Hip hop, gays, and homophobia

by Lee Carson, of the Black Gay Men's Leadership Council in Philadelphia (an SHX member)


Since the birth of rap in the late 70’s to it’s larger presence in the early 80’s to present day, rap/hip hop has been a major phenomenon in pop culture. However, this very same phenomenon that has taken over the music scene worldwide has also fueled much of the homophobia and sexism we see in urban black culture. I don’t think this is new news to anyone reading this post. We all know how prolific homophobia is in rap, but we don’t always acknowledge how much of an impact it has had on our communities of gay men and how we have internalized some of these messages being sent to us through our iPod’s, radio stations and music videos where these hyper-masculine rappers floss and flaunt.

Many Black gay men have internalized this hyper-masculine, homophobic, sexist pose, which has fueled internalized homophobia and Effemiphobia in Black gay communities. When you look at Adam4adam or Black Gay Chat and MySpace pages, you will find hundreds if not thousands of Black gay men who have such terms as, “no faggots or fems hit me up. Masculine kats only!” somewhere in their profiles. And if you’ve noticed, just about everyone on these websites is masculine, even if they like to wear tight designer jeans, a little bit of makeup to cover blemishes and like to go out in drag on occasion. We have allowed mainstream homophobia to infiltrate us and at some point we need to realize this and no longer allow it space in our communities.

There is one brotha who is out to challenge homophobia in the rap community and create progressive dialogue on the issue. His name is Khali Amani and he has a book titled “Hip-Hop Homophobes: Origin & Attitudes Against Gays & Lesbians In Hip-Hop Culture”. In his book, which comes out next month, he addresses this issue.

Below you will find a link to a lengthy excerpt from his book that addresses homophobia among rappers, talks about the contributions openly gay and lesbian rappers are making to rap and gives a direct challenge to homophobes in the rap game. Here is a quote from his excerpt:

“I'm holding this book up before the hip-hop world and asking for a Reformation. Like Martin Luther (the 16th century German/Catholic monk), who nailed his famous 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg, I'm nailing this tome on the door of hip-hop! And I'm looking to start a "Protest Movement"—not just against homophobia, but also misogyny, xenophobia, and the "minstrel show" that Wynton Marsalis so eloquently analogized.”

For the full excerpt on Thug Life Army click here.