Lil Nas X tried to expla why he me out as gay. Then Kev Hart terpted him | CNN

Contents:

• LIL NAS X TRIED TO EXPLA WHY HE ME OUT AS GAY. THEN KEV HART TERPTED HIM
• 'OLD TOWN ROAD' RAPPER LIL NAS X APPEARS TO E OUT AS GAY
• 30 BT GAY RAPPERS (LGBTQ+ HIP-HOP ARTISTS)
• RAPPERS WHO HAVE COME OUT AS GAY
• LIL NAS X JOK AND SAYS HE IS NO LONGER GAY AFTER LOSG AT GRAMMYS
• AMERI NEED A GAY, BLACK MAN TO TOP S UNTRY CHARTS. PROTECT LIL NAS X AT ALL STS
• LIL NAS X'S SONG ABOUT GAY SEX EARNS 3 GRAMMY NOMATNS
• LIL NAS X OPENED UP ABOUT THE MICROAGGRSNS HE EXPERIENCED BEFORE COMG OUT AS GAY AND THE PRSURE HE’S FACED SCE
• LIL NAS X AND JACK HARLOW GO TO ‘GAY PRISON’ FOR HOT, PK ‘INDTRY BABY’ VIO
• THE SUBVERSIVE JOY OF LIL NAS X’S GAY POP STARDOM
• LIL NAS X ANNOUNCED HE IS GAY ON TWTER TO END PRI MONTH

LIL NAS X TRIED TO EXPLA WHY HE ME OUT AS GAY. THEN KEV HART TERPTED HIM

”“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.

'OLD TOWN ROAD' RAPPER LIL NAS X APPEARS TO E OUT AS GAY

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.

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. “We know folks our muny have always been religly nservative, and beg gay is still seen as taboo, ” said Ebro Darn, the global edorial head of hip-hop and R&B for Apple Mic and host of “Ebro the Morng” on New York’s Hot 97 rad statn.

”Over the past uple of years, Ocean’s former Odd Future llaborator, Tyler, the Creator, has transned om a bratty provotr who hurled gay slurs wh reckls abandon to a thoughtful nfsnalist, one who surprisgly and rather matter-of-factly raps about his own attractn to men. A diverse array of talents such as Brockhampton ontman Kev Abstract, Steve Lacy (also formerly affiliated wh Odd Future) and Skype Williams have all prented works this year that are eely crafted through a black queer his “Arizona Baby” album, -produced by Jack Antonoff (Taylor Swift), Abstract reflects on growg up gay and Corp Christi at the turn of the lennium. 1 song Ameri and jt eclipsed a chart rerd that Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men set 23 years ago wh “One Sweet Day, ” a song spired by the AIDS crisis and the tragic peril brought to so many black gay men this untry.

30 BT GAY RAPPERS (LGBTQ+ HIP-HOP ARTISTS)

Walter Thompson Innovatn Group back 2016 found that only 48% of 13-20 year-olds intified as exclively heterosexual, pared to 65% of the generatn before is an dience that shgs when Tyler, the Creator do an about-face the way he did on 2017’s stellar “Flower Boy” where he sually rapped about beg attracted to men after years of g gay slurs — a topic he still ref to addrs outsi of the mic (he cled to be terviewed for this piece). “Tth is, sce a youth kid, thought was a phase / thought ’d be like the phrase; ‘poof, ’ gone / But, ’s still go’ on, ” he that’s not to say the rt of the mic dtry is that much further mic had lacked an openly gay superstar before Adam Lambert and Sam Smh ma history wh their chart buts and Grammy victori, rpectively.

And spe their stat as legendary rock hmakers and gay ins, there was much hand-wrgg over how bpics for Queen and Elton John would handle the queerns of s evolutn hip-hop is signifint, albe more gradual and ls pronounced than the larger shift pop culture over reprentatns of black male was Fox’s hip-hop drama “Empire, ” which ma a powerful statement by makg one of s leads a gay black R&B sger (for a time, the rerds released by the character — played by Jsie Smollett — were the only mic by an out gay black man gettg mastream rad play.

)“Moonlight, ” a g of age tale about a gay black boy, won bt picture at the Amy Awards 2017 and for the first time queer people of lor outnumbered their whe unterparts on TV, acrdg to GLAAD’s annual TV diversy report.

RAPPERS WHO HAVE COME OUT AS GAY

Seri such as “Queen Sugar, ” “Dear Whe People” and “This Is Us” feature storyl abound nuanced black LGBTQ characters; meanwhile, Ryan Murphy’s “Pose, ” which has exposed the world to a part of black queer culture that has spired pop divas for s, is up for two Emmys, cludg one for Billy Porter, the first openly gay black man to receive a lead actor nod.

” And Emem has yet to retire his age of “faggot” the 18 years sce he famoly performed wh Elton John at the Grammys as a PR-orchtrated act of good will agast his vicly homophobic lyrics. A wave of black queer rap artists, cludg Le1f, Zebra Katz, Cak Da Killa, Mykki Blan and Hoe of LaDosha, broke out of New York at the start of the wh mic and visuals that upend the very same genr nstcts that have been weaponized agast gay men for the last century by pairg hyper-feme athetics — high fashn looks, weave, manicured fgertips — wh braggadocs’ rhym. ”Jt a few weeks ago, New Orleans rapper Young KSB went viral wh a glorly rnchy o to anilg that’s as sexually explic as anythg domatg Spotify playlists — but ’s impossible to image that viralns transng to the as Hill was celebrated for breakg rap’s gay glass ceilg, the jok about his sex life also ma to the news verage.

LIL NAS X JOK AND SAYS HE IS NO LONGER GAY AFTER LOSG AT GRAMMYS

When asked about Hill’s g out, Young Thug — a rapper who jumped on an “Old Town Road” remix and has toyed wh genr norms by drsg uture gowns — said that Hill “probably shouldn’t have told the world” he was gay.

He don't shy away om beg open his mic about his sexualy and sex life, which isn't unmon for straight artists to do hip hop mic, but not necsarily for a gay artist.

There has been a well-known stigma towards homosexualy hip-hop which has led to some artists’ reers beg tarnished by mors that they had associatns wh people of the same sex. She also discsed the prevalence of vlence agast butch-prentg gay women, highlightg the murr of several lbians a regn of Chile that has bee notor for s homophobic hate crim. Although there’s a long way to go before the discrimatn agast LGBTQ+ artists be a thg of the past, the rise of gay artists is a sign that the hip-hop dtry has started to break away om the notns.

AMERI NEED A GAY, BLACK MAN TO TOP S UNTRY CHARTS. PROTECT LIL NAS X AT ALL STS

We saw Snoop Dogg's famo 2013 terview wh The Guardian, when the "G and Juice" rapper claimed, "[Homosexualy is] acceptable the sgg world, but the rap world I don't know if will ever be acceptable bee rap is so mascule.

LIL NAS X'S SONG ABOUT GAY SEX EARNS 3 GRAMMY NOMATNS

Nohels, the Odd Future DJ wasn't exactly accepted to the gay muny, particularly nsirg Odd Future's ntroversial history (Tyler the Creator the word "f****t" 200 tim on "Gobl" alone). NBC News noted his mic serv as a much-need opposn to a hip-hop culture where homophobic lyrics have tradnally been the norm (50 cent, famed for g the "f" word his songs, has sce apologized for past homophobia, as has Emem).

" She also prevly told The New York Tim that she don't re whether people thk she's gay, but was important for her to mata a modicum of mystery around her personal life. In 2012, he revealed he is gay and once claimed to be the first rapper to e out as such, though this is disputable (Frank Ocean's g out, for stance, cid wh Y-Love's). " He highlighted the signifince of livg his tth, revealg he spent years worryg about the potential effects g out might have on his public reputatn, before ultimately ncedg that his personal happs — and the value of reprentatn as a Black gay rapper — eclipsed a need for acceptance wh the hip-hop muny.

" She also discsed the prevalence of vlence agast butch-prentg gay women, highlightg the murr of a number of lbians a regn of Chile that has bee notor for s homophobic hate crim. "I never knew where I stood [ the gay scene] until I looked around and realized that not only did a certa group of people fd me attractive, but the feelg was mutual, and that was the bear muny, " he revealed. He even faked a pregnancy to liver his latt jt Lil Lil Nas has bee one of the most high profile and succsful openly gay rappers, there are many other Black LGBTQ+ rappers, some of whom have spired Lil Nas rappers are all very different and, like Lil Nas, should not be seen purely as LGBTQ+ rappers.

LIL NAS X OPENED UP ABOUT THE MICROAGGRSNS HE EXPERIENCED BEFORE COMG OUT AS GAY AND THE PRSURE HE’S FACED SCE

Whilst LGBTQ+ rappers have historilly been subject to homophobic abe wh certa hip-hop muni, they have been central to the velopment of the 'bounce' movement, wh Freedia beg one of the most proment artists this sub-genre.

ma anti-LGBTQ ments, which clud misrmatn about HIV, that were wily cricized as homophobic by civil rights groups and var Williams/WireImage/Getty ImagLil Nas X attends attends an event on Oct. 20, 2021, nearly a month of mountg cricism, DaBaby apologized Augt durg a meetg wh GLAAD and Black HIV advot om var journalist Davey D told ABC News that "hip-hop mirrors society, " and large segments of Amerin society, masculy is "narrowly fed" wh elements of "roughns and toughns, " and "to large segments of the populatn, that don't clu beg gay.

"Over the past , the rapper beme a proment voice for LGBTQ reprentatn hip-hop after he rved a place for himself the unrground rapper, who started his reer as an openly gay artist about a ago New York Cy, said that he is often asked to weigh on the topic of homophobia wh hip-hop and relled his appearance 2014 on the inic hip-hop statn Hot 97 as a gut on "Ebro the Morng. "It was basilly like, if you're gay and you go to llege, and then you e back home for the holidays, and you have to talk to like your uncle, who don't know any gay people about like, beg gay, " he said, scribg the Fury/Getty Imag, FILEDaBaby performs at Hard Rock Stadium on July 25, 2021, Miami Garns, Granrson, host of ABC News’ “Life Out Loud, ” told ABC News that DaBaby's ments were an example of the "toxic masculy" prent wh the genre of hip-hop that often plays to how artists prent themselv through their public image and their mic.

LIL NAS X AND JACK HARLOW GO TO ‘GAY PRISON’ FOR HOT, PK ‘INDTRY BABY’ VIO

"Bee as we know, what that do is create a suatn that mak seem as if misogyny, homophobia and transphobia are acceptable to not jt hip-hop mic, but the culture of hip-hop.

"Asked about the backlash agast DaBaby, Cak said that though havg nversatns about homophobia wh hip-hop is important, he feels that the "more meangful nversatn" is to "brg to the hoe.

THE SUBVERSIVE JOY OF LIL NAS X’S GAY POP STARDOM

Courty Cak da KillaRashard Bradshaw, known as Cak da Killa, is pictured as a child an undated fay a child growg up the late 1990s New Jersey, Cak said that nversatns about gay rights were missg om the mastream dialogue, and wasn’t until he watched a documentary that examed the Stonewall uprisg that he was able to fd the language that bt scrib his documentary was about the 1969 police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a popular bar for the gay muny the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York, which sparked a seri of rts that led to the rise of a gay rights movement. "The rapper said that havg a support system of iends and fay is important, "and beg gay and beg Black, we have that down pat, bee we're outliers to the world a lot of the time.

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. 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.

LIL NAS X ANNOUNCED HE IS GAY ON TWTER TO END PRI MONTH

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. But the fact that a rap-aligned gay Black artist — let alone one who’s also such a untry fan that he vered Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” — uld pull this off atop the charts was startlg.