The Sexist Homophobic Hip Hop Question.
This is a small part of an interview I conducted with Out Black singer NHOJJ www.nhojj.com
and
Out Hip Hop artist BARON. www.baron.com
It’s near the beginning of our conversation on Homophobia in the African American communities as in our society in general. The whole interview will broadcast on Monday the 16th on 99.5 fm WBAI and stream live on <a href='www.wbai.org'>WBAI.ORG</a>
The broadcast will be archived 24 hours later on the archive.wbai.org/
Now on to the portion of the interview.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Pedro: I saw a great documentary on PBS called “Beyond Beats and Rhymes.” And it’s a critique of Hip Hop by a straight Black man who loves Hip Hop but was concerned by the homophobia and sexism he finds in it. He was talking to people like Fifty Cent; really big name rappers and when he tried to he bring up the issue of homophobia… well, he tried. One of these men actually got up and walked out of the room. He could not talk about it. Busta Rhymes! Whom I think is great. I love his stuff. But he could not talk about it. He had to walk out of the room. What is that about? Enlighten me.
Nhojj: Well we were just reading a magazine and they had a list of suspect D.L. rappers and a lot of the guys you talk about and we hear; Busta Rhymes for one was on the list. And Baron has a really cool theory.
Baron: Well it’s a small theory but it’s not profitable. It’s not profitable to be an Out homosexual artist. So until we find a way that it’s profitable… Because that’s the base line of Hip Hop; they say it’s the music but it’s the money. So until there’s responsibility around it the conversation about D.L. will continue. Because of course there are homosexual Hip Hop artists, of course.
Pedro: I’m in the Punk Rock scene. And when the first smaller labels were bought up by major labels they were criticized for being sellouts. Bands that sighed were called sellouts. “This is not Punk Rock. Signing to a major record label is Not Punk Rock.” Meanwhile in Hip Hop when these small independent Hip Hop labels were being bought up by major record companies that’s when it stopped being conscious and positive and you started seeing Gang banging and excuse my language bitches and Hoes in thongs on the videos. And Jesse Jackson and all these major black leaders never once said “This is bad. We are losing our culture. This is our culture and it’s being bought up by corporations.”
Baron: But then yes this is our culture then this is our culture that’s projecting these images. You can blame the people that pay it but if you’re doing it you’re self, then you should blame yourself for it. If you’re doing it for the dollar…
Pedro: Yea, but what if you’re not going to get sighed? In the documentary “Beyond Beats and Rhymes” one young man did a rhyme that was brilliant and political and smart and positive. And when the man doing the documentary asked “Why don’t you do that? (Instead of Rapping about killing other Black men.) the guy said, “They don’t want to hear that shit.”
Baron: But who is that “they?”
Pedro: That are the record heads who run the record labels.
Baron: And “they” are the people who are buying it.
Nhojj: I think there are a lot of people who are buying it and I think there is a market for it. There catering to a market.
Pedro: I agree with that. Yes.
Nhojj: So I think some how you need to change what the ideal is. I think that’s what the ideal is; a strong, macho, what ever the words are. I get a lot of women, I get a lot of money. It’s an ideal in our society. And I think Hip Hop just is kind of a tool to create that fantasy. It’s a fantasy.
Pedro: I publish a zine called Boots and Roots. It’s a Punk Rock Zine. And the theme for the next issue was inspired by a friend of mine and its Family, Unity, Strength, Music and Never Being Alone Again. So those are our Punk Rock Values. We’re all in this together.
But I found myself thinking, “How am I going to write about strength for this zine?
So I looked up strength, I Googled Strength! And do you know what Tarot cards are? The Image of strength in the tarot is a lion and women or a lion and a child. That’s strength. It was one of the four cardinal virtues. And what did that mean by strength? They weren’t referring to physical strength. They were referring to spiritual strength: the thing inside you that keeps you going no matter what tries to stop you. And I thought, “That’s Punk Rock!”
So what is strength in the Hip Hop World? What does strength mean there?
Nhojj: I think there are almost two Hip Hop Worlds. There’s the older, kind of more grounded one that grew up with Hip Hop when it was under ground and I think for them strength was… Um…
Baron: Strength was in the expression. There wasn’t a voice of the inner city at that time when Hip Hop came into play. So it was like “Thank God I’ve got some where to express my political views, what’s happening to me socially … um…
Nhojj: Strength was in the expression; stating your truth.
Pedro: It’s like a jungle sometimes.
It makes me wonder,
how I keep,
from going under.”
(Laughter from every one.)
Pedro: That was strength!!! And it’s still a classic.
Nhojj: Then you have the other Hip Hop World which strength is how many women you can get, how many people you kill, how much time you spent in jail.
After this we move on to discuss issues of warriorhood, manhood, and men wanting to love each other regardless of weather we are Gay or Straight.
Let us know what you think about the show at www.outfm.org.
This is a small part of an interview I conducted with Out Black singer NHOJJ www.nhojj.com
and
Out Hip Hop artist BARON. www.baron.com
It’s near the beginning of our conversation on Homophobia in the African American communities as in our society in general. The whole interview will broadcast on Monday the 16th on 99.5 fm WBAI and stream live on <a href='www.wbai.org'>WBAI.ORG</a>
The broadcast will be archived 24 hours later on the archive.wbai.org/
Now on to the portion of the interview.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Pedro: I saw a great documentary on PBS called “Beyond Beats and Rhymes.” And it’s a critique of Hip Hop by a straight Black man who loves Hip Hop but was concerned by the homophobia and sexism he finds in it. He was talking to people like Fifty Cent; really big name rappers and when he tried to he bring up the issue of homophobia… well, he tried. One of these men actually got up and walked out of the room. He could not talk about it. Busta Rhymes! Whom I think is great. I love his stuff. But he could not talk about it. He had to walk out of the room. What is that about? Enlighten me.
Nhojj: Well we were just reading a magazine and they had a list of suspect D.L. rappers and a lot of the guys you talk about and we hear; Busta Rhymes for one was on the list. And Baron has a really cool theory.
Baron: Well it’s a small theory but it’s not profitable. It’s not profitable to be an Out homosexual artist. So until we find a way that it’s profitable… Because that’s the base line of Hip Hop; they say it’s the music but it’s the money. So until there’s responsibility around it the conversation about D.L. will continue. Because of course there are homosexual Hip Hop artists, of course.
Pedro: I’m in the Punk Rock scene. And when the first smaller labels were bought up by major labels they were criticized for being sellouts. Bands that sighed were called sellouts. “This is not Punk Rock. Signing to a major record label is Not Punk Rock.” Meanwhile in Hip Hop when these small independent Hip Hop labels were being bought up by major record companies that’s when it stopped being conscious and positive and you started seeing Gang banging and excuse my language bitches and Hoes in thongs on the videos. And Jesse Jackson and all these major black leaders never once said “This is bad. We are losing our culture. This is our culture and it’s being bought up by corporations.”
Baron: But then yes this is our culture then this is our culture that’s projecting these images. You can blame the people that pay it but if you’re doing it you’re self, then you should blame yourself for it. If you’re doing it for the dollar…
Pedro: Yea, but what if you’re not going to get sighed? In the documentary “Beyond Beats and Rhymes” one young man did a rhyme that was brilliant and political and smart and positive. And when the man doing the documentary asked “Why don’t you do that? (Instead of Rapping about killing other Black men.) the guy said, “They don’t want to hear that shit.”
Baron: But who is that “they?”
Pedro: That are the record heads who run the record labels.
Baron: And “they” are the people who are buying it.
Nhojj: I think there are a lot of people who are buying it and I think there is a market for it. There catering to a market.
Pedro: I agree with that. Yes.
Nhojj: So I think some how you need to change what the ideal is. I think that’s what the ideal is; a strong, macho, what ever the words are. I get a lot of women, I get a lot of money. It’s an ideal in our society. And I think Hip Hop just is kind of a tool to create that fantasy. It’s a fantasy.
Pedro: I publish a zine called Boots and Roots. It’s a Punk Rock Zine. And the theme for the next issue was inspired by a friend of mine and its Family, Unity, Strength, Music and Never Being Alone Again. So those are our Punk Rock Values. We’re all in this together.
But I found myself thinking, “How am I going to write about strength for this zine?
So I looked up strength, I Googled Strength! And do you know what Tarot cards are? The Image of strength in the tarot is a lion and women or a lion and a child. That’s strength. It was one of the four cardinal virtues. And what did that mean by strength? They weren’t referring to physical strength. They were referring to spiritual strength: the thing inside you that keeps you going no matter what tries to stop you. And I thought, “That’s Punk Rock!”
So what is strength in the Hip Hop World? What does strength mean there?
Nhojj: I think there are almost two Hip Hop Worlds. There’s the older, kind of more grounded one that grew up with Hip Hop when it was under ground and I think for them strength was… Um…
Baron: Strength was in the expression. There wasn’t a voice of the inner city at that time when Hip Hop came into play. So it was like “Thank God I’ve got some where to express my political views, what’s happening to me socially … um…
Nhojj: Strength was in the expression; stating your truth.
Pedro: It’s like a jungle sometimes.
It makes me wonder,
how I keep,
from going under.”
(Laughter from every one.)
Pedro: That was strength!!! And it’s still a classic.
Nhojj: Then you have the other Hip Hop World which strength is how many women you can get, how many people you kill, how much time you spent in jail.
After this we move on to discuss issues of warriorhood, manhood, and men wanting to love each other regardless of weather we are Gay or Straight.
Let us know what you think about the show at www.outfm.org.
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New Jersey
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