The GAY rapper/HIPHOP question

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"The Gay Rapper"

Go and read. Was a most interesting development at the time.

I tried to stir about this when I first came on the forum, but got no takers.

The only bods I know of are the Deep Dickollective. Pretty interesting open letters / essays on the site... thought some of the comments (maybe there now, maybe not) about straight guys didn't want to battle in case they got showed up by a fag pretty amusing. Didn't think any of the MP3s on the site were that good, though. A bit boho or something..?

theres a very very famous rapper who is gay. allegedly.

though it appears to have had absolutely no effect on his music whatsoever.

hmmm is it the game? i could've sworn that in dreams he says 'so i give thanks to kanye" sample says "because i i love you"

....

ive read suge knight saying that dr dre is gay

Jay-Z is the one usually named, eh.

I guess making gay hip-hop and being a gay rapper could be seen as different things. Could be a nasty line to follow to its conclusion, but still...

What about Caushun. He was widely touted as the first black gay rapper a few years ago, don't know much of his work but he was out and proud and probably loud.

The homophobia/rap debate often ascribes represive sexual attitudes to black musicians via the often cited, rarely explained or proven, prevalence of homophobia in "black culture". Of course you can find homophobia in black rap but no mainstream black rapper is as virulently homophobic as EMINEM, doesn't matter what Elton John says.

I don't think a black gay rapper is necessarily a rarer beast than a white gay rapper. I'd love to see the achingly predictable kristal-soaked club scene re-invented by a gay 50cent, men objectifying men in slow-mo, could be awesome.

LL Cool J
Sisqo

ya there have been a few references to dre being gay i've heard over the years

The black community in general, and especially the section that most rappers come from aren't exactly sympathetic to the gay cause.

LL is really the only one that i think is credible. SisQo doesn't really count at all coz he's not a rapper and isn't even really doing anything at the moment. tyhe thing to remember si that rappers are ALWAYS accusing one another of being queer. Fiddy (Cent, not the other one) accused Ja Rule of "fucking niggaz" last year, which i don't particularly believe and and in dancehall circles Bounty Killer was derided as gay after being in a No Doubt video with a naked dude in it (surely the real crime here is being in a No Doubt video)

domtyler said:

The homophobia/rap debate often ascribes represive sexual attitudes to black musicians via the often cited, rarely explained or proven, prevalence of homophobia in "black culture". Of course you can find homophobia in black rap but no mainstream black rapper is as virulently homophobic as EMINEM, doesn't matter what Elton John says.

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I appreciate that this is not hip-hop, but, um, have you listened to Vybz Kartel of late?

Someone I knew who worked for Puffy said that he was gay, and had a "secret" boyfriend hidden away somewhere...

which kartel tracks in particular are you talking about?

stelfox said:

which kartel tracks in particular are you talking about?

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Try "faggot correction"..

Good point Baboon. I was trying to suggest that it's too easy to put the bigotry down to "cultural" i.e. racial differences.

I was also wondering whether the fact that sexual posturing makes up a big part of mainstream hip-hop makes it harder for a would be gay rapper to emerge. You'd have to be up-front about your sexuality front the get-go, or later face charges of hypocrisy. It would be almost impossible for a rap artist to develop a fan base and then come out wouldn't it? So no opportunity to change attitudes by stealth.

that's not a recent track and it's actually a quite great. it's so over-the-top and cartoon-like that you can't really take it seriously. we've already discussed this tune at reletive length here

stelfox said:

that's not a recent track and it's actually a quite great. it's so over-the-top and cartoon-like that you can't really take it seriously. we've already discussed this tune at reletive length here

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Sen on, 2003?

But you're probably right, if it's over the top we shouldn't take it seriously, such overt bigotry has to be a knowing satire. Right?

Appologies for not seeing previous discussions, and if I'm going over old ground, it's new to me.

domtyler said:

The homophobia/rap debate often ascribes represive sexual attitudes to black musicians via the often cited, rarely explained or proven, prevalence of homophobia in "black culture". Of course you can find homophobia in black rap but no mainstream black rapper is as virulently homophobic as EMINEM, doesn't matter what Elton John says.

Click to expand...

People also overlook the fact that the majority of black male 'homophobia' stems from prison culture, and is talking about rape as an instrument of power rather than about consensual gay sex or gay culture. For me that doesnt make quotes like 'recieving ass backwards' any less distasteful (Jeru the Damaja from Scientifical Madness, a track that I otherwise love to bits), but the context is important.

For example - Mike Banks saying 'you have to keep your asshole tight in life as in prison' - is that homophobic? Or just a call to people to be on point and watch out for themselves?

Dont underestimate the effects of incarceration and the mental attitudes it engenders on black culture in the US. 5% of black men are currently in jail - thats a staggering figure, almost 10 times higher than for whites. Consider that 1 in every 20 black men are in jail right now, once you've extrapolated that to men who have been in jail in the past, and family and close friends of those incarcerated, it's obvious that the majority of black men in the US have 1st or close 2nd hand experience of prison.

The problem again is that the white surburban dollars that have flowed into hip hop over that last 15 years have muddied the waters, so that homophobia is now often identified with black 'authenticity' - hence eminem upping the fag-bashing to compensate for his lack of melanin.

Does it matter?