Scared straight: Hip-Hop, outing, and the pedagogy of queerness

Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies

Volumn 31, Issue 1, 2009, Pages 29-54

  Hill, Marc Lamont ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 59149102058     PISSN: 10714413     EISSN: 15563022     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/10714410802629235     Document Type: Article

References (50)

1. Big Daddy Kane, "Give It To Me," Looks Like A Job For... (Warner Brothers=Wea, 1993).
2. POZ Magazine, October 1996, www.poz.com/articles/254_1816.shtml. (accessed March 1, 2007).
3. For a discussion of these controlling images see Patricia Hill Collins, Black Feminist Thought (New York: Routledge, 2000) and Black Sexual Politics (New York: Routledge, 2005). For an examination of womanhood in hip-hop, see Gwendolyn Pough, Check It While I Wreck It: Black Womanhood, Hip-Hop Culture, and the Public Sphere (New York: Columbia, 2004).
4. At the risk of being redundant, I find it necessary to reiterate my assertion that hip-hop culture places equally, if not more, strict and dehumanizing limitations on female sexual identities. Nevertheless, various incarnations of the butch=femme subjectivity have a level of commercial viability and social acceptance within the hip-hop community that is completely unthinkable for queer male artists.
5. For a discussion of queerness within the Black church, see Kelly Brown Douglas, Homophobia and Heterosexism in the Black Church and Community, In Cornel West and Eddie Glaude (Eds.), African American Religious Thought: An Anthology (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003, 996-1017); bell hooks and Cornel West, Breaking Bread: Insurgent Black Intellectual Life (Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 1991); Cornel West, Christian Love and Heterosexism, In The Cornel West Reader (New York: Basic Civitas, 1999) 401-414; and Michael Eric Dyson, Homotextualities: The Bible, Sexual Ethics, and the Theology of Homoeroticism, In Open Mike (New York: Basic Civitas, 2002). Hooks and West are particularly articulate about the moral contradictions inherent in using queer labor within the church (e.g., the gay piano player) while subjecting them to antigay discourses. Of course, this notion of contradiction hinges upon the assumption of a particular hermeneutical posture that enables one to question the belief that queer identity is antithetical to orthodox Christianity. As Douglas, West, and Dyson argue, such a reading is part and parcel of an appropriately historicized interpretation of antigay Biblical narratives, as well as a belief that Christianity's "love ethic," as espoused by Jesus in the New Testament, is superordinate to individual prohibitions or mandates.
6. My use of the term "emasculate" is not meant to suggest agreement with traditional heteronormative conceptions of masculinity that equate masculinity with heterosexuality. Rather, I intend to highlight the particular ways that narrow conceptions of masculinity inform much of hip-hop's, and indeed the broader community's, internal discourse.
7. For example, a fairly innocuous statement like "I need you to stand behind me on this project" or "These nuts are a bit too salty" would be punctuated with "no homo" in order to prevent misunderstanding or deliberate distortion for the purpose of playful or serious ridicule. While the origins of "pause" are uncertain, "no homo" originated with rapper Cam'ron and his Dipset crew. In all likelihood, Cam'ron's use of the term was at least a partial reaction to frequent speculation and taunts from rival rappers and fans who found Cam's predilection for adorning himself in pink and purple clothing and cars to be sexually dubious.
8. In line with my neo-Gramscian approach to popular culture, I strongly dispute the notion that "conscious" hip-hop provides a transcendent sphere within an otherwise hegemonic culture industry. Such a notion hinges upon the invocation of a faulty (and elitist) modernist dichotomy between high and low culture - in this case mainstream vs. conscious rap music - that obscures the complex interplay between reproduction and resistance in all sites of hip-hop cultural production.
9. I use the term "radical" Afrocentric in referencing the extremist wing of the Afrocentric tradition. In particular, I am referring to the work of scholars like Leonard Jeffries and Francis Cress Welsing, whose work occupies the fringes of African centered thought and practice. Heterosexist ideologies are not exclusive, however, to Afrocentricity's margins. In his early work, such as the first edition of Afrocentricity (Temple University Press), Afrocentric pioneer Molefi Asante argued that homosexuality was a byproduct of European decadence rather than biological determination. Although many mainstream Afrocentrists have departed from this position - including Asante, who removed the claim from later editions of the book - the extremist wing of the Afrocentric school continues to shape the lyrics of artists like Public Enemy, Ras Kass, Nas, and Paris. With regard to Black Islamic organizations, Minister Louis Farrakhan's Nation of Islam, Silis Muhammad's Lost-Found Nation of Islam, and Imam Isa's Ansaaru Allah community all deployed fundamentalist readings of the Bible and Quran, particularly the book of Leviticus, in order to substantiate an antigay theology. Like the Afrocentrists, these groups argued that Black homosexuality was an extension of White "devilishment" (evil and unnatural behavior) that had been taught to Blacks through "tricknology," or knowledge that would undermine prosperity, peace, and full realization of Black humanity.
10. On his Electric Circus album, Common included the song "Between Me, You, and Liberation," where he suggests that his friend was liberated by coming out of the closet. Although his subsequent album, Be, did not discuss homosexuality, it nonetheless marked a critical departure from previous albums, where he routinely attacked gays and lesbians.
11. Lauryn Hill, "Adam Lives in Theory," Unplugged (Columbia, 2002). In the song, the Hill sings, "Eve was so naive, blinded by the pride and greed=Wanting to be intellectual=Drifting from the way she got turned down one day=And now she thinks that she's bisexual."
12. At the time of this writing, reports have confirmed that Caushun was dropped from Baby Phat and has yet to sign with another label. In 1998, public speculation arose about the sexual identity of female rapper Queen Pen, whose single "Girlfriend" explicitly addressed the issue of lesbianism. Although most fans and critics assumed that Queen Pen was a lesbian, she refused to identify as such, telling the New York Times "I'm black, I'm a female rapper. I couldn't even go out of my way to pick up a new form of discrimination. People are waiting for this hip-hop Ellen to come out of the closet. I'd rather be a mystery for a minute." See Greatest Taboo: Homosexuality in Black Communities (Los Angeles: Alyson Books, 2000).
13. The earliest public usage of the term "outing" can be found in the 1990 Time magazine article, "Forcing Gays Out of the Closet," by William A. Henry III (Time, 29, January 1996, 67).
14. Although "the closet" is typically used as a metaphor to signify a surreptitious negotiation of queer sexual practices or desires, it also reflects the complex formations of knowledge and power that have historically constituted the closet. As Michael P. Brown argues, "The closet is a term used to describe the denial, concealment, erasure, or ignorance of lesbians and gay men. It describes their absence - and alludes to their ironic presence nonetheless - in a society that, in countless interlocking ways, subtly and blatantly dictates that heterosexuality is the only way to be." For a deeper examination of the closet as an ideological and spatial metaphor, see Eve Sedgwick, Epistemology of the Closet (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990) and Michael P. Brown, Closet Space: Geographies of Metaphor from the Body to the Globe (New York: Routledge, 2000).
15. For an exhaustive treatment of outing in the West, see Warren Johansson and William A. Percy, Outing: Shattering the Conspiracy of Silence (Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press, 1994); Martin Duberman, Hidden From History: Reclaiming the Gay and Lesbian Past (New York: Duberman, 1989); Lillian Faderman, Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth Century America (New York: Penguin, 1992).
16. Within ancient Greek society, sexual relationships between adult men were deemed socially unacceptable. However, pederasty, or same-sex bonds between adolescent boys and adult men, were not only socially permissible but considered integral parts of moral, social, and educational development. Although, as Foucault and others argue, sexual practices were not constitutive of social identity until the latter part of the nineteenth century, pederastic relationships were nonetheless governed by a heteronormative sexual calculus that forbade sexual attraction or enjoyment on the part of the eromenos, or adolescent boy. Also, the erastes, or adult male, was allowed to participate in sexual congress with an adolescent boy only if he were the insertive (i.e., penetrating) partner. Although scholars have argued that it is too reductive to ascribe the terms "dominant" and "passive" to the erastes and eromenos roles, there was an indisputable correlation between masculinity and penetration that helped to arbitrate the social and moral acceptability of sexual practices. For more about homosexuality in Ancient Greece, see Kenneth J. Dover, Greek Homosexuality (New York: Vintage Books, 1978) and William A. Percy III, Pederasty and Pedagogy in Archaic Greece (Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1996).
17. Warren Johansson and William A. Percy, Outing: Shattering the Conspiracy of Silence (Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press, 1994) 31.
18. Larry Gross, Contested Closets: The Politics and Ethics of Outing (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minneapolis Press, 1993).
19. Ibid., 13.
20. Ibid.
21. The idea that AIDS was a gay disease was not restricted to everyday discourse. Until 1982, AIDS was officially known as GRID, gay related immunodeficiency disease.
22. In addition to concealing Hudson's sexual identity, Henry Willson was largely responsible for the "beefcake" craze of the 1950s. See Robert Hofler, The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson: The Pretty Boys and Dirty Deals of Henry Willson (New York: Carroll & Graf, 2005).
23. Larry Gross, Contested Closets: The Politics and Ethics of Outing (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minneapolis Press, 1993) 6.
24. Interview with Denver Post quoted in http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/ bush-ally-quits-evangelical-post-in-gay-scandal/2006/11/03/ 1162340050165.html. Accessed on November 13, 2008.
25. www.keithboykin.com/arch/2005/09/26/is/_td_jakes_gay. (accessed March 1, 2007).
26. www.washblade.com/2005/9-30/news/national/pastors.cfm. (accessed March 1, 2007).
27. Of course, the anxiety around Bayard Rustin's sexuality by civil rights leadership was not merely self-induced nor unwarranted. Although Rustin served as an early mentor to Martin Luther King, his role as an organizer and strategist for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference was minimized after Adam Clayton Powell threatened to spread a rumor that Rustin and King were lovers. For a fascinating examination of the relationship between Rustin's sexuality and political life, read John D'emilio, Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin (New York: Free Press, 2003).
28. For examples of posthumous discussion of Luther Vandross's queer identity, see Jason King's Village Voice essay, "Why Luther Vandross's Legacy Matters," www.villagevoice.com/music/ 0527,king,65563,22.html (accessed March 1, 2007) and Craig Seymour, Luther: The Life and Longing of Luther Vandross (New York: Harper Paperbacks, 2005).
29. Mark Anthony Neal, NewBlackMan (New York: Routledge, 2005).
30. Nas, "Ether," Stillmatic (Sony, 2001).
31. Ibid.
32. Ibid.
33. It is likely that Nas was confusing, either deliberately or unintentionally, John D. Rockefeller with Rock Hudson, who died of AIDS in 1985. Another less likely explanation is that Nas was referring to a local street hustler by the same name who died of AIDS.
34. Although it was a popular song in New York for nearly a month, "Super Ugly" never made it to an official album.
35. For discussions of the relationship between hip-hop and the signifyin(g) tradition, see Russell Potter, Spectular Vernaculars: Hip-Hop and the Politics of Postmodernism (New York: SUNY Press, 1995).
36. Eazy E. "Real Muthaphuckkin G's" (Ruthless, 1998).
37. Tupac Shakur, "To Live and Die in L.A," Makaveli (Interscope, 1996).
38. Tupac Shakur, "Realest Shit," Makaveli (Interscope, 1996).
39. Ja Rule "Blood in My Eye," Blood in my Eye (Def Jam, 2003).
40. http://www.geocities.com/ambwww/enema.htm. (accessed March 1, 2007).
41. As Phillip Brian Harper points out in his book Are We Not Men? (New York: Oxford Press, 1996), the issue of being HIV positive is largely subordinate to the question of how the virus is contracted. In the case of Magic Johnson, Harper points out that the support he received from the African American community was directly connected to his consistent declarations of heterosexuality and public performances of homophobic and patriarchal masculinity. It was this sensibility that informed Eazy E's emphatic and repeated declarations of hypersexuality.
42. Like many hip-hop rumors, the primary source for the story on Tupac was gossip journalist Wendy Williams. Of course, Tupac vehemently denied the rumors in multiple post-jail interviews, such as the one with Chuck Phillips that famously appeared in the Los Angeles Times ("I Am Not A Gangster" by Chuck Phillips, October 25, 1995). Pac later created the unreleased song, "Why U Turn On Me," where he raps: "Said I got raped in jail, picture that=Revenge is a payback bitch, get your gat=Fuck Wendy Williams and I pray you choke= on the next dick down your throat, for turnin' on me."
43. http://www.allhiphop.com/hiphopnews/?ID=1164. (accessed March 1, 2007).
44. http://www.allhiphop.com/hiphopnews/?ID=1164. (accessed March 1, 2007).
45. DMX, "Where the Hood At?," Grand Champ (Def Jam, 2003).
46. http://www.io.com/~larrybob/gayrap2.html. (accessed March 1, 2007).
47. For a thorough examination of the factual inaccuracies, logical fallacies, and questionable motivations behind J. L. King's books, see Keith Boykin, Beyond the Down Low: Sex, Lies, and Denial in Black America (New York: Carroll & Graff, 2005).
48. http://www.thumperscorner.com/discus/messages/7242/2354.html?1107482549. (accessed March 1, 2007).
49. www.villagevoice.com/news/0326,king,45063,1.html. (accessed March 1, 2007).
50. For a fascinating examination of Tupac's complexities and contradictions, see Michael Eric Dyson, Holler If You Hear Me: Searching For Tupac Shakur (New York: Basic Civitas, 2002).