wasn’t very good to us. It was too slow, too dark, too boring, too convoluted and too poorly acted. And we really WANTED to like it.
Most of our readers also decided that they didn’t like FREEFALL after its poorly produced 4-episode first season hit the scene, they repeatedly voiced their displeasure in the comments section of episodes posted.
We even brought creator Lamont Pierre on our podcast for an interview where he admitted there were flaws but defended the overall vision.
We’ve gushed over Pierre’s previous web series work My Brother’s Keeper (even naming it Best Gay Web Series of 2012), so our dislike of the show has never been a personal attack of the filmmaker. Our reviews satirically pointed out our issues with the writing, directing, editing and acting in an entertaining way for our readers.
That’s another key thing that is lost in the mix. Content creators forget that critics are content creators themselves too. As a writer, I have to entertain my readers. Merely repeating in each review that the lighting, acting and writing in a web series was low quality can get repetitive to an audience. So I add humor and satire. Not unlike “Black Twitter” does during an episode of a TV Show or Live Awards Show.
Highly popular mainstream websites do the same. The geek site, io9.com, started recapping the horrible CBS show “Under The Dome” by writing the reviews from the snarky POV of the Dome itself, regularly pointing out the show’s inconsistencies and corniness.
Admittedly, I may have gone overboard at times. My sarcastic review of the awful web series “Finding Me – The Series” was particularly harsh…but every snarky joke was rooted in honest criticism.
Even the Freefall team eventually got tired of the negative Cypher Avenue attention, posting this on Twitter.
Were we upset by this? Nope. They have just as much right to respond to our criticism as we have a right to critique them in the first place.
I would only like to fact-check their criticism a little though. Our site doesn’t get our hundreds of thousands of monthly views and podcast downloads just because FREEFALL is “in season” and posted on our site. Our extensive dating and relationship articles are actually Cypher Avenue’s bread & butter. Gays are obsessed with finding a man!
Eventually I stopped writing reviews of these web series once I realized the shows weren’t getting any better and that our negative reviews were becoming their top Google search results.
WITH GREAT POWER COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY
If you Google “Tre Melvin”, my snarky criticism of his coming-out video is listed on the first page.
If you Google “Web Series Freefall”, my snarky reviews of the show come up multiple times on the first page.
If you Google “Gay Web Series Finding Me”, my negative review of the show is one of the top search results.
However, I did realize that the reason that I got into blogging in the first place was having an impact in another way.
Contrary to what The G-List Society stated above, when we started blogging in 2011 most black gay websites rarely covered black gay content. My own Google searches proved that. At the time (and to this day), most of them merely posted a link or video embed with sprinkled screenshots of the shirtless men in the films and kept it moving…back to blogging about male eye candy, divas and homophobic hate crimes.
As popular in the black gay media community as The DL Chronicles, FREEFALL and No Shade are, reviews, updates and interviews about their work have never been featured on the pages of white gay websites like OUT.com, TheAdvocate.com and Towleroad.com.
So now, our reviews have become top search results for many of the black gay artists we cover not only because we’re actively utilizing Metadata and SEO, but we’re also the only site to regularly post updates and reviews of their work when no other website does.
Thanks to the example set by our site, some black gay bloggers are starting to step it up…however, most sites are still not as in-depth, critical or informative of the work as we need them to be.
THE ROOT OF IT ALL
In all honesty, I know the reasons why black gay bloggers often phone their critical reviews in:
1.) This shit is hard, time consuming work. Cypher Avenue co-founder Ocky Williams and I put in a lot of time and sleepless nights on reviews, interviews and opinion essays posted on the site.
Even this article, clocking in at over 4,500 words, has taken more time to write and assemble with supplemental videos and photos than most bloggers are willing to sacrifice.
2.) You make more friends if you stay positive and keep your negative opinions to yourself. The black gay community, especially as it exists online, is not that large. If your goal is to be a black gay celebrity and/or socialite, playing nice is the way to go. Fortunately, we don’t care about being gaylebrities. We care more about being honest and making Cypher Ave as dope as possible.
3.) Many gay men feel that you’re a “crab in a barrel” if we criticize our own, so to speak. I feel the opposite. You’re not only helping the artist get better by giving them valid feedback, you’re also preparing them for the harsher criticism they’ll receive from mainstream critics and websites.
How about the black gay artists themselves? Why can’t they accept criticism?
In my opinion, this answer is two-fold:
1.) The “haters” theme in the black community in general has been engraved into our DNA. There is this meme amongst blacks that if someone says ANYTHING critical about you or your work, they are automatically a Hater. Some black people even revel in the idea that if they have haters, that must mean they’re doing something right.
2.) The black gay community is melded with the concept of “reading” and “throwing shade”. So when criticism is displayed, it’s instinctively seen as an attack. Usually the worst offenders of “throwing shade” themselves are the people who get the most defensive of benign criticism directed their way.
There has to be a middle ground. How can black gay men develop thicker skin when it comes to being critiqued?
As a black gay man myself, I’ve had my own creative endeavors (outside of Cypher Avenue) put on display for the world and subsequently ripped to shreds by critics. My response was to not “fuck them haters!” It was the opposite. I was the guy grabbing 10 copies of the newspaper because I was that excited to even get the exposure and have work out there able to be reviewed in the first place.
Having said that, I’ve slowly become sensitive to the reaction from gays getting overly defensive when criticized. As a result, I’ve refrained from reviewing submissions that I know will be critically skewered by our readers and myself.
This includes the entire third season of FREEFALL.
Why do I keep mentioning Freefall?
FREEFALL is currently the most popular black gay web series on YouTube and we’re the most popular black gay website on the Internet that covers black gay web series.
The question should actually be, why haven’t we been talking about Freefall MORE on Cypher Avenue.
I wish the show was better. I want to be the guy posting casting updates, reporting on set visits and interviewing the cast and crew like you see on so many websites like Shadow & Act and Entertainment Weekly. Especially since they film the show in our home base city, Atlanta.
But I genuinely don’t like the show. True the models are attractive but its painfully boring to watch.
While we haven’t posted about that web series since October of 2013 (and I haven’t actually watched an episode since September 2013), I had a recent exchange with the producer of FREEFALL on twitter regarding this very topic of our criticism of the series.
I post this conversation here, not only because it was a public discussion and is already available for anyone to access (I would NEVER reprint a private conversation without permission), but also because it shows that artists and their critics can have amicable discussions without resorting to name-calling and insults.
The key thing that stood out for me in this exchange was, “Support doesn’t mean y’all have to like us.”
That statement epitomized how I think many black gays seem to feel. You don’t have to like my work or my lifestyle, just blindly support and/or praise it.
This also made me remember the idiom, “You can’t see the forest for the trees.” Which basically means you get so caught up in the details that you fail to see the bigger picture.
Many black gay men (including myself occasionally) are so caught up in specific criticisms and the notion that they aren’t being praised that they miss the fact that someone cares enough to acknowledge them and/or give a detailed critique of their work in the first place.
This is the “big picture” that I’d seen when I grabbed those 10 copies of the newspaper featuring the negative review of my own creative work.
When they stop talking about you altogether, then you should really worry.
Let’s take off the kids gloves.
Black gay men need to be criticized…especially by each other…and especially when it comes to the art and images put on display for the world to see.
Embrace the hate.
– Fin.
“There’s no such thing as bad publicity.” – Anonymous
“There is only one thing worse than being talked about and that is NOT being talked about.” – Oscar Wilde
“I don’t care what they say about me as long as they spell my name right.” – P.T. Barnum
Wow…this was long. Good read though. I think the reviews are the best part of.the site and hope more come.out. i hooe you review LUCY.
Ps. As the only commenter yhat talked about AHS i did not take your dislike as selfoathnng or fem phobic. Juat a sign that you have bad taste.
yeah it wasn’t you. We got into a thing on Twitter the day of the season finale of AHS:Coven that spilled over into patriarchy, etc…It was all pretty predictable and typical and I mistakenly walked right into it.
LOL I think “Coven” was the worst of the 3 seasons. “Murder House” all day. (I obviously have too much spare time today at work.)
I will say Murderhouse was probably technically the best and most consistent season…but 3 was more fun to watch lol. As long as nothing is as bad as season 2 I’m ok.
Man, you guys have no idea how starved I was to talk to people about this show. I’d have chit chatted and debated with you all until the cows came home.
Look out for Season 4 tho. lol
Well it was really only me, Ocky(who never watched season 3) and Nick (who sounded borderline misogynist qbout it). No one else watched
Dont get me wrong, Hannibal. Season 3 was okay. I was expecting something a little more “genuine” judging by the trailer with Angela Bassett as Mambo Marié Laveau looking out the window with the snake tail (that’s what pulled me in), but once I started watching and saw all the comedic relief, I was turned off. Plus I think it took too much of a “stereotypical” route with the whole Vodun aspect. Personally, I just want either a horror show/series or movie that “Takes itself to Seriously”, not overdone with gore, but some serious horror shit with no comedic relief. I loved “Murder House” but even that had too much comedic interjection for my tastes.
At least you appeared to have watched it. I understand it wasn’t everyone’s thing and I can live with that. But some people didn’t watch it and just start saying “it was a gay season” when I don’t think that’s true. And the creator said they had to go lighter in season 3 because season 2 was just so oppressively dark that a lot of people were over it.
Yeah, I watched the whole season (missed the 1st two episodes, tho. It was aight for what it was. Season II started out really good, but fell off somewhere along the line. For the critics that said it was “too dark” I say fuck off. It wasn’t dark enough. An insane asylum in the 40’s-50’s and religious undertones is the perfect setting for some seriously fucked up shit to go down. They coulda took that shit to the 9th level of hell but bitched out.
I will never understand why you are so hard on AHS:ASYLUM, a show that was at least attempting something new & original, yet you’re a huge fan and verbal supporter of web series like Freefall. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you publicly say that the black gay indie stuff is convoluted, dark or a mess on Cypher Avenue or Facebook. Why the kid gloves for the black gay artists but not the white gay artist?
I hated asylum because it was ridiculous. I don’t see how you follow up one of the most brilliant seasons of television with something so overbearingly dark and oppressive and nonsensical. It was cool at first but week after week of watching characters do dumb things for no reason and fail every week became tiresome. I’ve accepted that more “masculine” men seem to have appreciated Asylum more than the other seasons so maybe it just didn’t appeal to me. AND, I’m not sure if you’ve read anything I’ve said but i’ve never uttered the words I like Free Fall. I always say there are things I like about Free Fall like the increasing production value and the ambitious story telling. I also openly mock the writing…often times with you. Ergo, not sure what you’re talking about. I also burn up The Life Atlanta pretty often so I dont thnk I’m lax on black gay webseries.
Isn’t the simple answer education? We all learn as creatives about critique from school and as we grow, we learn more as teenagers. But this appears to be were I think a lot of the straight and black ‘entertainment’ world is in term of their view of criticism. ‘They behave as teenagers’.
As soon as we go on to higher education-college, university or/and post grad studies-all that happens is CRITIQUE. So why do us blacks in general react so childishly to criticisms as adults?
As an artist I want to be the best. Period. And will take whatever constructive criticism I can get to achieve that, especially as I feel as a black person, I want to represent.
Seems like common sense to me.Unless someone’s creative endeavors are geared more towards monetary values or/and public attention/infamy, then the beautiful process of said art form.
Very good point.
Critique, huh? I get what you’re saying. I received many while attending a prestigious university in California (architecture). However, the reviews on this website do not resemble those critiques. It’s not fair to deliver criticism in the manner done on this website and expect an unbothered, yet enlightened response. This site is hilarious with pointing out faults. It may even be thorough. But you can’t be cavalier about your tone. Be honest, this site is cutthroat and you’d have to be half-baked to think that this brand of criticism promotes a positive reaction from those criticized. My black ass would’ve been kicked out of college if I had a critique like your reviews. But don’t stop writing them this way. Just don’t be all doofus about your intent and delivery.
Of course your university professor was not going to add sarcasm and humor to criticism of your school work. Criticism in the real world, however, is rarely so kind.
But again, the point of the article was NOT to say, “these artists should appreciate my harsh reviews more!” If you read the article you would have seen that the point was many black gays don’t like ANY criticism, even if its benign. And other black gay bloggers don’t ever critique black gay artists in an honest way.
1. I like the reviews on here… the reviews are actually how I discovered this website. I was looking for “black gay webseries” and your reviews were on the first page of Google. I’ve actually discovered most of those webseries on here, so what you were saying in the tweets is right for me at least.
2. I’ve never liked the “haters” thing growing up. Give one critique–no matter how legitimate–and you’re considered a “hater”, which means you’re jealous. “Haters give me power”. I’ve never understood it.
3. I wish there were more quality musicians and shows out there to support for black gay men… I got excited about EarthTone and I was already looking in Google Play to purchase his music and I felt the same way about DL Chronicles. I can’t think of anything else that I’ve been excited about.
This was a great article, Nick.
Yeah a whole lot of people feel the same as you. We get emails saying this all the time!
Good article but start ignoring the white noise please. You sound like you want everyone to like you even when your critiques are right and on the mark. I like this site because you speak truth. I don’t always agree with everything you say but I appreciate your honesty. As my mom always says, if people are talking about U, U must be doing something right. Please keep it real, 100%. Have a great week!
Never said we want everyone to like us…Tried to point out that its the black gay content creators who seem to want that from us, and everyone else, no matter the quality of the work they’re putting out. Maybe that point was missed somewhere. But I agree with all of the rest of your comment though, lol!
You know, a TL;DR would have been perfect for this. 😀
Good read. Since I’m new here, I’m definitely going to check out the web series reviews mentioned in this.
The comment about supporting things that are actually good hits the nail on the head. People shouldn’t be praised just because they are doing something others are not. I can’t/won’t clap for little Shaniqua if her solo in the play wasn’t good. Sorry. But if she hits it out of the park, then I’ll give her her due.
It is okay to take some criticism and take a step back and say “Ok, let me see what they are saying and see if I can improve on that point.” No one is an expert at anything the first time out. I’m glad these people are doing their things but it doesn’t mean “Hate” just because a negative comment was made.
Also, that guy conducts interviews shirtless? Are we supposed to take that seriously?
Man, I was actually gonna add a TL:DR but figured most non-readers could just skim it and get the overall point, lol. Yeah that’s the but quality work is the point that’s often missed. As popular as the web series FREEFALL is (and as hard as they work on it) there must be another reason why their show is not featured on ANY other blogs, especially mainstream black film blogs. That reason could be the fact that its a GAY show or that its not very good. “Gay” is so much more accepted now, so that makes be lean towards the latter. It sucks because my natural instinct is to really want something black & gay to support, not find things to bash and criticize.
Man I know what you mean. You don’t want to come off as ‘that guy’ but shiiiii sometimes, you just can’t candy coat.
LMAO! Very true!
Excellent Artcle Nick! I adore your realness!!
Damn you spoke your mind. The article is a good read. Just keep on doing you and know that you can’t please everyone.
Y’all should just keep on keeping on. Haters gone hate regardless. Clearly, you all are producing a product that we all like that’s why we come back to get our daily/weekly fix of interesting commentary and social musing!!
I need to find that gif, But Haters Gonna Hate! keep it up Fellas!!
did you mean:
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I know you guys consider me a troll, but once again, someone has recruited me to speak on behalf of : Black Gay Men and Artist that can not accept critics a of any.
First of all, like this one… your articles often have an authorative Ire about them… you may or not be cognizant of that. Sometimes, you might to lend the benefit of the doubt…to those you are criss crossing about. Listen man …I am sure that I am going to piss someone off if I am on my blog speaking of them in a manner that suggest that I am better or know more than they do about THIER art. It’s good to always throw caution to the wind before jumping in. Sometimes you might want to ask permission to write your opinion… instead of deep sea diving into people on the internet.
Second : Wide sweeping generalizations that attack the whole audience … And then take a twist that points out specific people , show a sign of desperate measures and a lack of graciousness. You choose one or the other …or no one will be on your side. Think about it. Are you trying to justify yourself by killing everybody.
Lastly. If… as you think we are ALL the same, than you turn the onus back upon yourself. You just went all around the world and back to prove what ? That you are displaying the very characteristics of your complaint. If their is truth in what you do… Then you need no proof. Say what you have to say and keep moving.
I give critism to gay men and artist all the time, as well as, I receive my fair share.
Maybe you should refine your topic to match your target.
Going shopping.
Yes, with no name or real email address posted, you are a troll, lol. Nevertheless I read the comment and was totally confused by it.
If anyone read the article (I know it was kinda long) you would see a whole section where I stated that we take criticism as well as we give it. It just so happens that the criticism we get is never about the quality of our site, just a difference in opinion. Which is the whole point of the website, dope discussions.
The main complaint covered in the article was that many black gay men don’t like criticism of any kind. If it happens, they instinctively dismiss the opinion as “shade” or “hate.”
The other main complaint was that black gay bloggers don’t like to give criticism themselves. They just post links, even if the work is mediocre, because they just want to “support.” We need more honest feedback and critique from black gay bloggers because mainstream and white gay media ignores the work of the black gays.
Being honest and critical of black gay artists is not “hate”…
Okay, so I didn’t read all of this because I’m just not in the right place to receive it. But I wanted to share. I’m bored of all the shit on each other bullshit and the long drawn out whatever the hells to counter the counterattacks. I like this blog because it makes me laugh. I laughs a lot. Y’all say things that I say and know how to spin words the way I spin them. It’s a match made. But if its gonna be about haters and who said what when about who’s web show aint shit and who’s blog is stupid and whatnot, then I’m out. I mean really. Screenshots, videos, animated gifs and photo snags!! All to support a position of…what? Who gives a good goddamn? It’s exhausting, isn’t it? Everybody ain’t gonna like your ass. So what, too bad. Their loss. And lay off the masculine shit. First dude to claim how masculine they are is a bytch. Just be it and keep it moving. I’d like to come back here to this site, God help me, much of this has me in stitches. Do what you do best. Leave this bytchfest alone…it’s unbecoming of what you claim to be. The reviews are hilarious, on point and shameless. I love it. I like that you don’t go all “Arsenio Hall” with praises and licking of feet for everyone who produces something that may very well be great with a hint or healthy helping of crap. Keep in mind, just like you get to be critical…so do other people, when you post your non-personal points of view on the web for the world to see. Planet earth is a bytch like that. Isn’t it?
“And lay off the masculine shit.”
I can almost guarantee that no one, NO ONE will go to any mainstream gay website or any website for women like Essence, Cosmo, Allure, etc and tell them they need to “lay off the femininity shit”…so why should we? Why is there a double standard?
By your logic gays and women who celebrate out loud their femininity are the same as the dudes who talk about or claim their masculinity…they are a “bytch” as you put it.
Why is it masculinity always needs to make adjustments for those that don’t have any or little of it? Statements like yours are why I will continue to talk about and celebrate masculinity regardless of others insecure sensitivities.
Thanks for visiting.
Right…He says “Skewer these filmmakers’ work, its hilarious….but lay of masculinity, that’s off limits!”
Thanks for supporting the site! But when commenting on an article you didn’t read, its almost guaranteed you will miss the point. This article was not about OUR “haters”….I specifically state that we LOVE criticism. Honest opinions help people improve. This was not a 4500 word long argument to say “fuck haters!”
It was the opposite. My argument in the article was: We need MORE honest critiques from our black gay journalists and bloggers! And black gay men need to stop dismissing ANY criticism as “hate”, especially the black gay artists among us.
I stand corrected. Thanks for the jist of it. Continue on in the way you do and set the record straight when need be. A voice a reason or some basic objectivity is good for the getting. And it’s good to know that I don’t have to be the only one saying it out loud when stuff needs work. The whole masculinity thing, well, eat your heart out. It ain’t my bowl of soup, but that’s neither here nor there. We all have our ways of creating community and defining self. Thanks for this site. It’s a holler.
Interesting but very long article. Glad you care enough to explain your point of view. But at the end of the day if you are going to take the time to review all of the black gay works you review you need to keep it on a positive tip. Not every actor can be a Denzel. Not every car can be a Lexus. Not every Black gay film can be as good as one of Patrick’s. Nor should they be. Freefall and Finding Me both have audiences that enjoy these shows. Why not accept that they have value to some people and leave it at that. As long as these shows are not claiming to be something more than they are do you need to hold them to some standard they never said they were trying to attain? Again we all need validation and if they are doing some people good acknowledge that. If you insist on reviewing all the content you do try to see the good in what they are doing and encourage them in a loving way to do better. We all need love. And quite often love is the ONLY way people come to accept advice to become better people. You have much to give. Hope you continue to provide a positive example of what Black gay men can be.
I’m one that was surprised to find that your hilarious, snarky reviews actually rubbed some the wrong way. I love that style when it’s well done (hell, we even submitted our website for consideration for a review by Cypher but never heard anything back).
But then, upon reflection, I realized it’s actually not at all unusual for a content creator to have a somewhat thinner skin about his work than one might want to admit and I guess that’s totally understandable, if not completely defensible. We’re in the process of joining the fray and creating a series and a couple films and I actually surprised myself to find that I was defensive about criticism of work that I shared with some experts in advance. I wouldn’t have thought that of myself, but I guess we’re all perhaps a bit too instinctively protective of our stuff at first. At the end of the day, I agree with your approach and it’s the argument I made in discussing your reviews with one of the Freefall cast that’s a friend of mine from before the show started and appeared on our site first: you are a content creator yourself and therefore are also looking to create something worth consuming and in so doing it’s important that you entertain as well as provide your view.
One thing I would suggest is perhaps finding someone that actually enjoys their style and have that person write reviews if you feel that would be well received and desired by your readership. Of course your voice, your voices, are what make the blog what it is so that may or may not work but I found myself actually agreeing with your descriptions of the series as boring dark and slow as well as convoluted except for the fact that I actually enjoy the series for those very reasons and of course although I wouldn’t use those adjectives they are referring to things that are true but that many people such as myself enjoy; where you would say boring we would say contemplative where you would say slow we would say mesmerizing where you would say depressing we would say resonant, and so on; the dark quality of the show, the green tint treatment, all of it provides a wonderfully immersive cinematic experience to those of us that enjoy it. I’ve always felt that you accurately identify the elements that the show is weaving but as you’ve said it simply isn’t a total package that you enjoy when presented in the way that they do. (I do agree the acting is mostly weak, they’ve made an apparently successful strategic decision to instead…
Shid, this was LONG! Point could surely have been made in fewer words…but one totally agrees with the point that one can’t be expected to like or pretend to like mediocre work, just because. Freefall for the most part is somnolent and its description in this piece as slow, here and there and what not (can’t go back to get the exact quote) seems quite apt. I’ll admit though, I still randomly watch, sifting through dreadful acting and scenes, to see what Alonzo Fri’zon’s character is up to.
Conversely, the Awkward Black Girl webseries was very good, even though not gay themed, but black and obviously done with limited funds. Similarly, Hello Cupid, RoomieLoverFreinds are all black productions and come with much to commend- although not everything from the BlacknSexy TV stable is worth praising. The DL Chronicles was superb and The Outs was obviously well thought through and enjoyable to watch (thrice in my case). I think there’s a time and place for encouraging [ just any] effort and I don’t suppose the entertainment industry is one of such areas.
Ps. Nick, I listened to the sex podcast (again, quite long), I think you are sexy.
As I’ve said before, people should just be glad for the coverage. I’d only ever been to two gay social sites before coming here and they never exposed me to the artists I see on here.Every web series or rapper that I know of now,good or bad, was introduced o me here. When met with criticism you gotta fix the chinks in your armor, or accept that your work isn’t for everybody and move on.That’s how you make progress.
This article was posted on my birthday..
I love cypher avenue been following this site since it’s discreet city days, I mean a place where I found identity and solace as a gay black african. That said, sometimes you guys come across as being too negative and your reviews and comments put out like your an authority on such subject matters, we are all learning and growing as humans…tone down the supposed “hate” cos people already admire your work and the site, it’s not entertaining and it certainly isn’t gonna make more people like the site. Cypher avenue is not it’s creators or the people who write articles, it’s a movement.
Much love.
this article was long but it was well worth the read.
there are so many valid points in this but id like to touch on a few of them
the reviews here is what actually got me here in the first place back when the site was discreet city
alot of these blogs don’t give thorough reviews like this site does.for the most part alot of curators of these blogs are using blogging as a media stepping stone (see: B.Scott,Funky Dineva,Aconnectiontv ;yes that guy that made a video about one of the posts that was mentioned in the podcast that nobody was going to mention the name of) and not necessarily catering to quality content.just topics that will get them quick views for website traffic.
alot of black gay blogs are catered towards two types of audiences gay men & straight women.content that includes nonsense like celebrity gossip,topics involving gay porn actors and other topics that lack substance with every now and then throwing in major updates on topics concerning gay
men i.e. sizzle events and aids/HIV statistics.(with the exceptions of a few sites like mused mag & the lgbtupdate which you guys just put me on too so thanks for that )
within gay black media alot of the content are all repetitive and have all been done before.stop me if you’ve heard this synopsis before:
follow of four or more people on the journey of finding themselves through there messy yet complicated lives all while area juggling the complexities of dating work love all while living in a metropolitan aka:
noahs arc/the skinny/no shade/finding me/freefall/anacostia the web series/steel river should i name more?
when will that end? the dl chronicles has the best storytelling thus far fora gay black media series.END.OF.STORY.not opinion fact.
lastly i completely agree with what the commentator on youtube stated.
the community is so small and still in its infancy so that leaves room for everybody to get a medal just for having content that explores gay black themes.mediocre or not and when you hold up a mirror and say anything negative about it even if its constructive your attacking it.if your not praising it,your attacking it.because the pool is so small the content is limited be happy with what we get.but i think what also plays in part with this discussion is what was said on episode #17 of the podcast when talking to the Gossfields about fan support.
despite the length this was a great assessment! this is why i keep coming back tbh
Great article. I finally had time to read this in depth. I don’t see anything wrong with criticism. In fact, I think that the biggest problem with today’s generation of youth in general, black/white/latino/etc…is that they’ve been catered to, coddled, negotiated with, and basically spoon fed since they poppped out their mothers’ va jay jays in 1990 that they don’t know what its is to be criticized or told no, this ain’t good enough, or no dude, you need to find a new niche ’cause this ain’t your lane. Everything is taken as an affront/insult. In reference to Ice T’s rants on your other post, I don’t think society is becoming overly feminine, but there’s damn sure a society of whiny ass, thin skinned, punk asses buildin’ up real quick. On a side note, I get irritated at muthafukaz tryin to make yous conform your site/views/delivery/opinions to every other muthafuka’s shit out there. I don’t agree with everything you and Ock say, not everyone will. But I agree with a LOT of it. But damn ain’t that the point? To expand the mind and see shit from different points of view? Something otha than shirtless, gym bodies; Rihanna/Beyoncé/Chris Brown; Red Bottoms (why is a nikka in Red Bottoms in the first place); (womens’) Fashion; and gotdamn RHoA/ Scandal/Married to Money/ and every other “Dumb it Down” reality show out now. Again, punk ass muthafukaz who can’t stand that someone isn’t catering to THEIR specific preferences. To that I say…”FUCK…yo’..couch nigguh!! FUCK…YO’…COUCH! DARKnesSES! DARKnesSES!!” LOL
who gives a damn about which SGL site is better than the other or who has rankings. You want to REALLY impress me? Get advertising… and HIRE other black SGL men to build your brand. You see a ton ads on White gay sites and NONE of it on black gay sites (except Rod 2.0 who happens to be the REAL king of the black gay blogging scene). Get the white gay marketing companies to support you. Now THAT’s a task because THEY WON’T. That’s what we need to be concerned about OUR LACK OF RESOURCES. Stop all this damn bickering…and assimilate.
So I guess its safe to say you’re not a fan? LMAO.
You will never see “real” advertising by way of Gay P0rn Sites on Cypher Avenue. Sorry, we will not assimilate but thanks for visiting.
Maybe I’m mistaken but hasn’t Cypher Avenue always had mainstream advertising on the site? I must have been hallucinating this past year.