For my portion of the presentation I wanted to focus on coming out. While I personally do not feel as though people should ever feel like they have to come out because well, like whoever you want, I wanted to take an inside look at artists who have. I have always seen hip hop as a way for people to express themselves, from their emotions to their life experiences. I chose to talk about both Frank Ocean and Lil Nas X because they both used their music to come out. Both of them are similar in the sense that they used social media, Frank using Tumblr and Nas using Twitter; it is interesting to see how artists use popular social media in addition to their music to talk about their sexual orientation. Syd, also known as Syd tha Kyd, came out using her music as well. In an interview, she said that she wanted to come out because she never had anyone she looked up to within music encourage her to be herself and she wants that for other people. I do feel like when artists come out, they gain this label that automatically gets attached to them and their music. A queer artist cannot just make music without others labeling them as queer musicians. It makes me question, is it necessary for hip hop artists to come out using their music to encourage their fans to be proud of who they are. One thing I appreciate, however, is when hip hop artists come out because they are representing the LGBTQ+ in a genre where representation is highly needed. Fans have grown a high appreciation for artists like Frank, Nas, and Syd because they are themselves and unapologetically. “I decided to do it because I wish I had someone like that [an openly gay female artist] while I was coming up. People write on my Tumblr just thanking me for making the video, saying that I really inspire them, and they want to be like me” (Syd Tha Kyd). Me personally, I love that these artists are not afraid to be themselves and they give me artists I can proudly listen to.
Young Ma is a hip hop artists who allows her originality and sexualism to create the image of her just being herself and making her music. Lots of individuals question her because of the way that she dresses, acts, and raps/speaks. These individuals often try to put a label on her queerness by making statements saying she is trying to be a man. Young MA has expressed how she doesn’t categorize herself at all and that she is just trying to express herself not only through her music by everywhere else she goes as well. Although she makes it clear that she wants to be herself, she also wants to be known for her music and the message it tells. Just as the author said in “Flipping the Gender Script”, “She feels like she is ‘constantly proving’ herself, and although she tries not to ‘waste that energy’ and instead focus on playing, it sometimes feels like having a ‘stack of cards against you”. This relates to how all Young MA wants to do is express herself by making music but the aspects of her identity are always brought into the conversation. On the other hand, because of Young MA’s masculine demeanor, she does not have to worry about being taken seriously as other female rappers do in today’s world. The author of “The Normative Boundaries of Filipinoness” speaks about this concept as well, “ wanting to avoid being seen as merely eye candy but also wanting to be known as a DJ who is good”.
My fellow bhaddies have been talking about the LGBTQ+ community in hip hop, but I’m going to switch it up a little and talk about cancel culture. Cancel culture relates to the LGBTQ community, because what do we do as consumers when our favorite rapper says something openly homophobic. Is it appropriate to shame them? Do we forgive them if they apologize, or what if they don’t? To cancel something literally means to “destroy the force, effectively, or validity of”. I have seen all around me how effective or non effective it can be. Kanye was “cancelled” for his support of Tr*mp, but he has continue to thrive on attention from his new sunday services and has even gained attention for his problematic views and comments. Can we cancel someone who is no longer with us? (In my opinion yes, as the actions we take on this planet live on after we die) XXXTENTACION was openly homophobic and beat up a cell mate in prison for looking at him in a way he thought was gay. X was proud of this and bragged about it in interviews. He also had a ex girlfriend come out as a survivor of his abuse. When he passed his fans said to focus on the good he was doing, but as a feminist, I can not do that. I think that it is a feminist notion to not stand for the success of abusers and homophobes, but I have learned in this class that hip hop feminism sometimes works in different ways. We can denounce a popular artist for problematic lyrics while still dancing in a club to their song. Hip hop feminism gives room for us to enjoy hip hop while still calling out its problematic aspects.
I felt like for my portion of the presentation it was important to speak upon anti queer lyrics in Hip Hop and artists who actually support the LGBTQ community. I feel like people often times over look specific lyrics in a song and chose to ignore homophobic slurs just because of the love they have for an artist or their music. Most artists make these comments and then when they get backlash for it they claim “it wasn’t intended to hurt anyone.” This just makes the point that it is important to call these artists out because if we don’t they will not realize what they are doing by using their word choice in their songs. I find it very interesting how other artists do not come forward to defend the LGBTQ community when these comments are made. I also thought it was important to mention artists like Bad Bunny. In the latinx community it is very rare for artist to be openly queer. Machismo is such a prominent belief in the latinx community and this intimidates artists. However Bad Bunny goes completely against gender norms with his style and music. He is a spanish trap artist who paints his nails, dyes his hair, and has no problem expressing his sexuality. He gives queer children and people in general in the latinx community a safe space. Just like rappers in hip hop, spanish trap artist are usually very masculine and patricarchal men. The fact that Bad Bunny has challenged that perception from the beginning of his career is extremely courageous. He did not worry about not being able to succeed if he was open about queerness. He was this was from the start and still came up in the music industry. If anything he was an aspiration to so many people.
