Earlier this July, Grammy-nominated artist Janelle Monáe sent out a tweet storm, calling for the canceling of Hip Hop. As a man of color and a student of the game, to live without Hip Hop is to live without water, food, or shelter. However, Monáe’s reasoning is simple, among the Hip-Hop community, women and transgenders are verbally and physically abused. With hate speech that berates women in every line, in combination with the homophobic misogynistic atmosphere of the rap game, should we be canceling Hip-Hop?
Modern rap music's problem is that few of the chart-topping songs have language that we would consider “uplifting” about women, and the relationship with the LGBTQ community is rocky at best. Throughout the last three decades, these two demographics have been berated, unappreciated, and misrepresented. On July 3rd, a bomb went off in the industry courtesy of Janelle Monáe on that very subject. In a series of tweets, she calls for Hip-Hop to readjust its hateful speech towards women and trans. Monáe speaks on the clout chasing environment in rap that allows black women to be viewed as inferior or promiscuous. This derogatory vernacular is not limited to women, but they do have more “acceptance” than black members of the LGBTQ community.
The black LGBTQ community is in need of Hip-Hop‘s help. Countless black trans women are killed in this country. Now more than ever is the need for inclusive representation in Hip-Hop. Is this possible with its roots in hyper-masculinity? To understand the challenges ahead, we have to take a brief look at the history of the rap game.
In the 90s, rap was at a point in its culture where being “hard” or “street” was the only thing that mattered. Rappers didn’t smile, didn’t care about your feelings, and only wanted wealth and women. This was a breeding ground for hyper-masculinity. During this time, there were also many social issues involving the mistreatment of black people, such as the LA Riots that were sparked after the Rodney King beating. Black men were searching for an outlet for their rage. Gangster Rap gave them that and we have never looked back. The mainstream media has shoved this image of ourselves down our throat for years, it even made a young Tupac Shakur switch up his message for the progress of black people to want to harm and hate another black person. Snoop Dogg, has even spoken on the subject back in 2013 in a Larry King Interview. When asked about openly gay rappers, the world-renowned artist said, "rapping is a little bit different because it comes from a culture where that's not accepted, but as time moves on, everybody accepts everybody." With this being the branch current rap music came from, is there a way forward? Yes, and it’s through inclusivity.
With rapper Lil Nas X opening up about being a gay rapper, the dialogue on the topic has shifted. He became #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 April 13th of last year with his hit song Old Town Road. At the peak of his popularity, Nas X decided he wanted to live life his way. During his coming-out interview on BBC, he spoke on the reasoning behind him doing so."It's something I was just considering just never doing ever. Just like taking it to the grave or something, but it was like I don't want to just live my entire life." He goes on to say, "I feel like I'm opening doors for more people," referring to more gay male rappers. It's safe to say when there are talented people releasing works of art that are meaningful and fulfill our need for new and original content, hip hop can control the narrative on its relationship with women and the LBGTQ community. We as the Hip-Hop community have to be all-inclusive. There is no more room in this world for hateful rhetoric. We can be the voice of change. We are the voice of change.
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