For all hip-hop’s tattooed muscle-thugs and booty-shaking bitches, the genre is frightened to death by homos. Combine that with the fact that some find it tough to name any out rapper that isn’t a white guy (like Cazwell, Johnny Dangerous, QBoy, and Soce) and you’ll understand what black homo-hop artists are up against. We’ve rounded up five queer hip-hop artists of color who have more crossover appeal than their campy white counterparts and who’re battling hip-hop homophobia with a potent mix of politics, porn, poetry, funk, rock, and R&B—their off-the-hook tracks will leave you bent for more.
All five should be in heavy rotation.
Meshell Ndegeocello
Origins: 1993 – Washington, DC
Albums: 8
Stand-Out Album: The Anthropological Mixtape (2002)
Hear This Now: “Leviticus:Faggot”
The first female artist signed to Madonna’s Maverick record label, German-born bisexual Meshell Ndegeocello (pronounced Mee-shell N-deh-gay-o-chel-o) predates Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill by half a decade and has put out more than both women combined. Ndegeocello doesn’t call herself a hip-hop artist; to her, hip-hop’s a watered-down mainstream derivative that’s hardly countercultural anymore. So instead, she works a postmodern mix of jazz, funk, and rock that’s more Marvin Gaye than Missy Elliot; but don’t let that fool you. She’ll sing about fucking your boyfriend with all the swagger of a pimp then turn around and ponder the dual nature of desire in a gentle upper register.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Tori Fixx
Origins: 1998 – Minneapolis, Minnesota
Albums: 7
Stand-Out Album: Marry Me (2004)
Hear This Now: “Woof!”
An original member of the groundbreaking homohop group Rainbow Flava, Tori Fixx is a grandfather of the queerhop genre, but his songs still sizzle with fresh style and sexual flavor. His 2004 album, Marry Me, not only railed against heartless anti-gay politics, but made monogamy sound sexy and real. Sure, he catches his partner masturbating on couch and leaving skid marks in his underwear, but Tori also devours his body like a soul food buffet. He’s still an active player in the gayhop community—he figures largely into the 2006 homohop documentary Pick Up The Mic and produced queerhop newcomer Johnny Dangerous’ 2006 album, Dangerous Liasons.
Yo Majesty
Origins: Tampa, Florida – 2006
Albums: 2
Stand-Out Album: Futuristically Speaking…Never Be Afraid (2008)
Hear This Now: “Club Action”
Yo Majesty’s female duo may remind you of Salt-N-Pepa and their irresistible bass beats might sound like Basement Jaxx, but they’re not nearly so clean. Jewel B will bare her melon-shaped breasts (link NSFW) for an entire concert and Shunda K will “fuck you like [she’s] got a penis” and then ask “you ever had an orgasm while you piss?” Between their slow reggae jams about getting stoned and wandering the streets and aggressive dance tracks about getting freaky between the sheets, Yo Majesty comes off confident, funny, and smart. They allegedly split after their tour with CSS and The Gossip, but Shunda K still performs their material with unstoppable energy and attitude.
Deep Dickollective
Origins: 2000 – Oakland, California
Albums: 6
Stand-Out Album: The Famous Outlaw League of Proto-Negroes (2004)
Hear This Now: “For Colored Boys”
Spoken word musician Tim’m T West lost half his performing gigs when local venue managers discovered he was gay. Out of frustration with a scene that should’ve been more progressive, he founded Deep Dickollective with a fellow Standford PhD student and their friend, Juba Kalamka. Together, their political lyricism pressed the hot buttons of race, queerness, and hip-hop hyper-masculinity with a literary violin rather than a swear-filled beat box. Their group endured eight years and 11 members and gave direction to a new generation of queer hip-hoppers still fighting against institutionalized bigotry.
Last Offence
Origins: 2005 – Los Angeles, California
Albums: 2
Stand-Out Album: Not For Non-Profit: The Mixtape (2009)
Hear This Now: “So Magical”
Though Last Offence has got the aggressive manner and hard beats you’ve come to expect from a hip-hopper like Jay-Z, he’s a million times hotter and gayer than Jigga. Alongside his blunt wise-cracks about pounding guys and making asses bleed, he also raps about the so-called Christians that killed men like Harvey Milk and Matthew Shepard. His albums are perfect for working out some good old-fashioned sexual aggression and even better, he’s giving them all away for free on his MySpace blog. They feature the talents Bry’Nt and Nano Reyes and other homohop artists that didn’t make our list.
Shelby
Nice job queerty! I’m I starting to see some diversity on queerty? Good to know about the homo hip hop artists.
Chitown Kev
Damn, queerty, I have to give you two thumbs up for this.
Brian
Homo-Christian Music next???
Mike
I’ll be checking out their CD’S for sure.
Dan
I’ve always thought Kanye West to be not homophobic.
OutHipHop.com
Your information may be slightly outdated, but we’re thoroughly impressed and maybe even shocked to see Queerty get on board with LGBT Hip Hop (what some of us now call “out” hip hop). Very, very impressive. Happy to see some diversity in the Community. For anyone interested in the world of out hip hop, there are over 100 other out artists making such music, most who can be found on our website.
Kudos to Queerty for recognizing gay music’s secret child in the attic!
sal(the original)
Daniel Villarreal,hello hot!!anywhoooo new stuff to check out,i so needed some new music,thanks Queerty
daftpunkydavid
@Brian: it exists already, no?
The Gay Numbers
@daftpunkydavid: Yes it does. but some people are so stuck on their narratives, that they do not realize the world is a bit more complicated than that. I am sure Brian probably did not know there were Christian gay groups out there.
Cbus Chris
I have some friends in Columbus that are gay rappers…and no offense…a bit better than some of these acts. They actually perform and dance as well. Check them out, they’re called No Shade– Myspace.com/Noshade
Shimmy
I’d like to add Philly act Sgt. Sass.
Don
Just got to show that the LGBT community is diverse. We are not all white middle aged men.
Kid A
Love this, thanks!
jason
Black male performers are notoriously homophobic. Nearly every song of theirs is designed to prop up a heterosexual male image. Their songs are peppered by references to how good they are with women etc etc. It’s pathetic, frankly.
It’s time that we in the gay community came down hard on these black male performers. We need to be merciless in criticizing them. We also need to criticize the record label execs who sign them up and promote them.
MTV should also be criticized.
jason
Will supposedly gay-friendly MTV play these new gay/bi male artists? I doubt it.
afrolito
Since when did the Grammy nominated Meshell N’Degeocello become a hip hop artist??
The rest of these people wouldn’t get arrested on public access. Kudos to them, but they aren’t changing anything in the mainstream.
OutHipHop.com
Afrolito, you have a point about Meshell but you don’t know what you’re talking about with the others.
DDC was one of the first such homohop acts.
Yo Majesty was the first out Lesbian act signed to a significant indie label with distribution, the same label that indie-rockers Franz Ferdinand and Arctic Monekys are on. When their CD dropped, they were in almost every music magazine in the UK and a good many in the U.S.
Tori Fixx is a constantly evolving artist whose blend of R&B and hip hop (the WOOF track is not representative of his overall genre) has been considered by music critic Ernest Hardy (Vibe, Rolling Stone) one of the most likely to cross over.
Last Offence was one of 5 out hip hop artists on the STRAIGHT hip hop show, “Streetsweeper Radio Show” with DJ KAYSLAY aka The Drama King on Shade 45/Sirius Radio where he highlighted these artists as rappers first and gay second.
If this is not changing, or at least trying to change anything in the mainstream, then I do not know what is.
dgz
@jason:
you’re such a racist punk.
why do you ALWAYS overgeneralize to “black males?”
you’re like Bob Jones’ queer little brother.
jason, you still suck.
Virgo RMX
The headline reads “5 Black Homo-Hop Artists You Need to Know About” so in other words some music/artists that are worth checking out. NOT “the only 5” or “the BEST 5”, just 5 that they recommend (and I have to agree with them on the selections). Thanks Queerty for reporting something “positive” on Out/Hip-Hop (unlike many other sites) and actually acknowledging “some” of the talented people of color, in the game (which doesn’t happen very often) and allowing them a little more time in the spotlight. They covered, IN MY OPINION, the best of the best in 5 artists from the old school players DDC, Tori Fixx & MeShell (who wasn’t really ever considered out hip-hop) to the new school like Mr. Last Offence (one of the hottest emcees today, period). All in all it’s a good look for “Out Hip Hop” in general.
afrolito
@OutHipHop.com:
I’ve never heard of any of these people before reading this thread, and neither has 99.9% of anyone else in this country. Gay hip hop artists will NEVER be mainstream anywhere.
Chitown Kev
@jason:
Wow, racist, much Jason? Even though these black males are gay?
Chitown Kev
@afrolito:
Maybe they will, maybe they won’t Afrolito, but I’m interested enough that I will give these particular artists (and others) a listen to (and I don’t listen to hip hop anymore) as well as check out the website (which I was vaguely aware that existed). Personally, I don’t care if they are mainstream or not; hell, I loved underground house back in the day (and even now).
Virgo RMX
@afrolito: I have to slightly correct you there, Afrolito. No disrespect BUT… “the MAINSTREAM” has already been cracked by a lot of these guys and more. I’m not sure what your definition of mainstream is but I consider such resources as “NEWSWEEK, THE NEW YORK TIMES, URB MAGAZINE, THE TYRA BANKS SHOW, and MTV (just to name a few over the years)” to be all part of “the mainstream”. No these guys haven’t had thousands of dollars put behind them (Except Meshell and probably Yo Majesty) and had their videos and songs in regular rotation on MTV and radio stations but trust believe, whether you’ve heard about them before or not, OUT HIP HOP HAS CRACKED THE MAINSTREAM. If it hadn’t then I doubt places like Queerty, All Hip Hop.com, Shade 45 Radio would even be reporting on or discussing this.
Anthony in Nashville
Does anyone read Swerv? It’s a quarterly publication aimed at the black LGBT community. Each issue has its share of reviews of out rappers and singers.
I agree that these artists may not crack the mainstream, but I think the important thing is that we realize that “we” have alternatives to what is currently out there.
Brian
I thinks its cool to see some gay hip-hop artists, but hip-hop isn’t exactly my thing. Are there any gay rock, alt-rock, or emo singers/bands out there? You search gay music and all you get is techno dance music. I want something with lyrics about guys in love with guys, having sex with guys, dating guys, meeting guys; something analogues to the thousands of heterosexual songs you hear everyday, but that speaks to my life experience. Any suggestions?
WAKKO
Classic Queerty crap that you must divide and put black artists in different category than white, or latino. Hip Hop is Hip Hop no matter what color is doing it! This site is whack and 5 years late!
Stacy
@Dan
He’s really not. Like most if not all, folks like Queerty are kinda irony-deficient when it when comes to rappers. If only because they’ve convinced themselves that its virtually impossible for said rappers to demonstrate irony within their lyrics. Makes their job all the more easier.
Daniel Villarreal
@OutHipHop.com: Thanks for the update on all these artists. I had a lot of fun writing the article and hope it gives some much deserved recognition to their work.
In general, I wanna fill Queerty with more people of color, trans, and lesbians. They’re some fun, fine folks who deserve more mainstream exposure, eh?
jason
I’m sorry but it’s true. Nearly every black male artist on MTV or radio is trying to prove his heterosexuality. I defy anyone to nominate one black male artist in the top 40 who is openly gay or bi and who sings about it in his lyrics. The same applies to whites.
The simple fact is this: MTV and the music industry are engaging in a culture war against gay/bi men. They loathe us, and avoid us like the plague.
galefan2004
@jason: I don’t agree. I think that music industry as a whole simply doesn’t know how to take gay/bi men in general. We aren’t seen as objects of fantasy because even if women were to ever see two men together as a fantasy no one fucking cares because women are still not “allowed” to have fantasies even in 2009. Its not that gay/bi men are hated its that the music world has made its money for years by appealing to the lowest common denominator (that part of the hetero male that gets off on watching late night skin flicks). They simply haven’t evolved to figure out how to cater to anything else.
There is hope though. Hell, even Can You Duet? which is on a country network and is turning out country stars has a very questionable (most likely gay) guy leading the show with a male duo partner. Hearing the two sing love songs together is amazing. Sometimes you got to wonder who the questionable one is singing to. However, even if he is gay I don’t see the guy actually coming out any time soon.
dgz
@jason: nope, you’re still an idiot.
@Chitown Kev: don’t mind jason, he’s an idiot.
@afrolito: are you serious? EVERYONE’S heard me’shell’s music. she did a grammy-nominated duet with mellencamp for fuck’s sake. we all got sick of that song a decade ago, remember?
as for the rest of ’em, they ain’t going anywhere if they talk about orgasms while pissing, making asses bleed, etc. that’s narsty, gay OR straight.
jason
Galefan,
The music industry is complicit in a culture war against gay/bi men. It’s how liberalism operates. Liberalism – which incorporates the entertainment industry – is about marginalizing and ignoring gay/bi men. Liberals are terrified of the notion of an openly gay/bi man marketing his sexuality in music videos and song lyrics. Record label execs won’t allow it.
However, if you’re a female, you get a bit of a pass. It’s the bisexual double standard, the defining hypocrisy of liberalism.
jason
Another interesting phenomenon is this obsession that gay/bi men have for female music artists who show a lot of skin. Madonna, Lady Ga Ga, Britney Spears…it’s all really quite bizarre. It’s as if we have become dysfunctional. Shouldn’t we be clamoring for male music artists who show a lot of skin?
The simple fact is this: we’ve become dysfunctional. We’ve become enablers of male heterosexual fantasy. And we fail to criticize the liberals who are promoting this notion.
Wake up, gay guys. Stop acting like a bunch of timid losers. It’s time to take our criticism up to liberals.
Freddy
@One obnoxious, obscure comment section post at a time, eh?
Gurlene
@OutHipHop.com: I am not into hip-hop but I must congratulate your site. My, my how times have changed. I booked marked your site and when I have time I will check it out further.
Thank you for posting that. This old school queen will learn a lot from it I’m sure.
The Gay Numbers
@afrolito: what you know of the world could fit on the head of a pin so your not hearing of them outside of the bath houses is not really all that surprising.
Kid A
@afrolito: especially with that attitude. I swear some people don’t want to give up their victimhood status. If any of these artists made it big, that’d be fantastic, and after listening to some of them, they deserve it. Last Offense in particular has a great ear for using vocal rhythms in a way that complement the beat. Which is an accomplishment for any musician, gay or straight.
99.9% of the people in this country haven’t heard of The Velvet Underground or A Tribe Called Quest either. Care to discuss their influence?
anonymous
@afrolito: Based on your comment in post #20 I must ask dont you think that is being just a bit snide? OK, so 99.5% havent heard of these artist. But I thought the purpose of posting these artist was to hightlight diversity.
Over on Rod2.0 do you see things like this? Queerty posts this but the best they can muster is Ms. drugged out ass Whitney Houston.
How about on the Daily Voice, a site that NEVER posts anything that is not tilted toward race (with blacks always the “victim”).
You are just an ungrateful, hate filled queen who loves playing the roll of the victim. When Queerty does not post things like this your comments have a lot to do with why they chose to pass on it. I do hope you are a white person trying to pass as a black person just to be evil and start shit.
If you are black you really need to do sit down and just read the comments but shut up.
Duncan Behines
Deep Dickollective and Tori Fixx have been out for a long time. Personally, I don’t like their music. Good luck to them, but like I said they have been out for ages. Maybe should have highlighted them 10 years ago. It’s great…I applaud all the gay hip hop artists efforts. I just don’t know what their point is. It doesn’t seem like any of them are really trying to break into mainstream. They all stay within the little gay hip hop community and straight people do not know about them. They need to branch out.
RainaWeather
Oh, the sexism hurts.
Chitown Kev
@anonymous:
Wow, that’s an incredible cheap shot at Rod 2.0, especially since many black gay men really can’t come to queerty to rely on positive news about black people generally or gaby black people specifically.
Second of all, I am highly insulted at your take on “Miss drugged out Whitney Houston” since I am also a recovering addict (13+ clean) and I wish Miss Whitney nothing but the best as she attempts her comeback. If my crackhead ass can stay clean and become a better person in the process, then so can she and I wish her all the luck in the world. Active addiction is not a disease that I would wish on my worse enemy.
Having said all of that, I do agree with you that afrolito is being a bit snide in this case.
Chitown Kev
@jason:
Liberalism? Wow, I think that would be the conservative nature of the music industry.
Tommy
@jason:
Just because a black straight gay male sings about women doesn’t mean he’s trying to prove his heterosexuality. He’s just singing about his life as it is. Now there are some black males who are homophobic and say fag and all other kinds of homophobic things, but that is not every black male singer. But merely writing a song about women doesn’t make you homophobic. Usher, Kayne West sing about women but aren’t derogatory about gays.
And the absolute worst offender when it comes to homophobia is a white rapper. Eminem.
Dabq
@Chitown Kev: Come on now, you should know there is no such thing as a black, Latino or Asian gay man or woman to the posters here and the narrow minded little world they exist in, online of course ;).
dgz
@jason: and who’s going to lead this dumbass movement to put female popstars in burkas? i suppose you, our resident, well-known racist will march at the head of the parade, waving your rainbow star-and-bars?
you’re a joke. nothing you write ever makes any sense.
Bri
@afrolito:
“I’ve never heard of any of these people before reading this thread”
Aren’t you special. I think most people here have in fact heard of these artists.
jason
No-one wants to see female pop stars in burkas but neither should they be parading in bikinis and other flesh-bearing attire. I don’t see the male pop stars doing it, certainly not to the same extent.
There is a whole marketing strategy that has been designed for women but not for men in the music industry, and it’s designed to prop up male heterosexual fantasy. We shouldn’t be enabling it.
dgz
@jason:
a few clues to your stupidity:
1) you’re posting all this on a site that features “morning goods” and “gratuitous skin.” so, you’re not only stupid, you’re a hypocrite. maybe you should leave so you stop enabling male homosexual fantasy.
2) male stars bare their bodies all the time. ever heard of d’angelo? nelly? 50 cent? usher? oh wait, they’re black, so you (as a racist) probably ignore them. let me try something more your speed… kenny chesney? billy currington?
3) what exactly is evil about bikinis? misogynist much? it’s frankly incredible that you think bodies and sexuality are so evil while hoping for someone else to win rights for sexual orientation.
4) newsflash: there’s a difference between sexploitation and voluntary choices made by an artist to send a message.
5) it’s flesh-baring, not “flesh-bearing,” you dumb fuck.
hkpk
@Brian:
check out Pansy Division, Limp Wrist, Seeing Red, Team Dresch, Gravy Train…stuff like that is fun.
MFJ
White rappers can be serious too! Be sure to check out God-des and She, Drew Mason, soce and Mistamaker for some intense lyricism as well! Plus here are a small sampling of some of my favorite gay rappers: Deadlee, Tori Fixx, Lester Greene, Team Gina, J Night, Last Offense, Benni E, Bone Intell, Granthm, Sonny Lewis, Infinite, JFP, Athens Boys Choir, KIN4Life, Delacruz, Chewy, Nano Reyes, King Jabbar and Scream Club.
jason
DGZ,
Do you see male artists baring their backsides to the same extent that female artists do? Of course not. Do you see a male using bisexuality as a marketing ploy in the way females do? Madonna, Britney, Lady GaGa, Katy Perry etc have all done this. The men never do it.
Simply put, female artists are being marketed like bisexual porn actresses. Male artists, on the other hand, are being marketed as strictly straight. If this doesn’t reek “double standard”, I don’t know what does.
By supporting these female artists, we are essentially propping up the bisexual double standard, a double standard which plays into the hands of homophobic straight guys. We are also contributing to our own marginalization.
I could go on but hopefully the above will register in your brain.
TANK
@jason:
It’s that insidious double standard! LMAO! You’re cracked.
dgz
@jason:
you blooming idiot.
YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT “DOUBLE STANDARD” MEANS.
@TANK: amen.
Jaroslaw
Yes, Daniel V is HOT.
Rob
Thanks, Queerty. Now all we have to do is get you not to refer to the black men and women of hip hop as “thugs” and “bitches” and I may be able to welcome you to 2009.
I pliss
@jason: Jason you are such and ass hole the cauliflower looking one. What do Rockers sing about? Most of the white Rock bands sings about how they get women and what they do to them. is that ok for white to sing that and not black. Don’t live in a color blind world you flipping idiot! All mainstream and underground male singers talk about manhood and demoralize women. Country music talks about what happens after! lol You like to push buttons lets hope your button pushing is only in cyberspace.
JNYCA
@jason:
You may have heard of a guy named Kele Okereke. He’s the singer for Bloc Party, a band that has definitely been on MTV. AND he’s out, AND he goes to gay clubs in NYC (seen him), Etc. and is happily photographed at them, and open to talking about being gay.
Plus they were a GLAAD award nominee in 2008. So there’s one guy (of color), at least.
Being negative doesn’t solve the problem. It’s really just about numbers and sales. Sell enough records, and MTV will do whatever the heck makes them money.
JNYCA
@jason:
Plus. Yes there aren’t TONS of gay musicians on MTV constantly (but also there really isn’t TONS of music on mtv either these days)….
But they definitely always make sure to throw a gay in the real world, and other programs, etc.
Plus, I think in general things are getting a bit better. Katy Perry and her song about girls, Bruno, Miley Ray, Britney, Drew Barrymore, etc. coming out against Prop 8. Patti Smith, Tyra Banks and Isis, Kathy Griffin becoming a top show and being VERY pro-gay, That singer for Hercules and the love affair (tranny…who many of my straight guy friends are into), Anthony and the Johnsons, Gravy train (as was mentioned), etc. etc. RACHEAL MADDOW. Wanda Sykes playing the white house.
I feel like there is a road to climb, but in general, I can not say that the media is not aware of, and openly putting Pro-Gay messages out consistently. I mean when my middle america mom (straight and married 20 years) is happy to sing “I kissed a girl and I liked it” and not think twice about the lyrics…..that’s a pretty big change from even 5 years ago.
Mazin Al-Fadi
this is really awesome! their music’s really good.
& I really want that T-shirt that Last Offence has got on in that picture.
anonymous
@Rob: Good luck in getting black men to stop referring to the same thing you are accusing Queerty of doing.
Oh but I forget. White people are not allowed to refer to blacks as “my niggah” and other such street jargon as is featured in their noise that is passed off as music, are they? That would be racist.
Double standard???
anonymous61
Yes, because using “racist”, ignorant jargon is a surefire way to diminish “racist”, ignorant jargon. Is there anything self-awareness can’t fix?
Kate Moran
What about Feloni out of Detroit? She is the best as far as I am concerned.
Sean
What about the HOUSE OF LADOSHA
Billie Jr
Check me out tho… lesbian that got bars …Better than anyone out right now
DOFEK
Tory, sweetheart! don`t come out till you meet me! AdamHomo