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?
Contents:
- LIL NAS X MAK GRAMMY HISTORY AS THE FIRST OPENLY GAY RAPPER NOMATED TOP TEGORI
- 30 BT GAY RAPPERS (LGBTQ+ HIP-HOP ARTISTS)
- HERE ARE HIP-HOP ARTISTS WHO EMBRACE BEG GAY, LBIAN OR BISEXUAL
- CHRISTIAN HIP-HOP’S FIRST OPENLY GAY RAPPER IS DONE EVANGELIZG
- WHO IS THE FIRST OPENLY GAY RAPPER?
- TONY WILLRICH, HIP-HOP'S 1ST OPENLY GAY 'CRIP GANG' RAPPER, GO VIRAL WH NEW SONG
- RAPPERS WHO HAVE COME OUT AS GAY
- GAY HIP HOP: IS THE CULTURE READY TO PUBLICLY EMBRACE HOMOSEXUALY?
- MEET NIñA DZ, MEXI’S FIRST OPENLY GAY FEMALE HIP-HOP ARTIST
LIL NAS X MAK GRAMMY HISTORY AS THE FIRST OPENLY GAY RAPPER NOMATED TOP TEGORI
* first openly gay hip hop artist *
However, there are more and more high profile hip hop artists who are out and are well known to the public today than ever: gay Frank Ocean and bisexual Fergie (also lead volist for the Black Eyed Peas) sprg to md. Gay Shorty Roc is nsired a pneer of the hip hop scene sce he first appeared New York Cy at that time.
He scrib himself as an out and proud gay entertaer and actively enurag other gay hip hop artists to e out of the closet. 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.
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.
30 BT GAY RAPPERS (LGBTQ+ HIP-HOP ARTISTS)
Are you wonrg if there are famo gay rappers? If so, we have created a list of the top 30 bt gay rappers around the world. Check this out! * first openly gay hip hop artist *
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.
In 2012, his track “Wut” tapulted him to mastream attentn, leadg many to place him the “gay rapper” tegory. Her mil output tackl everythg om relig fanaticism to eatg disorrs, homophobia, and even sexual she intifi as pansexual, she has also ma clear that her orientatn don’t fe who she is as a mician.
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.
HERE ARE HIP-HOP ARTISTS WHO EMBRACE BEG GAY, LBIAN OR BISEXUAL
Check out the many hip-hop artists who are out and proud as gay, lbian or bisexual. * first openly gay hip hop artist *
To celebrate the ntributns the artists have ma to the hip-hop scene, here are the top 30 gay rappers. While his h song “Old Town Road” was at the top of the Billboard Top 100 Chart for a rerd-breakg 19 weeks, Lil Nas X ma the brave cisn to e out as a gay rapper.
Mista Strange, a drill rapper om Bra, has shared his experience of beg a publicly gay rapper and how often leads to unrtimatn. In one of his tracks, he touch upon this subject wh the lyrics, “Won’t let me through ‘e I’m back like Santan, Won’t let me through ‘e I’m gay like Schofield. As a gay Lat female rerdg artist, Snow Tha Product acknowledg that her journey hasn’t been smooth, but she emphasiz that honty is ccial.
CHRISTIAN HIP-HOP’S FIRST OPENLY GAY RAPPER IS DONE EVANGELIZG
This tweet, which was both ndid and wty, required a lot of urage to liver, particularly 2017 when beg a gay rapper was still a ntroversial topic the mic dtry. He distguish himself his mic by beg ndid about his sexualy and sex life, which is not unmon for heterosexual hip-hop artists but is not typil for gay artists.
However, tim have changed, and the artists would face backlash if they exprsed homophobic sentiments today, unlike 1996.
WHO IS THE FIRST OPENLY GAY RAPPER?
When he revealed his sexualy 2012, the hip-hop artist received the typil negative rpons mon among gay rappers. Da Brat ced the pervasive homophobia of the ’90s for her cisn not to e out earlier and said that people like Ellen faced signifint backlash for beg openly gay.
TONY WILLRICH, HIP-HOP'S 1ST OPENLY GAY 'CRIP GANG' RAPPER, GO VIRAL WH NEW SONG
But Y-Love soon found disrdance between his Hasidic fah and his sexualy after revealg he was gay 2012. However, he ultimately accepted that his happs and the value of the 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 several lbians a regn of Chile that has bee notor for s homophobic hate crim. “Beg ‘butch’ means wearg your sexualy on your sleeve, which, an age still explibly marred by homophobia, n have grave nsequenc all over the world, ” she stated. In April 2021, Kehlani publicly me out as gay through a TikTok vio, which she joyfully exclaimed, “I am gay, gay, gay.
RAPPERS WHO HAVE COME OUT AS GAY
Grammy-wng producer and DJ Kaytranada publicly me out as gay 2016 after releasg his highly acclaimed but album 99. At first, he told his mother and brother that he was bisexual, but later on, he admted that he was gay.
He don’t label himself as straight or gay, statg that “’s jt me, ” but acknowledg that he is gay. Dpe facg his fair share of homophobia, Lil Peep was a fearls advote for the LGBTQ+ muny on social media.
The rapper also llaborated wh openly gay hip-hop artist iLoveMakonnen, provg that diversy and acceptance were at the foreont of his creative visn. This 18-year-old risg star ma wav as the first openly gay rapper to take part the BET Hip-hop Awards Cypher. 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.
GAY HIP HOP: IS THE CULTURE READY TO PUBLICLY EMBRACE HOMOSEXUALY?
“I knew what I was dog, but to actually look the mirror, or to even say ‘I’m gay, ’ that was a whole thg. Now, after celebratg his fifth Pri Month sce g out, he’s reflectg on his legacy as the “first openly gay Christian rapper.
So stead of a formal announcement, Givens “officially me out” two years later, a reply to a tweet that directly asked if he was gay. “Beg queer a very nservative, homophobic, transphobic, very relig environment and you pop out like that, will fely separate the wheat om the tar as far as who’s wh you, ” he said. “[My] beg addicted to meth, that had a direct rrelatn wh the epimic of meth ers the gay muny, and that was s own other nuance that I didn’t get to really flh out my artwork bee I didn’t want to tell all the tails.
Cshun (born Jason Herndon 1977) is an Amerin rapper, often erroneoly referred to as the first openly gay hip-hop artist to be signed to a major rerd label the Uned Stat…. Cys Goodman is the first gay ma character and the first character to have uttered the phrase “I’m gay” on Disney Channel. As the first major, openly gay character created by Marvel Comics, Northstar generated signifint publicy the mastream prs and Alpha Flight #106 sold out a week, spe the fact that the seri was not a very popular tle.
MEET NIñA DZ, MEXI’S FIRST OPENLY GAY FEMALE HIP-HOP ARTIST
Wily hailed as the first openly gay untry sger (sorry Ty Herndon, you jt missed ), Steve Grand is as much of a YouTube sensatn as he is a sger. Although gangsta rappers have foretold prison stori about their acquatanc havg relatnships wh members of the same sex, there has never been a rapper associated wh the Crip gang to openly adm that they were gay until recently.
Tony Willrich, a new rapper om Texas, spoke about beg an openly gay crip rapper durg an terview durg the Sprg. We saw when hip-hop heavyweight Emem peppered "Rap God" wh anti-gay slurs, spe claimg he had no problem wh homosexualy. 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.
Though the hip-hop muny is jt begng to accept queerns, the openly gay rappers are bravely pavg the way. Odd Future has long been cricized for s homophobic lyrics, so much so that the band was booted om Atralia's massive Big Day Out ftival 2011, acrdg to Billboard.