HOME YOU’LL SHRINK YOUR PANTS! Bry’Nt

Straight Outta the Closet
A decade down the line, gay rappers are still stuck on the industry margins

FROM N. W. A TO EMINEM, rap has never had much truck with taboos. But despite a history of pushing the edge to the center, there’s one boundary the music is still struggling to cross. “I’ve stopped thinking about reaching straight people,” says Captain Magik, 28, a self-described “young, gay, and proud” Cleveland MC with a raspy, Nas-like ow. “I had enough problems at my day job when I came out. How can I expect support from something as homophobic as hip-hop?”

He’s not the only one looking for answers. More than a decade a ter artists like Man Parrish, Deep Dickollective, and Rainbow Flava introduced gay voices to

the hip-hop underground, a new generation of rappers are still struggling to escape from their subcultural ghetto.

It’s not for lack of e ort. Recent months have seen releases from self-proclaimed “homo-hoppers” such as Magik, Nano Reyes, Bry’Nt, Last O ence, and QPid that were big-upped on gay websites. But interested observers note that despite the aforementioned artists’ racial diversity, radio-ready beats, and o ten subtle storytelling (“I’m rapping about trouble with my family, not about sucking dicks,” says Magik), a double whammy of cultural discomfort and business pessimism is proving stubbornly insurmountable. “The major labels say it won’t sell, so they don’t

try,” says Juba Kalamka, coproprietor of the long-running gay-rap label Sugartruck. “It’s a self-ful lling prophecy.”

While Last O ence recognizes the unlikely crossover capacity of a track like his “So Magical” (which features the line “Can I fuck your pretty ass?”), he wonders why the majors haven’t tried to market their music to the gay community. “People talk a lot about the rst mainstream gay rapper,” says the L.A. native, “but what if I could sell a million records to gay people?”

Radio and TV have been equally unwelcoming. The nationally syndicated gay-friendly Radio With a Twist o ers no rap-speci c content. (“The topics

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“The combination of popping pills, drinking without boundaries, and smoking was killing me, and the signs were there. Things had

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on our show are gay-oriented, and the interviews are with gay celebrities,” says DJ Ben Harvey, “but the music our listen-ers want is your typical Rihanna/Chris Brown/Akon stu .”) And last year, MTV’s LGBT-targeted Logo channel passed on Urban Raiders, a reality show featuring gay rap veterans like Tori Fixx and Dead-lee, in which aspiring MCs would compete for the chance to record an album. “They told us it was too ‘high concept,’ ” says coproducer Camilo Arenivar.

According to rap blogger and XXL online columnist Byron Crawford, gay rappers shouldn’t hold their breath for a breakthrough. “The culture of mainstream rap is about masculinity and aggression,” he says. “That style is not conducive to a gay rapper’s success.”

Others remain more hopeful. “All we need is our own Eminem, someone whose talent is undeniable,” says Khalil Amani, author of Hip-Hop Homophobes. “It’s easy to forget, but there was a time when it seemed crazy that a white guy could be a respected rapper.”

Indeed, there are small signs of a coming change. Tours like last year’s the Hard Gay and 2007’s HomoRevolution featured gay rappers playing to enthusiastic, sexually diverse crowds, and labels such as Crunks Not Dead and Sugartruck continue to release albums. “People are slowly coming around,” says Last O ence. “If a brother can get elected, I should be able to get a record deal.” DAVID MARCHESE

JOSE CARLOS ALVA BR Y’N T

24 MARCH 2009 SPIN.COM: IT’S MAGICALLY DELICIOUS!