“ Tyler, the Creator and Frank have been nominated idk,” a Twitter user commented under Nas’ thread, referencing two Black LGBTQ+ hip hop artists who have portrayed themselves as more masculine.īut Nas had an immediate rebuttal. “In fact, an entire lexicon dedicated to pointing out discomfort with gay men has permeated rap lyrics.”Īpparently, Lil Nas X feels that sentiment has not waned. “Rap culture has always been powered by unbridled machismo, and one would be hard pressed to not find a gay slur embedded in the lyrics of any of the genre’s most famous architects,” Kennedy wrote. Writing for the Los Angeles Times in 2019, music critic and author Gerrick Kennedy said hip hop’s “refusal to embrace anything queer has been a blemish on the genre for as long as it’s been around.”
