Hip Hop and Homophobia

[dick_nyc]

Posted on Fri, Aug. 19, 2005

 

 

Kanye West raps hip-hop homophobia

 

Kanye West says ''gay'' has become an antonym to hip-hop -- and that it needs to be stopped.

 

During an interview for an MTV special, the 27-year-old rapper launched into a discussion about hip-hop and homosexuality while talking about Hey Mama, a song on his upcoming album, Late Registration.

 

West says that when he was young, people would call him a ``mama's boy.''

 

''And what happened was, it made me kind of homophobic, 'cause it's like I would go back and question myself,'' West says on the show, All Eyes on Kanye West, which aired Thursday night.

 

West says he changed his ways, though, when he learned one of his cousins was gay.

 

'It was kind of like a turning point when I was like, `Yo, this is my cousin. I love him and I've been discriminating against gays.' ''

 

West says hip-hop was always about ''speaking your mind and about breaking down barriers, but everyone in hip-hop discriminates against gay people.'' He adds that in slang, gay is ``the opposite, the exact opposite word of hip-hop.''

 

Kanye's message: 'Not just hip-hop, but America just discriminates. And I wanna just, to come on TV and just tell my rappers, just tell my friends, `Yo, stop it.' ''

 

West's sophomore album hits stores Aug. 30.

[Rick Munroe]

>`Yo, stop it.'

 

Is that the jive version of "Just say no"?

 

Very cool story, btw. I hope his message is heard.