Hip-Hop and Homophobia: A startling realization

It was after 4 am and I was giving my social media sites one last check before calling it a night (or morning). While bidding Twitter a Good Night, I read the Tweets of an undisclosed Production Company here in Houston and discovered some alarming news. It seems that Local Up and Coming Artist, J-Dawg or his manager at the very least is homophobic, in the worst way. The production company apparently, contacted J-Dawg and his people to solicit a booking in the production company’s venue- a venue known to be a Gay and Lesbian HOT spot. This production company has secured and booked some of the biggest names in the game such as Trina, Da Brat, Jackie-O, Fantasia, and 3 Deep just to name a few. It turns out that J-Dawg's management not only declined the solicitation but verbally expressed their REAL feelings about the lifestyle and patrons. It was stated that J-Dawg's management informed the representative from the Production Company that they didn’t want “a faggot” cheering him on during his song and further advised the representative that they should discard his album as he doesn’t need or want their support. In addition, to that someone from J Dawg's management called the representative “Cleo” stereotyping the role played by the quite accomplished Queen Latifah and further advised that “they” all will burn in hell…(I’ll wait and let you read that again, its a lot to take in)….Now, I’ve heard of being blunt, but that was down right rude and unprofessional. Its ok to have your opinion, thoughts and feelings about things, but as a hustla that was more than a bad move. This ill fated move could cause J-Dawg to loose out, considering the demographics of the Gay and Lesbian Population. As an equal opportunity writer, I thought it was only fair that I share this with the public, my followers, who or whatever that may be.

Lets begin with some interesting facts: The Urban Dictionary defines "no homo" as 1. a phrase used after one inadvertently says something that sounds "gay" or 2. a phrase said to show that you aren’t gay after saying something that sounded "gay." According to www.Loop21.com, “The fact so many young people say "homo" so casually alarms gay rights activists like Michael Brewer, a student at all-male Morehouse College. He and other members of the campus organization Safe Space are fighting homophobia through the No More "No Homo’” Initiative they launched in April... Brewer said he chose to use the ugly word in the title of his initiative because he saw it as “the most tangible and pervasive example of homophobia in the hip-hop community. I hear it a lot here at Morehouse College. Blacks may not say faggot or other pejorative epithets but they use ‘no homo,’ even if they don’t mean to be homophobic.” Brewer also made sure to mention that hip-hop — which is "almost dangerously homophobic" — is not solely to blame for homophobia among black youth. “(Homophobia) is very much ingrained in our social culture and hip-hop doesn’t help that, it exacerbates the problem,” he said. When it comes to gay rights issues, it seems that hip-hop culture may be stifling us. And it leaves the future of the relationship between gays and blacks in question.” Justin Schell, with TC Daily Planet states, “Hip-hop, of course, is no stranger to political movements, yet given the frequent usage of terms like “faggot” and “bitch nigga” by male MCs to denigrate and feminize other MCs, the use of hip-hop to combat homophobia might seem a bit counterintuitive.” In that commentary by Jason, Jessica Rosenberg, an organizer in the Hip-Hop Against Homophobia event, says “Hip-hop is lots of things, but one thing it can be is an art form for social justice, if hip-hop is working for social justice, queer rights are a part of that.”
You see that homophobia is STILL very prevalent in our community. Now J-Dawg, clearly doesn’t have a publicist and if he does he needs a new one. As his comment could possible alter his rise to fame. Many of his listeners are from the gay and lesbian community. Hip-Hop’s influence is paramount take for instance tv commercials, such as Kia Sportage, the hamsters are geared up in b-boy clothing driving down the street to the tune of“You can get with this, you can get with that.” Kia understood the need to target the hip hop community in their advertising. J-Dawg clearly didn’t consider the market in which he serves as an artist. Out Now Consulting is the leading global strategic lesbian and gay marketing agency, and was established by Ian Johnson--who has been described by the founder of both Wikipedia and Citizendium as "one of the most knowledgeable persons there is about the topic of gay marketing". Out Now as a marketing agency provides specialised gay marketing services to large companies by researching gay lifestyles and using the information to develop strategies to target gay and lesbian consumers. Out Now as a marketing agency provides specialised gay marketing services to large companies by researching gay lifestyles and using the information to develop strategies to target gay and lesbian consumers. To know both what the gay market demographics currently are and, most importantly, to understand what it is that they are telling you. It is only with that knowledge that you can be expected to make the most strategic gay and lesbian market decisions. It is always critically important to gay market success to understand how the gay target consumer market is currently thinking--and adjust your gay and lesbian marketing strategies accordingly. J-Dawg or his team clearly didn’t do this and clearly this could stifle record sales. So now the question, Does homophobia affect record sales? Can be answered with, ABSOLUTELY. Its really saddening that this artist, J-Dawg made these statements because now, the production company and venue has banned his music. I guess its ok to be gay as long as you are a make up artist, fashion designer/consultant or assistant to the stars. To me its such a double standard. Listen to more discussion of the Hip Hop and Homophobia phenomenon by listening to “Is it Free Speech or Hate Speech” on www.NPR.org .
What is being done about this detrimental phenomenon? Check out Cornel West’s commentary about it. http://gaylife.about.com/b/2007/09/07/cornel-west-hip-hop-and-homophobia.htm

Utterly disappointed, MsNightLyfe Dont forget to watch the Video below.