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| Rappers Common (above) and Eminem are tied for the second most mentions on a list about hip-hop artists who have used anti-gay lyrics in their music. But on a recent track titled ‘Between Me, You & Liberation,’ Common soberly tells of a friend coming out of the closet to him, and the emotions he experienced while listening. (Common photo by AP) |
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HOME > ENTERTAINMENT > FEATURE
By: RYAN LEE COMMENTS
 
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says. “The
gay market is extremely powerful and can make or break any artists.”
On his latest CD, “Electric Circus,” Common seemed to repent for
the anti-gay lyrics he regularly spewed on his first four albums, including, “Homo’s
a no-no, so faggots, stay solo” and “I’ll turn you into the
artist formerly known as You gay ass fag.”
On the track titled “Between Me, You & Liberation,” Common
soberly tells of a friend coming out of the closet to him, and the emotions
he experienced while listening.
“So far we’d come, for him to tell me / As he did, insecurity
held me / ’Til his spirit yelled help me,” Common rhymes. “How
could I judge him? Had to accept him if I truly loved him / No longer, he said,
had he hated himself / Through sexuality he liberated himself.”
Common’s reputation as a street-turned-bohemian artist grants him a
creative license to explore issues others are afraid to take up, according
to some hip-hop experts familiar with his work.
Although his conscious lyrics may not appeal to younger listeners, Peterson
said Common’s new direction about anti-gay lyrics is “a big turning
point.”
“I think it teaches the mature fan base about how things work, and that’s
what we need: We need to see our artists mature and we need some things explained,” Peterson
says. “I think it’s a great story to tell and it’s really
a model for a lot of artists out here on how to evolve and grow.”
LESBIANS HAVE MADE even more headway into hip-hop, probably because of the
girl-on-girl fantasy endorsed by even the most anti-gay artists, according
to Cox.
“Back in the day, we couldn’t get an artist to do a girl party
to save our life,” Cox says. “But now we have earned the respect
of the recording artists and they recognize they have to embrace all of their
fans.”
“Girls in the Night” recently was scheduled to play host to a
party at BarCode in downtown Atlanta featuring Big Gipp from the rap group
Goodie Mob. Female rapper Da Brat was to perform at another club.
When New York-based gay rapper Caushun began appearing in urban magazine articles
and on MTV, it seemed barriers around hip-hop were about to be torn down.
But two years later, l
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