Within the past few years, hip-hop has seen a dramatic change in its attitude towards the LGBT community as a number of influential rappers have come out as allies to their LGBT fans. But despite the shifting mindset, many within the hip-hop community still deal with deep-seeded homophobia, and that includes rising rap giant J. Cole who recently defended his use of anti-gay slurs in his songs.
Like several other artists before him, Cole saw his (amazing) sophomore album, Born Sinner, leak online last week. And though the album is full of masterfully layered lyrics that examine race, money, and love and sex, Cole’s examination of the anti-gay slur “fa**ot” has stirred up controversy for the rapper.
On the album’s opening track, “Villuminati,” Cole raps “My verbal AK slay fa**ots / And I don’t mean no disrespect whenever I say ‘fa**ot,’ OK, fa**ot? / Don’t be so sensitive / If you want to get f**k*d in the a*s / That’s between you and whoever else’s d**k it is / Pause, maybe that line was too far / Just a little joke to show how homophobic you are / And who can blame ya?”
With the brash bars stirring up a growing bit of controversy, Cole recently sent a statement to the Huffington Post, explaining his reasoning for both using and analyzing the word.
“There will soon come a day when people in general, and rap artists specifically, are going to have to answer for their past usage of the word ‘fa**ot,’ much like the grandfathers who are ashamed that they used the word ‘ni**er’. At a time when public acceptance of gay rights is soaring (rightfully), hip-hop culture and general are still battling with homophobia (excluding myself). Rather than run from it I chose to attack it playfully. Those lyrics are meant to make everyone uncomfortable for the sake of this very conversation.”
Well, clearly, Cole’s plan worked out well. On the one hand, trying to remove the original malice of a word so rooted in hate is, arguably, impossible. It would be like asking black people to overlook hearing white people say “ni**er” because they claim they’ve changed the meaning and impact of the word – or really redirected the word’s hateful intent towards another group of people.
However, it’s commendable that Cole is taking ownership of his own homophobia and using his art to stir up some much-needed dialogue about anti-gay slurs and ending homophobia in hip-hop. Hopefully, when all is said and done, he and many of his fans will have made a change for the better through the song.
But he’s not the first rapper to do so. Check out some other reformed homophobic rappers below. – nicholas robinson
