no homo
I've begun following the Okayplayer news feed, where a great deal of underground hip hop is posted for free download, with the artists' blessing. We're talking at least two albums' worth per week, plus videos. I should mention also that in hip hop parlance, "underground" usually just means "good." Were I to break it down further, I might tell you that "underground" also implies "largely absent from radio and television" and "enjoyable to backpackers if you happen to know what a backpacker is" and "the subject of endless arguments as to what is or is not underground" and "stuff white people like." So practically speaking anyone from OutKast to MC Who The Hell Is This could be your favorite underground rap act.
Most of what I download ends up in my music library permanently, but my tolerance for homophobic lyrics is pretty low. I hate hearing an otherwise fly rhyme sour suddenly in my ears because something rhymed with "gay." Even conscious rappers I venerate, including Common and Jurassic 5, dropped a couple of homophobic lines in their early days, although Common at least has since apologized and reformed. This article by El Guante treats this subject in excellent detail, quoting some surprisingly offensive lyrics which I totally didn't notice in songs I have enjoyed for years.
Sometimes homophobic rhymes backfire rather spectacularly. Consider the comically self-unaware Vinnie Paz, on "Rise of the Machines": "I think you a homosexual/I think the gay pride movement should meet you and invest in you" … somewhere, somehow, someone missed the point there. My boy Sage Francis flips the style in "That Ain't Right": "I attended candlelight vigils for Matthew Shepard/while you put out another 'fuck you, faggot' record." For years, I thought he said "fuckin' faggot" rather than "fuck you, faggot," and truth be told, I think it works either way =)
Point is, I should write more, and this morning between breakfast and falling back asleep I finally got sixteen bars out of this subject, which may one day evolve into a song, which I will probably entitle "No Homo."
When I download a mix tape, I've found that the spit game
is hot-well, more often than not-sometimes shit's lame.
Snakes on a plane. But what makes me insane's
when you maggots figure "faggot"'s some sacred profan-
ing of any enemy's sense of integrity. The legacy
of centuries of fearin' and hatin' gays has rendered me,
probably? about as homophobic as you.
But where we differ is as spitters. I'm too dope to assume
I can't kick anything sicker. What it indicates
is that you're pickin' on the victim of the syndicate
that oppressed you too, I'm guessin'. You rely on that schlock,
best be grateful to the gay folks, 'cuz you ridin' they cocks
Your offense is like a trigger that's bereft of the gat;
it's like I called you a nigga an' just left it at that.
Think your slurrin' be cold 'cause yo' ass can flex stock jive?
You sound like thirteen-year-olds talkin' trash on Xbox Live.
Most of what I download ends up in my music library permanently, but my tolerance for homophobic lyrics is pretty low. I hate hearing an otherwise fly rhyme sour suddenly in my ears because something rhymed with "gay." Even conscious rappers I venerate, including Common and Jurassic 5, dropped a couple of homophobic lines in their early days, although Common at least has since apologized and reformed. This article by El Guante treats this subject in excellent detail, quoting some surprisingly offensive lyrics which I totally didn't notice in songs I have enjoyed for years.
Sometimes homophobic rhymes backfire rather spectacularly. Consider the comically self-unaware Vinnie Paz, on "Rise of the Machines": "I think you a homosexual/I think the gay pride movement should meet you and invest in you" … somewhere, somehow, someone missed the point there. My boy Sage Francis flips the style in "That Ain't Right": "I attended candlelight vigils for Matthew Shepard/while you put out another 'fuck you, faggot' record." For years, I thought he said "fuckin' faggot" rather than "fuck you, faggot," and truth be told, I think it works either way =)
Point is, I should write more, and this morning between breakfast and falling back asleep I finally got sixteen bars out of this subject, which may one day evolve into a song, which I will probably entitle "No Homo."
When I download a mix tape, I've found that the spit game
is hot-well, more often than not-sometimes shit's lame.
Snakes on a plane. But what makes me insane's
when you maggots figure "faggot"'s some sacred profan-
ing of any enemy's sense of integrity. The legacy
of centuries of fearin' and hatin' gays has rendered me,
probably? about as homophobic as you.
But where we differ is as spitters. I'm too dope to assume
I can't kick anything sicker. What it indicates
is that you're pickin' on the victim of the syndicate
that oppressed you too, I'm guessin'. You rely on that schlock,
best be grateful to the gay folks, 'cuz you ridin' they cocks
Your offense is like a trigger that's bereft of the gat;
it's like I called you a nigga an' just left it at that.
Think your slurrin' be cold 'cause yo' ass can flex stock jive?
You sound like thirteen-year-olds talkin' trash on Xbox Live.