Is Your Favorite Rapper Gay?

There’s no denying the relationship between hip hop and basketball and no matter how many changes they make to the dress code, the culture is still going to bleed on to the court. In between the fact that every rapper thinks he could’ve went to the NBA and every basketball player thinks he can spit a hot sixteen, I don’t see this relationship coming to an end any time soon. Go to any basketball game and you’re likely to hear MIMS, Jay-Z, or Nelly playing throughout the arena. Turn on MTV or BET and you might just catch a story about Jay-z or Nelly buying a team. So when John Ameachi outed himself, becoming the first openly gay man to have played in the NBA, I had to turn my head toward the hip hop world and wonder... Which one of our favorite rappers is living a life on the Down Low?

Now, I’m sure Wendy Williams would love to give us a list of names (with addresses and telephone numbers... lol) but for our story we’re just going to focus on one, Kanye West. It’s no question that a lot of rumors have been thrown around regarding the Chicago rapper's sexuality. And while a lot of it stems from his diva-esque Grammy rants and prima-donna attitude, I believe there was no bigger contributor to the rumors than his notorious outburst on MTV regarding homophobia in hip-hop. For those of you that don’t remember lets just rewind the clock back a few years to late 2005. Kanye was filming a special for MTV to promote his new album, Late Registration. While being interviewed, he was asked about a song on the project titled “Roses”, which was dedicated to his mother. Suddenly Kanye went on a tangent about being teased in high school for being a momma’s boy. This tangent then lead into another about gays, hip-hop, and homophobia. Just like everyone else who was watching, my first impression was “Oh sh*t, is he coming out the closet on national television!” But when I actually took time to listen to what he was saying, I realized the point that he was trying to make.

Ultimately many viewers were less interested in his message, than the fact that he was talking about gays and appeared to be defending homosexuality. Soon after this incident the rumors began to fly. Of course Kanye was an easy target for the rumors. With his eclectic taste in music and love for fashion, it’s not hard to fit him into the popular gay stereotype. “Just look at the way he dresses/acts... Yeah, he’s gotta be gay!”  Comments like this echoed through barbershops and record stores in hoods all across America.

But let’s take the spotlight off of Kanye for a second to turn it on ourselves. Lets examine the culture of hip hop. I think its interesting how many people complain that hip hop is stagnant because everybody talks about the same thing. But the moment a rapper like Kanye comes along, that is comfortable enough with who he is that he doesn’t feel the need to make cookie cutter songs about sellling crack and f*&king b!%#hes, we're quick to label him a fag!!! If hip hop is dieing it’s because we’ve gotten to a point where we prohibit artists from artistically exploring and subsequently fi nding themselves. No one wants to step out the box and be an individual because being an individual opens you up to criticism and ridicule.

The truth is we really don’t want artists to actually do anything different; we just want them to find a new way of doing the same old sh*t. A few days after hearing about John Ameachi I was watching Fox Sports when I heard Charles Barkley make this comment in reference to statements that Tim Hardaway made the previous day bashing gay people. Barkley said, “You’ve gotta be naïve to think that you’ve never played on a team in the NBA and didn’t have a gay teammate…” Coming from a 16 year NBA veteran, this statement blew my mind.

Once again I turned my head toward the world of hip hop to ask this question: What if you’re favorite rapper was gay? Would you stop buying his music? Would the DJ’s stop spinning his songs? Would you look at his videos in the same way? Would you even still look at his videos? I ask these questions because working in the entertainment industry you are probably more likely to work with someone who’s gay than you would if you were playing for the NBA. And personally, I don’t believe hip-hop is any exception. While there are a lot of rumors, photos, and rumors of photos floating around, I’m quite sure somewhere within that mix of distorted stories and he-said/she-said there are some grains of truth.

As Kanye said way back in 2005, we do gingerly throw the word gay around in hip-hop to describe things that we consider wack or undesirable and it’s generally accepted. But what if your favorite rapper, the one who inspired you to pick up a mic, the one who influenced your style and all that other good sh!%, was to came out the closet? I’m sure you would look at him differently, but how would you look at yourself?

Disclaimer: You know anytime you speak on this type of thing you open yourself up to criticism and accusations. So, I took it upon myself to address the comments before they come. First, I am not gay! Second, I don’t know if Kanye West is gay. I don’t think he is, but then again I really don’t give a sh*t. And finally, while I have nothing against gay people, I actually don’t care what goes on in anybody’s bedroom except mine. I wrote this article to address the issue that if there are gay people playing in the NBA don’t think for a second that you’ve never listened or even danced to a song written, performed or produced by someone who may have been playing for the other team.