Is Hip-Hop Getting More Pro-Gay?
I’m not entirely convinced that rappers are suddenly getting all pro gay: there are plenty of them who would still get all nervous nellie at an all-boy bar or club. At the same time, this writer is correct to point out all the recent evidence in the hip-hop world of pro-gayness, or at least a live-and-let-live attitude. This doesn’t have to do just with evolving sexual attitudes but with the fact that hip-hop has so completely saturated the culture (the dominant pop musical mode in the world right now is not hip-hop but hip-pop) that it no longer can top the charts in any pure, hardcore form: people be wanting a funkier, less pummeling beat than they did back in the day. Of course, the most significant reason sexual attitudes are softening is money: the more you attack LGBT folks, the less chance that they’ll pay $1.29 to download your latest tune. Plus, LGBT-ers tend to be loyal fans for the long run. As hardcore New Yorker rapper Fat Joe, who is straight, says of Lady Gaga: “I don’t know if she’s gay but she’s running with that gay shit for real. And she is winning!â€
