ELLIOT:

I wanted to include pronouns, transphobia, and a successful trans artist in my portion and be able to talk about it within a few minutes. I chose Angel Haze to cover pronouns because they use the pronouns they/them/theirs and have not been respected across social media and news articles. I chose Cardi B to cover transphobia because of her comments and half-ass apologies. I chose Quay Dash to cover a successful trans artist because she’s a successful black trans woman artist and is the sort of representation people like her need.

I got the idea for my topic from the reading “Flipping the Gender Script” and just from me noticing the lack of trans/gender non-conforming people/etc representation in hip hop. D’Lo was talked about in the reading and he is a queer and trans male. In the reading it says “hip hop shaped D’Los sense of self” (181) and that sparked something in me. If hip hop had representation from all walks of life, imagine how many people could find it and feel comfortable embracing it. Not everyone needs to become successful in it, but to have that important representation and possibly give kids some sort of healthy escape would be successful enough for our society. If there is enough trans or gender non-conforming representation in hip hop then any hateful or problamtic comments made by other artists (like Cardi B) might become a thing of the past and we’ll get full-ass apologies instead with comments never happening again.

ALEX:

Hip hop is not a community that adapts to change. Having queer artits like Frank Ocean, Tyler the Creator and Lil Nas X show the stimga around homophobia. Another artist Young Thug does not believe in gender binary clothing; this led him to influence Lil Uzi Vert. Having rappers like Frank Ocean and Tyler the Creator open conversation about being queer allows other artists to feel come out. In the reading “Flipping the Gender Script: Gender and Sexuality in South Asian and Hip Hop America”, it focuses on conforming to hip hop and trying to fit in. For the artist’s above it is hard to hide their identity to the world. This limits their artistic abilities because they are hiding an important part of their lives.  

 “Those ignored or oppressed by hip hop remain committed to the culture,” in this quote I found it interesting that the LGBTQ community still remains apart of a culture that doesn’t accept them. Queers are forced to occupy a space in between hip hop and not be apart of the actual culture of hip hop. Society also plays an important part on how hip hop can be more accepting of the LGBTQ community. Artist back in the 90’s could not come out because society was not ready to accept social change. After gay marriages became legal, society was more open than before to accept these changes. Although it is still hard for the  LGBTQ community there is hope that they will be accepted in the hip hop culture.  

CIARA:

For my portion I touched on the history of the LGBT community in Hip Hop. It was a bit difficult to find information on LGBT artists from before the mid to late 90s. The largest name that I found and most frequently mentioned was the Deep Dickollective which we read about in class towards the beginning of the semester. In that reading they expressed how LGBT people have always been involved in Hip Hop and have always been an influence on the culture whether it was known or not. Because of where our society was in terms of acceptance and the AIDS epidemic (at its height during the mid 80s but still coincident with the rise of Hip Hop) there was a lot of stigma and danger around being LGBT especially if you’re publicly out which meant that if you wanted to participate most likely you had to be closeted. 

Our reading was “Flipping the Gender Script” and focused on Hip Hop in desi communities and a few specific desi DJs. D’lo and Bella are both desi artists within the LGBT community who found comfort in Hip Hop but understand that their identity sets them apart from the norm. Hip Hop has always been a genre that spoke to the oppressed and gave a voice to those who felt voiceless but the underlying connection was blackness. Being an LGBT minority can compound your oppressed status even further and so it seems natural to gravitate towards music you find relatable. However, at the same time there is a huge issue with toxic masculinity and homophobia within the Hip Hop community that labels LGBT folks as outsiders (ironic) and it can be very difficult to want to participate in a culture that devalues your existence. That’s why we need more representation and real accountability within the culture today to move towards a more accepting and positive Hip Hop community.

ARIELA:

For My portion in the “What’s Up In Hip Hop presentation”, I chose to focus on how queer female artists in the Industry are treated in comparison to queer male artists, who come out later in their carreers. I thought it was important to touch base on how gender plays a part when expressing sexuality within the hip hip culture. Because performing masculinity is such a key role in the Hip hop culture it seems that queer female artists that express themselves more masculinly get less of a backlash then queer men and on another hand queer female artists who present themselves more femininly are more easily accepted because being bisexual or lesbian is fetishized and viewed as sexy.

In my group’s presentation I also chose to focus on hip hop outside of America (specifically within the indian subcontinent to relate it to the “Flipping The Gender Script” reading). I speak on how the culture of “hip hop” is almost reinvented stylistically and artistically to adapt more of an indian culture instead of black culture. This is done because in India black culture is usually rejected or looked down on, but there any many desi artists who love hip hop so they find ways to reinvent it so that it may be accepted within their culture. Ways they do this is by making sure the messages in their music is positive, economical, political etc. They also do not try to fulfill stereotypes or come off as “thuggish” and they reject problematic images of black men promoted in commercial hip hop.

Presentation Link:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1FtymuMci_4lLZCqkzU6LC-uW7SFxb4hAGDvPijAQXWo/edit?usp=sharing

Articles/Readings Used:

https://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/37529/1/quay-dash-interview

https://www.loudandquiet.com/interview/quay-dash-repping-trans-hip-hop-without-being-defined-by- it

https://cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/hawksites.newpaltz.edu/dist/e/3531/files/2019/08/Tamar-Sharma_Flipping-the-Gender-Script.pdf

https://hiphopdx.com/news/id.35188/title.kanye-west-addresses-homophobia-in-unearthed-video

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/lil-nas-x-opens-up-praying-being-gay-was-a-phase-1244239