This is a mature discussion
Hip Hop will celebrate its 50th birthday this year. There has been alot of growth in the culture, for better and for worse. Homosexuality has been a subject of the genre since the beginning. Flamboyant clothing, shyt like that
Diss songs would come out with attacks on other rappers' sexuality. I would say since the early 2010s, the prevalence of gay culture in rap has been very noticeable. Even more than the fashion. In 2011 Lil B made a mixtape called I'm Gay (I'm Happy). His goal was to destigmatize homosexuality in hip hop as a straight man. That goal was not reached. Or was it?
See before Lil Nas X (who isn't even hip hop), there was a rapper who came out the closet on record. In his music. And this nikka did it in probably the most artistic, strategic, thought-out way possible
Tyler, The Creator dropped an album in 2017 called Flower Boy. All you have to do is look up what that word means to understand where I'm going with this. 2 songs are where he basically moonwalks silently out of the closet while no one pays attention or notices he left
First song, I Aint Got Time. He said "next line will have em like woah/ I been kissing white boys since 2004"
Since it's Tyler, pretty much everyone wrote it off as trolling. But songs later he had a deeper song called Garden Shed on the same album. A much deeper serious song about his hidden sexuality and his shame. The "Garden Shed" is a metaphor for the closet
Ever since this album he has fully embraced his identity. IGOR was about his romance and falling out with a gay lover. Dude freestyles and has features with non-harlem subject matter. His recent song SORRY NOT SORRY he says "sorry to the guys i had to hide, sorry to the girls i lied to who didnt know I was by (bi) the lakes switching sides too, anyway I dont wanna talk"
Tyler is a known aficionado of Lil B. So are many artists who rose to prominence in the late 2000s early 2010s. Only reason I started listening to B is because of Lupe's support of how ambitious his "Im Happy" mixtape was. But that brings me to this, is the openness of homosexuality in the music a sign of Hip Hops evolution or a sign of its nearing end?
There has definitely been an increase in LGBT+ awareness for years now. Especially in black culture. It started to be evident more than ever since the Caitlyn Jenner shyt. Now it's mainstream. Even overly homophobic rappers could be in question. Like Tyler in his early career dropping the word fakkit every 5 bars, Eminem did the same. And dude has been hinting at liking other men his whole career. But just like Tyler, it can be perceived as "trolling". But that's a topic for another discussion
I feel like we're in the last days anyway with this country increasingly looking like Babylon. Will this change influence artists and audiences to abandon the genre? Will this have an effect to an even greater degree than the eras of Gangsta Rap and Autotune? Is this growing sense of vulnerability with sexual identity the sign of hip-hop's evolution or it's impending death?
Hip Hop will celebrate its 50th birthday this year. There has been alot of growth in the culture, for better and for worse. Homosexuality has been a subject of the genre since the beginning. Flamboyant clothing, shyt like that
Diss songs would come out with attacks on other rappers' sexuality. I would say since the early 2010s, the prevalence of gay culture in rap has been very noticeable. Even more than the fashion. In 2011 Lil B made a mixtape called I'm Gay (I'm Happy). His goal was to destigmatize homosexuality in hip hop as a straight man. That goal was not reached. Or was it?
See before Lil Nas X (who isn't even hip hop), there was a rapper who came out the closet on record. In his music. And this nikka did it in probably the most artistic, strategic, thought-out way possible
Tyler, The Creator dropped an album in 2017 called Flower Boy. All you have to do is look up what that word means to understand where I'm going with this. 2 songs are where he basically moonwalks silently out of the closet while no one pays attention or notices he left
First song, I Aint Got Time. He said "next line will have em like woah/ I been kissing white boys since 2004"
Since it's Tyler, pretty much everyone wrote it off as trolling. But songs later he had a deeper song called Garden Shed on the same album. A much deeper serious song about his hidden sexuality and his shame. The "Garden Shed" is a metaphor for the closet
Ever since this album he has fully embraced his identity. IGOR was about his romance and falling out with a gay lover. Dude freestyles and has features with non-harlem subject matter. His recent song SORRY NOT SORRY he says "sorry to the guys i had to hide, sorry to the girls i lied to who didnt know I was by (bi) the lakes switching sides too, anyway I dont wanna talk"
Tyler is a known aficionado of Lil B. So are many artists who rose to prominence in the late 2000s early 2010s. Only reason I started listening to B is because of Lupe's support of how ambitious his "Im Happy" mixtape was. But that brings me to this, is the openness of homosexuality in the music a sign of Hip Hops evolution or a sign of its nearing end?
There has definitely been an increase in LGBT+ awareness for years now. Especially in black culture. It started to be evident more than ever since the Caitlyn Jenner shyt. Now it's mainstream. Even overly homophobic rappers could be in question. Like Tyler in his early career dropping the word fakkit every 5 bars, Eminem did the same. And dude has been hinting at liking other men his whole career. But just like Tyler, it can be perceived as "trolling". But that's a topic for another discussion
I feel like we're in the last days anyway with this country increasingly looking like Babylon. Will this change influence artists and audiences to abandon the genre? Will this have an effect to an even greater degree than the eras of Gangsta Rap and Autotune? Is this growing sense of vulnerability with sexual identity the sign of hip-hop's evolution or it's impending death?
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