I am an old school man. I remember when rap music first came out. I remember the Sugar Hill Gang, the first female rap group called Sequence, and I definitely remmber when Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five came out with the first socially conscious rap song called The Message.
Since that time, I have tuned out and with good reason. Rap music and the genre that it helped to spawn, hip-hop, has done some incredible things lyrically but rap stars give me a huge pause.
Like the one called Cam'ron.
I don't know Cam'ron and I have never heard of his music, but he seems to have started something ugly regarding lgbts. It's gotten so extreme that a Fox News contributor (of all people) has stepped in to
speak against it:
Fox News political contributor Dr. Marc Lamont Hill wants to put an end to the pop culture catchphrase "no homo."
"No homo" was originated by rap star Cam'ron, who had an affinity for wearing anything pink but didn't want it to be perceived as gay.
Since being made popular by Cam'ron and his Dipset hip-hop crew, the expression has evolved into a ubiquitous slang term used to chase any phrase, action or idea that could be perceived as gay. Apparently, the article says, anything that is perceived as gay is perceived as weak.
Now I know some people are going to start bashing, but let's not as of yet. Rock music has a stereotype of being vulgar and country music has a stereotype of being to the political right of Genghis Khan
(remember what happened to the Dixie Chicks).Personally, I think this "No Homo" nonsense hits on something about the black community that very few people want to realize.
We hear that the black community opposes homosexuality because of religious beliefs.
That's a dodge.
There are too many folks in the black community who break other Biblical commandments without pause. There is too much sex before marriage, too many illegitimate births, and too many off-the-shoulder dresses, fake hair, and fake nails at black gospel awards shows for so-called sanctified people to start pointing fingers at lgbts.
There are also too many gays and lesbians in the church and the pulpit for homosexuality to be considered the so-called sin of the ages. Everyone knows it but as long as no one "names it," no one has to "claim it."
Some in the black community feel that homosexuality is a threat because it threatens the gender roles that many in the black community have staked out for our men and women.
You know what I'm talking about. The strong brother who is supposed "to help the sista out." Or the hot and sexy black woman who "is fixing her hair to go out and scope at the club for a man."
This perceived idea is ridiculous. It reduces the black man and woman to plastic objects or commodities. Lgbts in the black community are considered a threat because by our very existence we question these ridiculous roles. We make some in the black community question themselves. And apparently they don't like what they see.
But this isn't our fault.
And to a measure, it's not the fault of hip-hop. By it's stark directness, hip-hop is merely bringing that problem to the forefront.
So maybe in talking about how the black community perceives homosexuality, we have been moving in the wrong direction. I don't know.
But I do know that there is a lot to be discussed regarding gender roles and sexual orientation in the black community if only someone would have the guts to initiate the conversation.
