If you’ve read any “gay hip-hop” trend piece in recent history, you’ve likely noticed the same damn pattern. The writer will make some casual reference to Frank Ocean, and then proceed to list the following names at some point within the article—LE1F, Zebra Katz and Mykki Blanco.
Even people who are against lumping all three artists together, such as yours truly, haven’t been able to avoid mentioning this holy trinity of queer rap (often along with House of LaDosha and Cakes da Killa). The fact of the matter is that nobody would be comparing these artists if they were straight. Unless we overcome this notion that hip-hop is a heteronormative, homophobic artform, the genre will never be able to move forward. A gay rapper is just a rapper. A straight rapper is just a rapper. A bisexual rapper is just a rapper. Plain and simple.
(BTW, I’m going to jump off a bridge if queer blogs don’t stop referring to Azealia Banks as “bisexual rapper Azealia Banks“. I’m this close to placing everyone’s sexuality before their name, just to make a point. Have you heard heterosexual country singer Taylor Swift‘s new song? Have you seen the naked pictures of oh-so-royal heterosexual Prince Harry?)
To add insult to injury, Mykki has openly rejected the “gay rapper” label, as Rich Juzwiak noted in the Gawker premiere of the music video for his (?) new single “Wavvy”. The character of Mykki has been described as “a mixture of riot grrrl and ghetto fabulousness”… But, well, if it sounds like something familiar to the general public, who’s going to bother listening to how an artist defines his or her own art?
::sigh::
– Dewitt
Click through to watch the music video for “Wavvy”:
the music does nothing for cause I’m not a rap fan, but the visiuals in this are awesome
the music does nothing for cause I’m not a rap fan, but the visiuals in this are awesome