Lil Nas X mak history as first openly gay artist to w at CMAs - Los Angel Tim

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
• 30 BT GAY RAPPERS (LGBTQ+ HIP-HOP ARTISTS)
• RAPPERS WHO HAVE COME OUT AS GAY
• 21 BT GAY RAPPERS WHO EMBODY THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNY
• WHY GAY DRILL RAPPER CARTER THE BAND WANTS QUEER BLACK YOUTH TO ‘LIVE THEIR TTH’
• BLACK GAY UPLE VH1’S ‘LOVE & HIP HOP: HOLLYWOOD’ BREAKS NEW GROUND
• LIL NAS X MAK GRAMMY HISTORY AS THE FIRST OPENLY GAY RAPPER NOMATED TOP TEGORI
• WE ARE BLACK AND BRISH: GAY RAPPER MISTA STRANGE ‘NOT AAID’ TO RAP ABOUT SEXUALY AFTER G OUT
• LIL NAS X SAYS 'CHANGE IS HAPPENG' HIP-HOP: 'THERE'S GOG TO BE SO MANY GAY RAPPERS. THERE'S GOG TO BE MORE TRANS PEOPLE'

LIL NAS X MAK HISTORY AS FIRST OPENLY GAY BLACK ARTIST TO W AT CMA AWARDS

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.

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

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. 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. (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.

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

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.

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. 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.

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. 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.

RAPPERS WHO HAVE COME OUT AS GAY

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.

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. 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.

21 BT GAY RAPPERS WHO EMBODY THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNY

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.

WHY GAY DRILL RAPPER CARTER THE BAND WANTS QUEER BLACK YOUTH TO ‘LIVE THEIR TTH’

“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.

BLACK GAY UPLE VH1’S ‘LOVE & HIP HOP: HOLLYWOOD’ BREAKS NEW GROUND

The rapper also llaborated wh openly gay hip-hop artist iLoveMakonnen, provg that diversy and acceptance were at the foreont of his creative visn. 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. 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.

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. In Ocean's letter, which was origally meant to be clud the "Channel Orange" ler not, the rapper spoke about havg his first gay romance at the age of 19. 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).

Sheran has sce parted ways wh Drake, who helped him nab a Grammy nomatn, but he ma an even bigger impact on his own when he me out as gay on Twter 2017. By 2015, the rapper felt like people still didn't get the ht and took to Twter to air her grievanc followg an onslght of accatns claimg she was homophobic. The star knew she was gay sce her first year of school, but nied to her mother until she me out — to the support of her fay — when she was 18 years old.

LIL NAS X MAK GRAMMY HISTORY AS THE FIRST OPENLY GAY RAPPER NOMATED TOP TEGORI

"There's a lot of rappers out there, a lot of gay girls exprsg themselv; I'm not the first to say , I'm not the first to rap about , " she told The Guardian.

He admted to "BBC Breakfast" that he didn't feel like homosexualy was "accepted eher the untry [or] hip-hop muny, " but he hoped fans would "feel fortable" wh . 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).

WE ARE BLACK AND BRISH: GAY RAPPER MISTA STRANGE ‘NOT AAID’ TO RAP ABOUT SEXUALY AFTER G OUT

" 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.

LIL NAS X SAYS 'CHANGE IS HAPPENG' HIP-HOP: 'THERE'S GOG TO BE SO MANY GAY RAPPERS. THERE'S GOG TO BE MORE TRANS PEOPLE'

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. "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.

"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.