We're falling in love with Noreaga, the New York rapper who somehow dropped off our radar. Until this interview, where he takes hip-hop's discomfort with The Gays and slices it up with the diamonds around his neck.
Not only does Noreaga — sometimes known simply as N.O.R.E, but born Victor Santiago Jr. — acknowledge that gays are alive and well in mainstream rap, and that he's (shock!) knowingly worked with some, but he laughs off any notion that there's something wrong with welcoming The Gays into the fold. "Most gay men don't like straight guys, it's the truth! If a gay man bothers you, it's because they know something about you, son, you feel me? … I have recorded with … people who are closeted gay. … I didn't jump off a diving board. … That's their world. I'm sure my sexuality does not make them made. They're like, 'Hey, it's cool, we don't want him anyway."
But as Transracial notes, just like some advice being handed out to gay Hollywood, Noreaga acknowledges most gay rappers will wait till they have established careers before coming out. And when they do? "People are still gonna go to this guy's parties, people are still gonna buy this guy's sneakers, they're gonna buy his belts, they're gonna buy his purses. … It's not a secret. They're here."
(Video via VladTV.com)
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This would probably be notable if Pimp C hadn't been saying the same thing 10 years ago… Rest in peace…
I had no idea.
I presumed Hip Hop was dead which is why they let the gays in.
Wow, a heterosexual male that gets it. I pretty much agree with him on everything except for a gay rapper coming out at the height of his or her career. I don't think that will happen, at least not soon.
All I do is party, ha ha ha ha
So Bounce low
Bounce high
So who exactly are these gay rappers?
@dontblamemeivotedforhillary:
you seem like a cunt to me.
@Anthony: Caswell, the the most well known I think, and Soce the Experimental Wizard and there are some great lesbian rappers, too. All iTunes available
1) N.O.R.E is not really known anywhere so I don't see how this is notable at all. He's probably doing this to get attention to his career.
@dontblamemeivotedforhillary:
Even though this poster probably has a racist intent, they're completely right about this.
The genre is not dead but yeah it is waning in popularity. The same thing happened with rock music when it started losing steam in the mainstream. It started to open up and allow different types of people because they had no choice.
@Queerty
Why the hell are you approving of a man that likes calling gay men faggots in his song lyrics and tries to justify it with "Faggots are people that hate straight people"? [he did this just two days ago] Please try checking who you're praising next time.
yeah NORE isnt knon any where, capone & noreiaga, nothin'(one of neptunes first major hit), super thug, LA LA(in response to the dogg pound), beef with pac…. but naw, dude isnt known anywhere…
gay rappers? busta, q-tip, latifa, the brat, missy, puffy, 2pac(bi), and the list goes on.
smart comment there from him
@adolf:
Girl please. he is not relevant to game at all right now. This is not the 90s.
Oh, puh-lease, give me a break. This seems like yet another puff piece by a rapper who's determined to distinguish himself from us "undesirable" gays. I frankly get sick of black rappers and their token concessions about gays being in the music industry. Like duh.
@Awooooo: We've heard that justification before somewhere. Oh yeah, used by racists assholes when justifying the n-word.
The black rappers are terrified of us. We let them get away with their anti-gay prejudices for years. But now we've woken up to the fact of their hiding behind the "black" label.
MTV also needs to be put on notice. MTV has done enormous damage to gay people – and encouraged anti-gay attitudes – by promoting these sleazy rappers.
@bruce: Yes, and the fact that they are the home to the first real gay kiss and have done more for gay rights and AIDS awareness than any other network hands down means nothing. Clearly, they are simply a homophobic network and all that gay friendly programming they have put on is pointless.
Lets just be honest here for a moment, The Real World has done more for gay awareness and HIV awareness (thanks to Pedro who is still honored by MTV more than 10 years later) than any program ever in the history of this country on every single network. The majority of the youth in this country saw their first positive representation of the glbt population on that show.
Even today, that show is one of the leaders in equality as it promotes a gay man that is so accepted by his hetero room mates that all of them are excited when he finds a man to actually be with. There are areas of this country where people would literally die to have straight friends that were that accepting, and when they watch The Real World they understand that eventually they can have that.
@bruce:
"Black rappers" you say? Have you not heard of Eminem?
Cazwell is for fun, but Deadlee is a lot more of a rapper.
@Awooooo: You know the racists on this site can't pass up any opportunity.
Never heard of this guy, but hell, if he supports us I'll download a few of his songs whether I like them or not.