Monday, 23 March 2009
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Homo-Hop: Hip-Hop's Latest Taboo?
I was thinking about an article that I read in SPIN Magazine about the unfortunate exile of rappers who just happened to be gay; yes, there are such things.
These days, everyone agrees that hip-hop, like football, has long been treated like a man's game.
But slowly the tides are changing, hip hop sub-genres have spun off, with a bit of the pie for some formerly unrepresented groups: white people (Eminem, Aesop Rock, Example, Atmosphere), women (Jean Grae, Northern State, Shystie), and perhaps the newest group coming to help hip-hop grow: homosexual and/or bisexual rappers.
Hip-hop is supposed to be evolving from a verbal football match, to what it has long been at its roots, a form of expression, and often for underrepresented groups; in this case those falling outside the hetero norm.
If "Rapper's Delight" taught you anything it's that as long as you know how to rhyme, or have something different to talk about, it doesn't matter who is delivering the rhymes. And you can thank the people below for showing us that.
- Deep Dickollective Or (D/DC)
- God-Des and She
- Katastrophe
- Deadlee
- Yo! Majesty
- Melange Lavonne
- And Johnny Dangerous
Heck, shouldn't your only concern in hip-hop be if they can rhyme or flow?
Do you think homosexual or bisexual rappers will be accepted in the hip hop community? Would you support their music?
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- From: mynameisblueskye@xanga
- Name: Chris
- Location: Boston, Massachusetts
- About Me: African-American man (Scorpio, Dragon, Left-Handed) I love music and fruitful conversation. That may be all you need to know. Anything else you want to know, talk to me on AIM or Yahoo. Take a look at my profile to find out what the AIM and Yahoo! are. I also have a policy for adding people. I check your profile, read your blogs, and maybe look at your photos, and then add you. IF you have friends lock, please send me a profile or a sample of your blog to be added.
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Comments (36)
They should be, but they won't be 'cause the name "faggot" will be floating around until they quit.
WILL they be? I don't know...I don't think so, sadly. Unless they can spit fire I don't think anyone will take them seriously.
Like if you have some hot dude rapping but he's ok at it, he will probably be accepted. But if you have a gay dude rapping and he's ok at it, people will not give a crap.
I REALLY hope they'll be accepted!
The word fagot will always be around, true, but so will the word nigger. Hip-hop has always been about spinning the negative into positive.
Above all, the skill of the MC must reign supreme. A good cause will quickly get buried underneath lousy music.
They should be accepted into hip-hop, just as they should be accepted into everything. I'm not into hip-hop at all, so I won't listen to it no matter what the orientation of the artists, but they shouldn't be discriminated against for their preferences.
Anyone that is homosexual or bisexual should be accepted anywhere. Those who shun or disrespect people just because they are gay are immature douchebags.
I remember alot of people in the military were outraged when Obama wanted to remove the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. One of my friends who was in the Army said the most funniest quote ever:
"Hey, if I have a guy watching over my ass in combat, I at least want him to think it's cute."
if its good its good and i will like it if its crap then no
but it will be cool to here rap that talks about guys instead of girls being gay i could relate
Yes and yes. Music is expression, it's the voices of our culture, no matter what type of music it is...it deserves the chance to be heard.
I'm not much for hip hop, usually, no matter who's singing or why. I tend to be more into alternative, rock, and a little punk, pop, and metal. It'd have to really catch me, for me to like a hip hop song (just like it'd have to really catch me to like a country song!). We all have our individual tastes...most of us just like music if it sounds good to us personally.
I'll say kudos and good for them, and I'd even blog about them, sure, if it helps anything. I hope that these "taboo" artists will hammer down this bias and crap against them.
I hope they'll be accepted. :)
@LiLbabeSwT@xanga - Deep Dickollective welcome and sometimes point fun at the word. Listen to "On Some Other" and their movie samples that mention the word "f*ggot" is all in as much fun, as it is a way of taking power away from the word the same way a woman takes power away from the derogatory word "b*tch."
i don't really think they would.
if the music's good, then i'll listen.
@BlackSunshine7@xanga - I agree, no doubt of that. Of course eventually the word faggot won't be as offensive, and probably will be like the word bitch. But unfortunately in today's society there are still a lot of people who cannot accept others who are homosexuals. I mean there are still people who cannot accept the music genre rap, so this is going to take a very long time.
well, hip hop and rap started out as subversive genres, so it should be alright if these minority (in that specific community at least) populations start participating... right? o_O
@whas_go0d@xanga - Melange Lavonne is a great rapper. Look for her videos on YouTube,
i've never supported the genre of hip-hop or rap to start with, so yea its fine with me if some homos wanna be rappers.
If their music is really good, I believe they can succeed. however, if it's only so-so, it'll be tough. And depending on what they rap about, there's the risk of being typecast as "the gay rapper".
if the music's good yeah... but if they start bringing in guy on guy stuff into the lyrics.... i'd find that weird lol.
and it doesnt seem like it fits into the actual hip-hop culture. but maybe thats just me.
dont get all angry at me now people =P
good luck ..
In my opinion, with real hip hop (not the candy stuff playing in clubs and on the hot hits TV show) normally appeals to people in the same situation. Alot of the modern white rap deals with suburbia or suburbia "holes", and 80's hip hop was.. well... legendary for dealing with the lowest common denominator in the ghettos.
Popular homo-rap? It's up to how they present themselves and where their heart lies most probably.
It depends on the message they want to send. I wouldn't have any problems listening to hip hop by a gay rapper if it was quality music, but if it was heavy on the gay rights and "men on men" overtones, I probably wouldn't be that interested. Not because I have any sort of negative feelings towards gays or their lifestyle, but because I wouldn't be able to connect to the message as a straight male.
Can someone tell me why anyone's sexuality should be relevant anyway? That would be like a married man going around work telling his co-workers what he does to his wife at home at night. IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH WHAT A PERSON OFFERS in art, production, life, etc.
Politics, Sexuality & Religion are three things that should be kept private. Everyone has personal life experiences that conform an individual to their views and beliefs in all three categories; these experiences are what form the person, not the PERSONAL decisions made by said experiences.
Celebrate life.
That being said, if a brother can rap, who cares how he swings? I jus' wanna dance...
I don't think these folks would be accepted by the masses that love Lil Wayne & Jeezy and all that bullshit garbage rap... but the masses don't listen to folks like Aesop Rock, Blackalicious, Jean Grae.
That shit is pretty underground and that's where the homosexual hip hop will be too. The people who seek out new and talented hip-hop groups won't knock it just because the groups members are gay, they'll knock it if it sucks.
And I guarantee there are some uber talented gay dudes out there that could come up with some pretty interesting rhymes about the homo life in general, and probably do to the word faggot what rappers have done to nigger - overuse that shit to the point of desensitization
Rap culture and everything that comes with it is pretty homophobic, so it will take a lot to be respected in the hip-hop community. Vanilla Ice broke the color barrier (I think), but wasn't respected, and for good reason. They used his race as a gimmick to sell records. Eminem is respected in the hip-hop community, but that took a lot. He also deserves it, since he is a very talented lyricist. For this reason, I have trouble accepting female rappers, since they use their gender as a gimmick and are actually nothing special. My point is that a gay or bisexual rapper will have to be very talented, and even then it will be tough. But they definitely have a struggle to talk about, whether the same as straight rappers or specific to gay rappers. And that's really what matters, skill and struggle.
Why wasn't Queen Latifah on that list?
Homosexuals are underrepresented and "feared" in the hip-hop/rap world because it is pre-dominated by black men. Black men obtain their power, strength and overall image through their sexuality-- being a straight, "fine" man who is a "pimp" and can score all the ladies. That is the image of rap to consumers. And unfortunately homosexuality is so taboo to talk about because it means you aren't performing your gender correctly in the eyes of so many men. That is why football and hip hop are seen as heterosexual male professions. And I think it is great that homosexuals are beginning to have light shed on them in the rap world, but I can't see it being popular with many people who are so homophobic.