Hip-Homophobia: 40 Years Later, and Rap Can't Escape Its Homophobic Roots

Hip-Hop trio Migos dominated music last year, and with the success of their recent album Culture II, they show no signs of slowing down. While critics and hardcore hip-hop heads are more focused on Kendrick, Tyler, Jay-Z, or Lil Uzi lately, Migos’ combination of triplicate flows and the hottest trap beats have made them the face of pop rap in 2017 and 18. It’s unfortunate, then, that their view of homosexuality is from 1979 as opposed to 2018.

Migos member Offset recently made headlines with a controversial guest verse on YFN Lucci's “Boss Life”. The verse in question contains the lines: “Pinky ring crystal clear, 40k spent on a private Lear / 60k solitaire / I cannot vibe with queers / I got the heart of a bear”. While appearing homophobic, Offset later back peddled saying he was referring to stalkers and paparazzi. This defense already sounds weak, but Migos has had a history of homophobic and queer-antagonistic behavior. Migos' Quavo said problematic things about fellow Atlanta rapper iLoveMakonnen. When Makonnen's came out as gay, tQuavo said, “They supported him?” Offset added, “That's because the world is fucked up.” The third member of Migos, Takeoff, said, “This world is not right.” Quavo elaborated: “We ain't saying it's nothing wrong with the gays, [but] he first came out talking about trapping and selling Molly, doing all that. That's wack, bro.” Somehow, being gay removed any level of credibility. During an SNL performance with Katy Perry, the group showed discomfort with performing along drag queens.

All of this seems damning, but Migos are only the face of a bigger problem with hip-hop: it’s unwillingness to address is homophobic roots. Hip-hop is not in itself a homophobic music genre. However, the history of homophobia in hip-hop is as long as hip-hop itself. 1979, the Sugarhill Gang released “Rapper’s Delight”, which is the first hip hop record to become a top 40 hit. The song exhibits slights to fictional character Superman, who was referred to as a “fairy” for wearing a tight suit. In 1986, the hip hop trio Beastie Boys originally wanted to name their debut album Don’t Be A Faggot, but their record label Columbia Records refused to release it under that title, so it changed to Licensed To Ill (they have since apologize).Off of Trick-Trick's 2008 album The Villain, he calls Ellen DeGeneres and Rosie O'Donnell "dyke bitches" and that he will send a "scud missile right through their fucking cruise ship". Trick-Trick expressed further dislike for the Queer community in an interview with music site AllHipHop: “Fa**ots hate me and I don’t give a f**k. I don’t want your fa**ot money any goddam way.”

Hip-hop today is allowing for more queer artists than in the 80’s or 90’s. Artists such as Frank Ocean; Tyler, the Creator; Azealia Banks; and Kevin Abstract show that hip-hop is giving queer voices a space. But that’s not giving homophobic attitudes less of a stage. Migos are the hottest pop rappers on the market right now. And it’s not like no one is listening. They are a symptom of the problem and not the source. The central problem is that hip-hop has never reconciled its homophobia to the point where slurs and violence are normalized in the community. Even professional nice guy Chance the Rapper is guilty of throwing around homophobic slurs such as in the track “Favorite Song”: “Slap-happy faggot slapper”. He later apologized, but many have defended him, saying he wasn’t meaning to offend gay people. And that’s the problem. All of a sudden gay slur is just a negative slur? While words like gay and faggot have had different meanings in the past, gay and faggot still are mostly used to refer to homosexuals. As a queer woman, I cannot defend this. These are still slurs that are used to against my community, and it’s not like I hear these slurs any less. They aren’t changing. They have stayed the same since I was born.

While I have talked about homophobia being at the roots of hip-hop, I don’t think the two are intrinsic to each other. Hip-hop is predominately Black genre. And the Black and Queer community have come together in music in the past. Disco, house, and soul are all Black and Gay roots music. And these genres would go on to influence and help develop hip-hop. I don’t think Queerness and hip-hop as contradictory. I just wish as a queer hip-hop fan, it would get over its homophobia.