In solving this dilemma, Art has done what Art has always done. It has divided itself--via some miraculous process of aesthetic mitosis--and moved forward. The once exclusively hetero art form of hip-hop has given birth to a movement of distinctly queer rappers, who in turn are grabbing it by the horns and making it their own.

Here's a survey of four equally different, yet equally fascinating, gay/bi male practitioners of “Homo-Hop.”

Award-winning, Chicago-based rapper Scott Free is a consummate songwriter and a master lyricist/poet. In a lifetime devoted to his art, he has triumphed not only through styles of hip-hop, but also punk, acoustic, folk, lounge, rock, electronica and more--emerging as a pop laureate of not just our queer culture, but of our whole modern age. Scott’s astounding new CD They Call Me Mr. Free includes numerous spitfire raps of terrifying intensity. Not only does he lash out at the straight world’s hatred of queers, but he also confronts hypocrisy within the gay establishment itself.

There are scathing condemnations found in tracks like “When Queers Become Rock Stars”:

When queers become rock stars they turn straight they spit in our face and we take it / their agents and managers say what they can and they can't do / they tell them their candor will hinder their chances they'll lose all their fans so they stand back and rake in the cash 'til they get caught in a bathroom

And this excerpt from “Disco Divas”:

Disco divas sing at Pridefest to remind us we're second class citizens / disco divas sing at Pridefest to remind us that straight is better / music should stay in the closet it shouldn't be honest or it will lose all its friends.

Page 1 / 2 / 3 - Next