Black Queer Artists Are Redefining Music – And Taking Over Pride in 2025

Pride in 2025 is hitting differently. In a year when headlines read like setbacks, anti-LGBTQ+ laws passing in state houses and corporations quietly scaling back DEI efforts, celebration feels both necessary and defiant. And once again, it’s Black queer artists who are showing up with freedom and honesty that can’t be duplicated or erased. 

These musicians aren’t just performing at Pride events across the country, they’re anchoring them. Their ability to authentically be themselves and their very existence is challenging what’s happening in classrooms and legislative floors. 

Iniko

Headlining the opening concert of DC Black Pride this year, Iniko brought an almost spiritual presence to the stage. Their breakout hit “Jericho,” a genre-fluid anthem about inner strength and spiritual warfare went viral for a reason. Iniko’s music feels like it’s been channeled and not written. Their voice has gone far beyond TikTok, where many first discovered them.

Iniko (they/them) is part of a new wave of artists refusing to be boxed in by gender, genre, or expectation. Their visuals are often celestial and rooted in mysticism. Performing at a major Pride event in the nation’s capital was more than symbolic, but transformative.

Destin Conrad

With his new album Love On Digital, Destin Conrad is documenting the lives of Black queer folks in real time. The standout track, “Kissing in Public,” was coupled with a music video that went viral for all the right reasons. In it, Conrad and his love interest share soft touches, stolen kisses, and full on creative dance breakouts that had the internet sitting up. 

It’s rare. Especially in male R&B. It probably struck a few nerves. TikTok lit up with duets, stitches, and emotional commentary. Fans, many of them young, queer, and Black, didn’t just love the song, but felt seen by the video’s radical softness. In a time where displays of queer intimacy feels risky, Conrad gave his audience something tender and defiant: the right to be loved visibly. 

I’m sure this wasn’t about sparking virality, but taking up space. His upcoming Pride appearances across LA, New York, and Chicaho are expected to be packed out with fans who see themselves in his lyrics and liberation.

Saucy Santana

In Louisville, a city currently contending with anti-drag legislation and pushback against LGBTQ+ education, Saucy Santana will headline the Kentuckiana Pride Festival and he’s not pulling up quietly. The rapper, influencer, and internet fave has built a career off of honest refusal to tone himself down for anyone. Known for his full glam, long nails, and gender bending fashion style, Santana’s set is about to be a statement. 

From his breakout moment with viral anthems like “Material Girl” to his newest hit “Bounce,” Santana makes music that feels like fun, and reminds us that joy still exists in the community despite the government’s villainous oppositions.  

Santana’s shows and presence on Southern Pride stages will serve as symbols of visibility and protest because he’s far from going anywhere. 

Doechii: The Swamp Princess of Fluidity

If anyone knows how to turn a stage into a full-body experience, it’s Doechii. Dubbed as the Swamp Princess of the South, the Tampa-born rapper and singer is set to headline the closing concert at DC WorldPride 2025. 

Doechii burst into mainstream with tracks like “Persuasive,” a hypnotic, genre-blurring collaboration with SZA. Since then she’s known for her unpredictable flows, Grammy award winning album, and a performance style that feels more like art, with its femme and masc energy, rather than a traditional rap set. 

While Doechii has publicly never labeled her sexuality, her Pride appearance is sure to be a moment and isn’t just another slot on the lineup. Her presence alone has made space for queerness to exist in complex, liberating ways. When she steps onto the National Mall, her show will feel more like a family reunion for a community that’s already claimed her as one of their own.