Did You Know I’m An Author Now?
- Nov 25, 2025
- 5 min read
Writing Rainbow Soul has been a powerful and sometimes difficult journey. It meant revisiting moments I once tried to bury—childhood wounds, identity struggles, and the traumas I survived as a Black queer child navigating spaces that rarely made room for either part of who I was. In writing this book, I found myself asking: Why me? Why tell this story now? Why should my voice enter the lineage of Black queer music and cultural history?
I eventually realized the truth: the story shouldn’t be told without me. Or without you. Or without any of us who sit at the intersection of creativity and survival. Black queer people have always existed at the crossroads of rhythm and resistance. My work as an artist, organizer, and entrepreneur exists on that same continuum, stretching from juke joints and gospel choirs to ballroom runways and modern protest culture. Rainbow Soul is more than a memoir. It is a mirror—reflecting both my personal path and the wider story of Black queer expression that continues to shape our world.
We’re living in a time when the study of Black history is being restricted and narratives about LGBTQ life are being erased. In these conditions, the contributions of artists and cultural workers—especially those who challenge gender norms or heteronormative expectations—often go unrecognized. We uplift political leaders and thinkers, but sometimes forget the musicians and performers who sang our liberation into being, danced it into visibility, and rapped it into microphones when no one else was listening.
And we must also acknowledge the stories that were lost—silenced by homophobia, erased by stigma, or cut short by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. These aren’t just past losses; they echo into our present as healthcare access shrinks, LGBTQ protections are rolled back, and entire communities face renewed threats.
This is why Rainbow Soul exists: to honor, to question, to document, and to uplift.
What’s Inside the Book
Part I: A Black Queer Ethnomusicology
A deep dive into the musical and cultural roots shaped by figures like Ma Rainey, Little Richard, and Sylvester—not as footnotes, but as innovators who redefined sound, gender, and performance.
Part II: A Story of Resilience
My personal journey—childhood, activism, artistry, trauma, faith, and healing. This section
explores what it means to survive marginalization and still find the courage to create.
Part III: A Blueprint for Soulful Solutions to Capitalism
A forward-looking perspective grounded in my work with Icon City Entertainment. Here I share lessons on leadership, community-building, sustainable creative ecosystems, and the future of culturally aligned entrepreneurship.
Why This Matters for Icon City Clients and Partners
Rainbow Soul is not only a book; it reflects the framework that guides Icon City’s consulting and creative services.
Whether we’re developing community-centered campaigns, producing purpose-driven media, or designing strategies for equity-minded organizations, the same principles behind Rainbow Soul are embedded in our work:
Cultural intelligence
Storytelling grounded in lived experience
Strategic thinking informed by history and community realities
A commitment to social impact and sustainable change
Creative innovation rooted in authenticity
Clients who work with Icon City aren’t just hiring a team; they’re partnering with a perspective shaped by the intersections of art, activism, identity, and community. This book is one more way to understand that lens.
For Media
Rainbow Soul asks: What happens when Black queer artists, organizers, musicians, and community builders are written back into the story — not as side notes, but as architects of culture?
The book connects Anye’s personal journey as a gay rapper, queer rights activist, entrepreneur, and founder of Icon City Entertainment to a broader lineage that stretches from Ma Rainey, Little Richard, Sylvester, Frankie Knuckles, Tracy Chapman, Me’shell Ndegeocello, Kevin Aviance, and independent queer hip-hop artists who carried the culture before mainstream visibility caught up.
Key Talking Points
1. Why Rainbow Soul exists
Anye wrote the book to honor, question, uplift, and remember Black queer cultural contributions at a time when Black history and LGBTQ+ rights are both facing renewed attacks. In the manuscript introduction, he frames the urgency clearly: “This is not just history. This is now.”
2. Music as survival and archive
The first part of the book explores Black queer music as a living archive. The book uplifts pioneers such as Ma Rainey, Little Richard, Sylvester, Frankie Knuckles, and others as artists who did more than entertain — they created mirrors, sanctuaries, and blueprints for survival.
3. Personal resilience
The memoir section moves into Anye’s own life: childhood trauma, being raised by his grandfather Cornelius “Corny” Ellis, the disappearance of his mother, finding chosen family, coming into Black queer identity, and using art as a tool for survival.
4. From testimony to toolkit
The final section shifts from storytelling to strategy. It connects Anye’s journey to Icon City Entertainment and Icons Rising, showing how pain can be transformed into service, entrepreneurship, mentorship, and community infrastructure. The public landing page describes this section as moving “from testimony to toolkit” and focused on building sacred spaces in a world that tries to make people small.
5. Chicago relevance
Chicago is especially meaningful to this conversation because of house music and Frankie Knuckles. In Rainbow Soul, Anye writes about Frankie Knuckles creating sanctuary through house music in Chicago, describing his turntables as more than beats — as lifelines for queer Black and brown people.
Suggested Interview Questions
What inspired you to create Rainbow Soul first as a workshop and now as a book?
You describe Rainbow Soul as more than a memoir. What do you mean by that?
Why was it important to begin with Black queer music history?
Who are some of the pioneers you want readers to rediscover?
Chicago has such a major place in Black queer music history through house music and Frankie Knuckles. How does that legacy show up in the book?
You write about childhood trauma and your mother’s disappearance. How did you decide what to share and what to protect?
What role did chosen family play in your survival and becoming?
How did your experience as a gay rapper shape your understanding of visibility?
What do you hope younger Black LGBTQ+ creatives take from this book?
How does Rainbow Soul connect to the larger work of Icon City Entertainment and Icons Rising?
Strong Pull Quotes / Themes
“Before there was a movement, there was a melody.”
“Rainbow Soul isn’t just about becoming proud — it’s about surviving what tried to kill your light.”
“This isn’t theory. These are blueprints. This is how we build sacred spaces in a world that wants us small.”
Short Bio
Anye Elite is a Black queer artist, entrepreneur, publicist, media founder, and cultural strategist. He is the founder of Icon City Entertainment and IconCityNews.com, platforms dedicated to storytelling, visibility, entrepreneurship, and community-centered media. Through Rainbow Soul, Anye brings together memoir, music history, cultural criticism, and practical leadership lessons for creatives, community builders, and anyone reclaiming their voice.
Call to Action
Readers and listeners can learn more and preorder Rainbow Soul at:
They can also connect with Icon City for workshops, speaking opportunities, book clubs, community conversations, and programming tied to Black LGBTQ+ history, music, healing, and entrepreneurship.
Available Now for Presale
Rainbow Soul is now available for presale.If this introduction resonates with you, I invite you to reserve your copy early and join this journey from the beginning.
You can preorder the book here:https://www.iconcitynews.com/rainbow-soul-book