I heard a rumor the other day that Jay-Z is gay. Scandalous, I know. You probably know too because I bring it up to anyone and everyone I can. I don’t know why I am so fixated on one person’s sexuality (and why do I think it is any of my business). Here’s what I have come to realize my fixation is based upon: a gay rapper is so out of the ordinary, so completely foreign that I just can’t wrap my head around it!
Gay musicians are a dime a dozen. We embrace their sexuality as a part of their persona. They too embrace their sexuality and use it to sell their music. Mika, Adam Lambert, Elton John! So why is the hip-hop community so lacking? Surely, there are homosexuals in the hip-hop community, don’t ya think!? Is it what the hip-hop community advocates that makes it so hard for one to come out?
In the 70s and 80s, the message hip-hop sent was that of a revolution: tough guys fightin’ the man and the machine. Now that hip-hop has become an institution, rappers can get rich talking about the ladies they’ve got in their beds, the guns they carry and the cash they have. There is a sense of roughness, toughness, of men who have come from nothing, stuck in the shadows, and gained notoriety and fortune through their lyrics. This struggle from silence to noise, from nothing to everything reminds me of our conversations about the struggle to come out. Suddenly, your secret is everyone’s knowledge. I would think, then, that rappers and gays might have more of camaraderie; as groups of people who have been silenced and still persevered. Yet, over and over the message in rap songs objectifies woman, promotes male chauvinism and heteronormativity. So maybe Jay-Z is gay. Maybe Kanye’s gay. Who knows? But it doesn’t matter. It’s about the message that hip-hop sends, who it reaches, and the ability that hip-hop has, as the institution it has become, to make a different, more accepting, more open society.
This thought reminds me of the film Tough Guise and the way that black males are encouraged and then pigeonholed as tough gangsters. A lot of that pressure comes from the chauvinist and violent lyrics featured in many of today’s popular songs. When hip hop first came out its lyrics were not about “fucking hoes” they were about inspiring social change (think “The Message”). What happened?
Some hip-hop does actually portray positive messages, but, unfortunately, most of it is not as popular or is far more underground than the music that gets played over the radio on stations like 97.1. My favorite example of a morally upstanding hip-hop song is that of “Deception” by Blackalicious.
“Don’t let money change you:
Now the moral of the story is that some go
Why would money make the inner vision crumble?
So if you’re blessed with the talent, utilize it to the fullest
Be true to yourself and stay humble.”
I can promise that this would never get played over the club speakers, though. Instead, we get to dance along with songs about date rape (Blame it on the al-al-al-al-alcohol). Sigh.
One of the things we should remember about hip-hop is that it’s complex, like many institutions,persons, cultures, and art. We should also remember that it is situated within the larger socio-political fabric that governs,at the moment, our society. One of the possibilities it offers is the creation of alternate realities, though this does not serve as an argument for the misogyny, heterosexism, homophobia, and mass consumption it promotes. If anything, I think hip-hop is queer.