Luna ([info]luna_k) wrote in [info]liberalrage,
@ 2005-08-18 19:57:00
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Current mood: impressed
Current music:Dr. Dre - Deep Cover
Entry tags:gay, music, race

Kanye Loves His Gay Cousin
Wow, thanks Kanye.

NEW YORK - Kanye West says "gay" has become an antonym to hip-hop — and that it needs to be stopped. During an interview for an MTV special, the 27-year-old rapper launched into a discussion about hip-hop and homosexuality while talking about "Hey Mama," a song on his upcoming album, "Late Registration."

West says that when he was young, people would call him a "mama's boy." "And what happened was, it made me kind of homophobic, 'cause it's like I would go back and question myself," West says on the show, "All Eyes on Kanye West," set to air Thursday night (10:30 p.m. ET).

West says he changed his ways, though, when he learned one of his cousins was gay. "It was kind of like a turning point when I was like, `Yo, this is my cousin. I love him and I've been discriminating against gays.'"

West says hip-hop was always about "speaking your mind and about breaking down barriers, but everyone in hip-hop discriminates against gay people." He adds that in slang, gay is "the opposite, the exact opposite word of hip-hop."

Kanye's message: "Not just hip-hop, but America just discriminates. And I wanna just, to come on TV and just tell my rappers, just tell my friends, `Yo, stop it.'"

The hip-hop community is INSANELY homophobic, at least from what I've seen. It's also degrading to women, misogynistic, overly commercial, etc etc... but we just sort of gloss over that or ignore it, because the music's good. ::eyeroll:: I know, it's fucked up, but what are you gonna do.

Regardless, I'm impressed that Kanye came out and said this. Now I'm gonna buy his song off iTunes instead of just downloading it for free!

ETA: Great commentary on this from activist Keith Boykin.

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[info]anne_jumps
2005-08-19 12:18 am UTC (link)
The hip-hop community is INSANELY homophobic

Not to be too blunt, but the black community as a whole is pretty homophobic (although I am reminded of Chris Rock's fond remembrace of his Aunt Tom). Apparently a tactic the right is trying to use with black voters is the "Democrats abandoned God-fearing churchgoers like you to help sodomites get married" meme.

And now, a link to http://republicoft.blogspot.com

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[info]anne_jumps
2005-08-19 12:19 am UTC (link)
Or even http://republicoft.com

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[info]buffyx
2005-08-19 12:26 am UTC (link)
Well, personally I'm not too fond of generalizations of entire races of people, especially that aren't backed up by facts. And really, I think it's safe to say the majority of non-queer-identified America itself is homophobic, all races/genders aside.

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[info]luna_k
2005-08-19 12:34 am UTC (link)
Generalizations are never a good thing, but on this one she has a definite point. Not everyone who's black is homophobic - and it's been argued that black culture as a whole is absolutely not homophobic at all - but it's more a general feeling or perception that I think [info]anne_jumps is talking about.

And really, I think it's safe to say the majority of non-queer-identified America itself is homophobic, all races/genders aside.

Again, that's true. One thing - I really wish people wouldn't use that word "queer". As someone who identifies as gay or bisexual, hearing that word even as a reclaimed pejorative term makes the hair on the back of my neck stick up.

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[info]buffyx
2005-08-19 12:38 am UTC (link)
One thing - I really wish people wouldn't use that word "queer". As someone who identifies as gay or bisexual, hearing that word even as a reclaimed pejorative term makes the hair on the back of my neck stick up.

I apologize-- friends of mine who are non-traditionally gendered have told me that's what they prefer, and I like using it since it encompasses not just gays but also transexuals/transgendered peoples, etc. But if you're not comfortable with it, I certainly will not use it directed your way.

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[info]luna_k
2005-08-19 12:45 am UTC (link)
It's totally okay... I think I might be the last person in America offended by the term. I just grew up with it meaning something different I guess.

Apparently the "reclaiming" of the word started in the 60's, but not on a widespread scale until 1989. So I just barely missed the new definition.

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[info]buffyx
2005-08-19 12:41 am UTC (link)
Oh, and-- well, okay, maybe it's just me, but it makes me uncomfortable to hear the generalizations about the "black community"; I guess it feels like those take away from the individuals. Especially when those generalizations come from those who are not people of color themselves.

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[info]luna_k
2005-08-19 12:51 am UTC (link)
Oh, and-- well, okay, maybe it's just me, but it makes me uncomfortable to hear the generalizations about the "black community"; I guess it feels like those take away from the individuals.

Very valid point. I mean, it's hard to lump individuals as diverse as Eddie Griffin, Star Jones, Suge Knight and Denzel Washington together and call them a "community"... and that's just people in the entertainment industry, let alone all 35 million african-descent people in america.

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[info]buffyx
2005-08-19 12:59 am UTC (link)
Right. I think it's one thing to discuss the plight of the black community-- that's something that is across the board, regardless of age/gender/class, as it is for any oppressed people. I think it's another thing to subscribe a set of beliefs (especially ones that are non-race related) to an entire people and can end up feeding into our stereotypes.

I mean, I can't think of anything I'd generalize the entire white community of being, because they are white-- other than maybe that the majority is probably anti-affirmative action, but again, that actually ties into race and is maybe more fair to say (even then, I don't know the truth in that statement, I'm just guessing).

I know that I would be (and am, on occasion) offended by the generalizations that people hoist on the "female community." We're all individuals who deserve to be heard as such, rather than just shepherded into groups so the politicians can assume we think all the same to try and appease us that way and buy our votes.

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[info]anne_jumps
2005-08-19 12:54 am UTC (link)
I totally understand what you're saying, but today I've been too impatient to be all picky with the wording. Of course I don't mean *every black person* is homophobic. But as a whole, it is safe to say that the black community is, and nowhere did I say that the rest of the country is NOT.

Did you take a look at my userpics or something to know that I'm not "of color"? :)

Luna, here is a post from the ever-so-blunt Steve Gilliard, who is of color so maybe he counts ;) http://stevegilliard.blogspot.com/2005/08/luxury-of-homophobia_17.html

(warning: Steve is really, really blunt)

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[info]luna_k
2005-08-19 01:03 am UTC (link)
Oh wow, how did I miss that Steve Gilliard post? *bookmarks leik woah*

Bluntness is probably something we could use a whole lot more of, especially on issues like this.

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[info]buffyx
2005-08-19 01:04 am UTC (link)
I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make it sound like you were trying to group every single person of color and label them all as homophobic-- I understood that your comment wasn't intended as such. I just wasn't sure by the way you worded it if you were saying that the black community was somehow more homophobic than your White America, which I would think to be untrue.

Did you take a look at my userpics or something to know that I'm not "of color"? :)

No, I was just asserting that most generalizations about races of people come from those who aren't of that race.

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[info]leahpia77
2005-08-19 02:42 pm UTC (link)
Is black, and agrees with Anne.

The Black community IS very homophobic. Like Luna said, it has a lot to do with Church and all that. It's not a matter of a sterotype, but it is a cultural norm. I'm black and I'm not homophobic, so I don't think of it as a generalization, but I do know that the Black community AT LARGE is very homophobic. It's one of the main reasons Dubya gained a lot of Black votes in the last election. He went into the Black communities with his anti-gay marriage platform, and they ate it up. Because Jesus hates the gays.

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[info]anne_jumps
2005-08-19 03:19 pm UTC (link)
Hi Leah :)

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[info]luna_k
2005-08-19 12:27 am UTC (link)
Not to be too blunt, but the black community as a whole is pretty homophobic

Very true, and it goes back to what I was talking about the other day - much of the black community revolves around the Church, which is quick to condemn homosexuality and embrace misognistic BS. It's funny, this ultra-masculine attitude is even worse among the African immigrants I've met. When I worked at Home Depot as a manager, lots of the employees were new immigrants from Ghana. Several of the male employees refused to take orders from me, because it was demeaning to take orders from a female. It was like, "Um, sorry, shit doesn't work like that in America".

(although I am reminded of Chris Rock's fond remembrace of his Aunt Tom)

I love that routine SO MUCH. I wish more guys could adopt Chris's life philosophies.

Apparently a tactic the right is trying to use with black voters is the "Democrats abandoned God-fearing churchgoers like you to help sodomites get married" meme.

Yup... and the scary thing is, in a lot of places that shit is working. If we lose Southern Black voters because of that, we are SO BEYOND SCREWED. The floundering labor movement and black voters are the only thing going for us in a lot of Southern states. It freaks me out.

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[info]buffyx
2005-08-19 12:24 am UTC (link)
I really do dig hip-hop, though I try and listen to more political rap (Talib Kweli, Krs-One, old school Public Enemy, NWA, etc) since that is what I identify most with-- but even then, it can be a lot of the time sexist and homophobic. Which does bother me, definitely. And makes it really cool that Kanye is speaking up and saying that it is an issue and should be stopped.

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[info]hail_atlantis
2005-08-19 12:55 am UTC (link)
How big a wuss am I that this article made me get just a little teary-eyed?

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