From Tyler, the Creator to Lil Nas X, hip-hop has never had so many stars who intify as gay or bisexual. Is this a blip or a turng pot?
Contents:
- LIL NAS X MAK HISTORY AS FIRST OPENLY GAY BLACK ARTIST TO W AT CMA AWARDS
- AMERI NEED A GAY, BLACK MAN TO TOP S UNTRY CHARTS. PROTECT LIL NAS X AT ALL STS
- LIL NAS X MAK GRAMMY HISTORY AS THE FIRST OPENLY GAY RAPPER NOMATED TOP TEGORI
- LIL NAS X BE FIRST OPENLY GAY BLACK ARTIST TO W AT THE CMA AWARDS
- HERE ARE GAY COUNTRY SGERS WHO STOOD OUT LOUD AND PROUD
- RAPPERS WHO HAVE COME OUT AS GAY
LIL NAS X MAK HISTORY AS FIRST OPENLY GAY BLACK ARTIST TO W AT CMA AWARDS
Lil Nas X beme the first openly gay black mician to w at the Country Mic Assn. Awards for his h "Old Town Road." * black gay country rapper *
(Matt Wkelmeyer / Getty Imag) Lil Nas X ma history Wednday night at the 53rd CMA Awards when he beme the first openly gay black mician to take home a w om the Country Mic h “Old Town Road, ” a llaboratn wh veteran untry sger Billy Ray Cys, was named the mil event of the year. 14, 2019An earlier versn of this article rrectly stated that Lil Nas X was the first openly gay artist to w a CMA Award. Country sgers Shane McAnally and Brandy Clark, both of whom are whe and openly gay, shared the 2014 song of the year CMA Award wh Kacey Mgrav for “Follow Your Arrow.
Although other popular mic genr also rerce misogyny, rape culture, vlence, dg age and homophobia, the populary and -optg of hip-hop allows to be the spegoat for societal hip-hop is viewed as "black mic, " this narrative not only disurag black kids like me om branchg out but also puts a posn of sufferg a siar fate to Jordan Davis, 17, and most recently Elijah Al-Am, 17, who were both young boys of lor killed for listeng to rap Davis, murred 2014, was shot three tim his r by 45-year-old whe Michael Dunn who was annoyed by his "thug" mic.
More:Lil Nas X on backlash after g out as gay: 'Oh, I'm already gettg 'A uple of days ago, on the 4th of July, 27-year-old Michael Pl Adams sl Elijah Al-Am's throat statg that "anyone who listens to rap mic is a threat to the whole muny. "Lil Nas X, the gay, 20-year-old, black, wboy-hat-wearg rappg rock star wh the hottt song the world, is important bee he's changg that narrative. Outsi of his mic, Young Thug is a rpected hip-hop artist known for his appreciatn (or appropriatn) of queer culture, spe the ia that hip-hop and the black muny uniquely have a homophobia problem.
AMERI NEED A GAY, BLACK MAN TO TOP S UNTRY CHARTS. PROTECT LIL NAS X AT ALL STS
Lil Nas X spurred dozens of thk piec, broke Billboard chart rerds, me out as gay and earned six Grammy nomatns. What did you do this year? * black gay country rapper *
Actual black openly gay artists, specifilly succsful black cis-men, like Frank Ocean and Tyler the Creator, and now Lil Nas X, have seen the creasg support for their sexualy wh the black mic muny, however the backlash and vlence still exist. Also:After teasg pani llaboratn, Lil Nas X and Gordon Ramsay get okgThe heterosexist and homophobic ments that he's receivg should give an ia of the everyday vlence that LGBTQ+ people experience om people fightg to mata a heteronormative culture om which they benef. Award, makg him the first openly gay black male to do “Old Town Road” — which spent much of the year as the No.
” However, the album wasn’t regnized the rap genre, nor was “Old Town Road” nomated untry (Hill’s sgl also sred nomatns the rap sung and pop duo/group tegori) the time most of heard “Old Town Road, ” teenagers on the vio-sharg app TikTok had already been obssg over the tune, which fed together lo-fi trap and banjos lifted om a Ne Inch Nails sample, for as the rerd went om viral meme to cultural phenomenon — eclipsg a chart rerd that Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men set over two s ago — Hill was often dismissed as a novelty act: too rap to be untry, too untry to be nsired real Billboard ially cid to bump the rerd om the untry charts this sprg due to “not embracg enough elements of today’s untry mic s current versn, ” “Old Town Road” beme a lightng rod an ongog nversatn about untry mic’s relatnship wh black the unlikely foc of a raft of thk piec dissectg race, genre and thenticy, Hill’s cisn to e out as gay while “Old Town Road” ro the top of the charts was all the more powerful.
LIL NAS X MAK GRAMMY HISTORY AS THE FIRST OPENLY GAY RAPPER NOMATED TOP TEGORI
* black gay country rapper *
Seemgly overnight, Hill beme the biggt gay pop star the world and did so the orb of hip-hop and untry, genr that have historilly snubbed queer artists. Although he’s not the first queer artist to pete the major tegori at the Grammys (Sam Smh was the first openly gay artist to w rerd of the year 2015), Hill is the first gay rapper to be nomated. ILoveMakonneniLoveMakonnen follows one person on Instagram -- jt 12 ls than Kanye Shropshire via Getty ImagThe Atlanta native who embolned to thk clubbg on “Tuday” was acceptable 2014 performed a bolr act this January when he announced that he was gay.
Given the hip-hop muny’s reputatn of homophobia, which is particularly geared towards gay men, iLoveMakkonen’s cisn to e out to the public was mendably unapologetic. Followg the the mass shootg at Pulse nightclub, Ocean took Tumblr to share his experienc wh homophobia followg the horrific attack which targeted the LGBTQ muny last June.
Syd the KidSyd the Kid was formerly a member of hip-hop group Odd Grimwa via Getty ImagThe only thg better than an artist beg openly gay is listeng to them croon about their same-sex attractns their mic. “I do regnize myself as a bisexual male & do & have always openly supported the gay muny & will keep dog so 2017.
LIL NAS X BE FIRST OPENLY GAY BLACK ARTIST TO W AT THE CMA AWARDS
There’s no nyg Lil Nas X’s impact on rap and pop mic as an out gay Black man, startg wh the viral release of “Old Town Road” at the end of 2018, then remixed wh Billy Ray Cys 2019. We saw Lil Nas X stroy homophob on social media throughout all of 2021. ”Overnight, the 20-year-old Atlanta native — born Montero Lamar Hill — beme the biggt gay pop star the world.
”“It’s hard to be out genr where beg gay, or exprsg your sexualy, is owned upon, ” add platum rapper and sger iLoveMakonnen, born Makonnen Sheran, who rose to fame as a protégé of Drake and me out as gay 2017.
”Before the viral sensatn of “Old Town Road” turned Hill to a pop star and gay in, hip-hop was already reachg a turng pot s clivy, as more young black men explorg sexualy and terrogatg masculy their work are gettg mastream attentn. ) Kev Abstract, founr of hip-hop llective Brockhampton, me out as gay 2016.
HERE ARE GAY COUNTRY SGERS WHO STOOD OUT LOUD AND PROUD
Rap culture has always been powered by unbridled machismo, and one would be hard prsed to not fd a gay slur embedd the lyrics of any of the genre’s most famo archects. In fact, an entire lexin dited to potg out disfort wh gay men has permeated rap lyrics.
RAPPERS WHO HAVE COME OUT AS GAY
Slang such as “s” and “No homo” and “Pse” that e queerns as a punchle have been thrown around sually for as the old guard has been replaced wh a younger generatn unncerned wh rigid labels and unbothered by genre, today’s rap and R&B scene isn’t as exclively heteronormative as once was.