Why Is Hip-Hop Afraid of a Gay Artist?

While there are no out gay artists in the hip-hop world, there seems to be a lot of speculation surrounding Young Thug. He constantly tests gender roles with his dress, his lyrics and his social media presence. He can be seen out publicly in dresses, skirts, nail polish and tights. Young Thug refers to other men as “bae” and can be seen in what seems to be compromising photos with other men. This past week, there’s been a photo circulating on social media of Young Thug twerking. However, despite all of his antics, he has yet to ever publicly announce that he’s gay. And now, he’s even announced his engagement to his long-time girlfriend.

While mainstream media has seemed to embrace the LGBT culture as of late, hip-hop appears to be light years away. Hip-hop has always been known for its machismo, bravado and hyper-masculine identity and homosexuality doesn’t seem to fit with these values. On the one hand, Young Thug is one of the most popular artists as of late, but anytime he is mentioned, you can bet that there are going to be a barrage of anti-gay slurs and criticism. His latest album “Barter 6” has seen extremely low sales with 18,714 albums sold in the first week. It seems his public persona and questions about his sexuality could be playing into that.

 Why is hip-hop so afraid of a gay artist? Will there ever be a mainstream gay rapper? Do you think there should be? How does the black community’s opinion play into this?

Meanwhile.. Back at the ranch, here’ Young Thug debuting his new dance YSL… #TellUsHowYouReallyFeel