Rapper's Dilemma

“After she sucked the dick, i stabbed her brother with the icepick
Because he wanted me to fuck him from the back
But smalls don't get down like that”

-    From “Dead Wrong” by Notorious B.I.G.

Oh Biggie...

Those lyrics are pretty awful when you strip them from their original context. Actually they’re pretty awful within context. Indeed, homophobia in rap music goes back a long way. From Big Daddy Kane and Ice Cube to Eminem and 50 Cent, rappers have made their disgust, disdain, and outright hatred of homosexuality very well known, probably more vocally than any other artists. I suppose the macho nature of the music lends itself to that, but it goes overboard to an extent that can basically described as hate speech.

Why do most rappers feel the need to openly bash gay people? Regardless of how they may feel about gays in private, shouldn’t they keep their hate to themselves?

I’ve always been of many minds on this subject. For starters, hate speech is hate speech, whether it’s against gays, blacks, women, Jews, Arabs – you name it. It’s never ok to bash anyone for what they are. If someone made derogatory remarks about bi-racial people, I’d call them what they are – bigots.

But at least rappers are open about their prejudice. One of the things I’ve loved about hip hop is that it holds a mirror to the rest of society. Whether it’s Ice Cube tearing the LAPD a new one over police brutality or Immortal Technique calling out the U.S. government for its policies, rappers have never shied away from telling us how it is. Most criticism levelled at hip hop is for how it depicts women, particularly in rap videos. Images of scantly clad women dancing and having men slide credit cards down their ass crack doesn’t exactly connote a positive image of women. But guess what? Go to any strip club and you’ll find men behaving in pretty much the same way. Why hide it behind closed doors? Why not put it out in the open that this is how men view and treat women? We may not like it and we certainly wouldn’t condone it, but it exists. At least rappers have the balls to say it. And that’s partly why I have difficulty lambasting Jay-Z or Lil’ Wayne for making homophobic remarks. Haven’t I made homophobic remarks? Don’t I laugh at gay jokes? Doesn’t the sight of two guys kissing make me uncomfortable?

So maybe rappers should speak their minds on the issue, and flaunt their homophobia if you will. Maybe we need that reminder in order to coax us out of our liberal hypocrisy.

Don't get me wrong: I think homophobia in hip hop should stop, as it should everywhere. I sometimes make gay jokes and cringe later on when I think about what I said. But to be honest, I’m not convinced that any of us are quite capable of making that leap forward.

There have been signs of progress, however.

Common, who was as homophobic as Jesse Helms at one point, made a complete about-face seven years ago with the song “Between Me, You & Liberation,” which contains this startling verse.

"He spoke with his eyes, tear-filled
A lump in his throat, his fear built
My whole life it was in steel
This ain't the way that men feel
A feeling, he said he wish he could kill
A feeling, not even time could heal
This is how real life's supposed to be?
For it to happen to someone close to me?
So far we'd come, for him to tell me
As he did, insecurity held me
I felt like he failed me
To the spirit, yelled help me
I'd known him for like what seemed forever
About going pro we dreamed together
Never knew it would turn out like this
For so long he tried to fight this
Now there was no way for him to ignore it
His parents found out and hated him for it
How could I judge him? Had to accept him if I truly loved him
No longer he said had he hated himself
Through sexuality he liberated himself
Between me and you"

By confronting his own homophobia, and expressing it one of his songs no less, Common did the bravest thing I think any rapper has ever done. It’s one of his most vulnerable and moving tracks, and it shows a level of maturity that’s missing in a lot of hip hop and music in general.

Kanye West also did an about-face and called on rappers to stop being homophobic. “Everybody in hip-hop discriminates against gay people… And I want to just come on TV and just tell my rappers, just tell my friends, 'Yo, stop it fam.'" Like Common, he too had been discriminatory against gays, and it took someone he was close to coming out of the closet to get him to change his attitude.

There’s also a dissection of hip hop homophobia in this recent Slate article, and the rise of the term “no homo,” which to the unfamiliar, is a term used to basically shield any statements from being construed as “gay.” For example: “I love my niggas, no homo.” (Lil’ Wayne)

"The term's appearance in hip-hop coincided with the rise of the so-called "down-low brother," a closeted black figure often demonized as a disease-spreading boogeyman, invisible by definition and thus potentially, frightfully, everywhere. Saying "no homo" might have started as a way for rappers to acknowledge and distance themselves from the down-low phenomenon. As the phrase has spread, many have decried no homo as depressingly retrograde, a pigheaded "That's what she said" for homophobes. But the term functions in a more complicated way than a simple slur. As society becomes increasingly gay-tolerant, hip-hop is reassessing its relationship to homosexuality and, albeit in a hedged and roundabout way, it's possible that no homo is helping to make hip-hop a gayer place."

The author goes on to say that while it’s not much of a radical act, and the term itself has morphed into something beyond what its framers originally meant, it could be considered a sign of progress because it allows rappers the chance to play out their masculinity in a less rigid manner. He points to Cam'ron and The Diplomats as "ironically, among the most homoerotic MC's in rap."

"When these rappers say "no homo," it can seem a bit like a gentleman's agreement, nodding to the status quo while smuggling in a fuller, less hamstrung notion of masculinity. This is still a concession to homophobia, but one that enables a less rigid definition of the hip-hop self than we've seen before. It's far from a coup, but, in a way, it's progress."

True, this is a far cry from the days of violent gay-bashing, but it still strikes me as disappointing that "no homo" could be considered a step forward. The persistence of homophobia in hip hop is also frustrating when you consider how important gay writers, musicians and artists have been to the arts. Imagine what a transformative act an openly gay rapper with the popularity of Kanye West might have on people’s minds?

Harvey Milk urged every gay person to come out because it would do more to end prejuidice than anyone could imagine, and I think he's right. It's hard to hate someone for being gay if you know them personally. While there are openly gay rappers out there, none have made it into the mainstream due to the prejudice against gays in hip hop. It's time for that to end. As Common said, "How could I judge him? Had to accept him if I truly loved him."