Ignored by the hip-hop industry, gay rappers are touring the nation to increase their visibility

by Kitty McConnell






When the first few beats of Bigg Nugg’s “La Revolucion” kick in, the song—delivered in a gravelly voice and featuring slightly menacing lyrics—sounds like a track from any other low-budget rapper’s debut album. Only when the chorus hits is it clear exactly which revolution Bigg Nugg is advocating.

“I don’t give a f**k if you’re gay or if you’re straight.”

These lyrics could serve as the mantra for the HomoRevolution Tour 2007, the first national tour of gay, lesbian and transgendered hip-hop artists, which will come to Jack’s Bar (formerly Summit Station) next Thursday.
 
HomoRevolution was the brainchild of Deadlee, a self-proclaimed “gayngster” rapper from L.A. who gained the attention of the mainstream music press when he lashed out at 50 Cent and other rappers for their gay-bashing lyrics. Bigg Nugg, who grew up in Toledo and is manager of the Midwest leg of the tour, shares Deadlee’s antipathy towards the famously homophobic rap industry.

It doesn’t just hinder the careers of openly gay artists, he says. It keeps many others in the closet.

“The biggest thing in our tour is helping break the stereotype,” Bigg Nugg said. “To encourage other artists to not care if they’re gay.”

That’s not always easy. While many hip-hop artists take no part in gay-bashing, a number of chart-topping rappers—trying to cement their tough reputations with macho posturing—have long been granted permission by the rap industry to spread a hateful message. (“Da Dis List,” an online archive of rap lyrics that include words like “fag” and depict violence against gays, provides ample evidence of this.)

On the other hand, there’s some evidence that tolerance is on the rise in mainstream rap.

After massive GLBT protests over his gay-bashing Marshall Mathers album, Eminem famously did penance by singing with Elton John at the Grammys. And Common, once known for lyrics like “Homo’s a no-no/so faggots stay solo,” released a track on one of his more recent records that details how a male friend came out to him and opened his mind. Kanye West has also repented for his previous stance as a hip-hop homophobe.

Whether these rappers are sincerely adopting a more tolerant attitude or simply adapting to market forces remains to be seen. But the progressive hip-hop community is pushing the movement forward while it still has momentum. Enter the HomoRevolution.

Granted, the tour has caught some snags. Deadlee and other prominent artists from the original lineup—including Tori Fixx, a pioneer in GLBT hip-hop for his work with the San Francisco-area group Rainbow Flava—dropped out after the first leg, through the Southwest, was completed.

But the tour had been so successful to that point that Bigg Nugg decided to take over as its manager and bring the HomoRevolution message to these parts.

“The Midwest,” he said, “is the next place to get hip to it.”

The lineup at Jack’s will include Bigg Nugg, DaLyrical and Unecc, all of whom have called Columbus home at one time or another. Because the city boasts both a supportive GLBT community and a thriving indie hip-hop scene, the tour participants feel they’ve been given a rare dual-crossover opportunity: Not just to promote tolerance to a straight hip-hop audience, but also to promote hip hop to gays and lesbians who might have never given rap a chance.

Jack’s Bar might be the perfect venue for such an experiment. Jim Criswell, the owner of Jack’s, said his place and the neighboring Café Bourbon Street—a divey rock-and-roll bar that hosts a popular hip-hop night every week—have always shared a back-and-forth flow of patrons, despite their night-and-day atmosphere and clientele.

“If their hip-hop people find out there’s hip hop at Jack’s that night, they’ll probably come over,” Criswell said. “The Bourbon Street crowd is extremely open-minded.”

It’s that open-mindedness that Bigg Nugg and the rest of the HomoRevolution artists are hoping will keep them coming back to the Midwest on future tour dates. A college tour is in the works for late autumn, and Bigg Nugg hopes for a return to the OSU campus with an expanded
line-up. He realizes it will take more than a worthy cause, however. The music itself has to be solid.

“If you’re going to do it, do it well,” he said. “Put on a good show, change minds.”

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