At the very end of a historic month of pride, marking the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising and fight for LGBTQ civil rights, newcomer rapper/country artist Lil Nas X came out on his twitter in a subtle yet blatantly obvious tweet-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_FyJ_tPNc0

And if that wasn't enough to convince doubters:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_FyJ_tPNc0

Yup, he's definitely gay. Even putting it in his album art, as well as subliminally of the meaning to the lyrics of "Old Town Road". Within the short span that the world, or at least the mainstream hip-hop/rap/ country community were made aware of his existence, Lil Nas X has managed to cross many boundaries; musical boundaries with his hybrid of rap and country, racial boundaries because of his hybrid of rap and country and now the stereotypes that come with identifying as anything other than straight within the rap/hip-hop community. This also deconstructs what it means to be a gay black man in the world, especially in the world of hip-hop.

Let's skip the fluff- the rap/hip-hop community is very homophobic. It's been that way since the inception of the genre, beginning with homophobia amongst the black community in general.Rappers have had the expectation of being hyper-sexual and hyper-masculine and at many times sexist and demeaning to women. That being said, the genre has gone through leaps and bounds since the mid-70s when it began, and became a more inclusive, and broader landscape in which artists do not fit the original mold of a gang-affiliated thugs that many outside of the black and hip-hop communities thought it to be. I never grew up listening to rap or hip-hop as a child, but I slowly began to appreciate the genre in high school into college to now. Granted, I started by listening to instrumental hip-hop tracks- Pete Rock, Madlib, MF Doom, and then traversed old school hip-hop tracks from the legends in the late 80s through the 90s to the multitude of sub-genres today. What I can definitely say is that rap and hip-hop are not to blame for violent acts or gang related crimes in troubled neighborhoods, rather the genre is a way to express the feelings and emotions felt when those acts are committed. It is an art-form; a poetic narrative for many who otherwise would not have had the opportunity to share and highlight their experiences so that they could be remedied. In a world where even the ones who are made to "protect" are destroying minority communities, for many there was no other outlet- rap and hip-hop gave one the chance to speak their truth.

I still believe the purpose of rap/hip-hop, despite its many changes over the years, is to highlight injustices, raw and real experiences, and do so in a way that will make people listen. We often don't get songs with as much meaning as the original tracks from the past few decades, however I think we're in a time where societal injustices are in the light and people are not afraid to point them out and try to do something about it. This goes for personal battles as well, the ones that many can relate to. Which brings me back to Lil Nas. This young, 20 year old, rapper and country music star from Atlanta Georgia, made a top Billboard hit, with not much to his name, and a first, the invalidation of his work being classified as country music, despite having many elements of country. I'm honestly the last person to ask about country music, but I can say that the song in question, "Old Town Road," was a unique blend of country background music, put an infectious beat and pretty decent vocal singing/rapping voice and styling- why shouldn't it be considered country? My immediate assumptions were of course, based on racial discrimination. Country has become known as a mostly "white genre of music,"that has now been filled with songs about beers, women, tractors and other stereotypical southern white things. But initially, country music had a story behind its lyrics, put to beautiful guitar or banjo or I guess any other country type instrument, with raspy vocals to hit home. There has been black artists in the country game, they are rare, but there. Can we consider Lil Nas X to be one of them? Well, it's more complicated to say that he's strictly rap or country, so honestly he's both. He's neither. He's Lil Nas X, and he also happens to be gay.

This has become more of a breakdown of rap, country and Lil Nas, but finally I'll address why his coming out has given him extra brownie points, as well as reignite a continuously ignored conversation about homophobia in the rap community. People who despised country music, mostly black people, loved Old Town Road- it was a bop. I even made a dance video of me dancing poorly to the song, but that's another story, to illustrate the point of how everyone loved this damn song. After Lil Nas came out, of course many people cheered, but just as many jeered. Nas, the gem that he is, took it in jest, responding with tweets such as that he'll "only be gay on the weekends."

But honestly, this is so frustrating. It's 2019 people; Lil Nas didn't even have to come out, honestly. Or he could've done it in a way that was very subtle, like in an interview if he was asked the question directly. But I am glad that he did come out because it again, a statement was made. A boundary was broken. And conversations will be had. Because we have come far, but we are not where we need to be with addressing LGBTQ rights and status in the hip-hop and/or black community. We may not reach a day when everyone is comfortable with their neighbor identifying as anything other than straight and cis-gendered, and I guess that's just how things are. But we should be able to respect others, and give them the rights they deserve regardless of sexual orientation or gender. On a smaller scale, hip-hop and rap have such a big impact on not only the music community but socially as well. With Lil Nas X standing as a proud member of a still heavily marginalized community, it will open up the conversation and maybe soften a few more hearts towards out LGBTQ members.

Perhaps this will be the start of formation of LGBTQ black men in the hip-hop/rap community, coming together to ally and support one another, and others who feel silenced and marginalized. Either way, I commend Lil Nas, sad that I can't marry him, but I'm happy as heck for him. Similar to the "horses in the back," I hope he feels that same freedom now that he's out and proud.