Lil Nas X

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• Addressing claims of homophobia, the rapper wrote on Instagram: “I didn’t write the line about gay people.
• … I got love for all people.” He continued: “To me [by] ‘queer’ I don’t mean someone who’s gay.
• As rap music approaches its 50th anniversary in August, I believe it is increasingly embracing challenges to – and debates about – homophobia.

The history of homophobia in rap music

• Indeed, throughout the 1980s and 1990s, high-profile rap groups such as N.W.A and artists like DMX similarly used pejorative language against members of the gay and lesbian community.
• Perhaps the most famous rapper using homophobic lyrics is Eminem.
• Throughout this controversy, there was only a muted response from the rap community itself.
• Indeed, researchers who studied the link between rap music and resistance among young men of color to coming out found that it influenced some gay men’s decision to conduct any same-sex practices on the “down low” to avoid revealing their sexuality.

The start of change in rap community

• For example, in 2005 Kanye West apologized for his past homophobia and even urged fellow artists to cease using lyrics that degrade the LGBTQ+ community.
• These individual actions did not end anti-gay expression in rap, but it does, I believe, show progress among those in the hip-hop community.
• However, many present-day male rappers wear tight-fitting clothes – a fashion choice once considered “gay” and therefore demeaned in the rap world.
• Moreover, such outfits are created by gay fashion designers, a point that Offset acknowledged while defending himself against claims of homophobia.

Out of the closet and onto the mics

• Even more telling, I believe, is the growing number of mainstream LGBTQ+ rappers.
• Over the past decade, there has been a rise in the number of successful gay and lesbian emcees.
• Albeit the music of openly gay Lil Nas X is more pop than rap, it has sold over 1 million copies.
• Even 50 Cent, no stranger to homophobic lyrics, praised her on Instagram: “Young M.A the hottest s*** out right now.

Still room for growth in rap music

• But it does show that hip-hop has evolved to a point at which self-reflection and conversations are taking place on past and present instances of homophobia.
• That’s not to say that anti-gay beliefs don’t persist in the music of some.
• And at least for now, rap artists are called on it – increasingly by members of their own community.

• A large, white cat with dazzling light blue eyes appeared on the red carpet of this year’s Met Gala.
• It struck several playful poses, paying homage to the late fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld and his beloved cat, Choupette.
• Setting social media ablaze every year, the Met Gala is the annual Met Museum fundraising ball, which is known for the couture and daring fashion paraded on its red carpet.
• The moment was covered in newspapers and periodicals in the days and weeks following the masquerade – even inspiring a lively print.

Daring Georgian masquerades

• Georgian masquerade parties of the 1770s and 1780s often occupied a Monday evening in the elite social calendar of London’s fashionable in-crowd.
• They were much like today’s Met Gala attendees and known as the beau monde (fashionable society).

The role of the public

• The route to a masquerade was regularly lined with spectators who watched and judged the costumes as they passed.
• A ticket from one masquerade at London’s Carlisle House reminded participants to Muto, non ciecho – see all but say nothing.
• No lord or lady was spared cutting criticism or gushing praise despite their rank, appearing in public reports and private recollections similar to the best dressed lists that circulate today.
• But as the media frenzy that both follows and sustains it shows, the spectators are just as important as the spectacle itself.