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| Talib Kweli says a gay rapper needs to stand up and do for gay people in Hip-Hop what Eminem did for white rappers. |
Andrew Potts--Black Star rapper Talib Kweli has said that an openly gay rapper could go far in addressing homophobia in the African American community and break down boundaries around gay acceptance in hip hop music.
‘Homosexuality in hip-hop is an extension of homosexuality in the black community,’ Kweli told Mother Jones.
‘The black community is very, very conservative when it comes to homosexuality, and I don't mean conservative in the good way, like we're saving money. I mean very intolerant. That's how it's always been.’
However Kweli sees an evolution of views in younger people’s minds.
‘I do see a new generation, partly because of the internet and technology, embracing it. I see young black boys, young black women in the hood embracing homosexuality in ways they never would've when I was younger,’ Kweli said.
‘When I was a teenager, the way some of these kids out here be actively gay, it would have been ridiculed in the hood. And now the hood is a bit more accepting. Begrudgingly accepting, but definitely more accepting than 20 years ago when I was a little kid.
‘That doesn't mean that anybody should stop fighting for equality just because people are begrudgingly a little more accepting. Now people won't beat you up; they might just talk behind your back.’
Kweli said that if a gay rapper could succeed in winning audiences over in the same way that Eminem had done as a white rapper it would go a long way to boosting acceptance of gay people among rap music fans and African Americans.
‘As far as hip-hop, it's real simple,’ Kweli said.
‘There just needs to be a gay rapper—he doesn't have to be flamboyant, just a rapper who identifies as gay—who's better than everybody. Unfortunately hip-hop is so competitive that in order for fringe groups to get in, you gotta be better than whoever's the best.
‘Before Eminem, the idea that there would be a white rapper that anybody would really check for was fantastic or amazing or impossible. You had people like 3rd Bass and other people came through, and people respected them for their dedication to hip-hop.
‘But people didn't really take white rappers seriously until Eminem, because he was better than everybody. Like female emcees, you need to be like Lauryn Hill or Nicki Minaj or killing everything before somebody takes you seriously.’
[GAY STAR NEWS]
