The gay world of Nicki Minaj

Hip-hop used to be about the African-American consciousness—a celebration of differences and an angry cry to rally against the feverish, mass produced climate of 1970s America. While male rappers claimed a significant portion of the critical and commercial success, the voice of female emcees became increasingly prevalent during the golden era of hip-hop in the early ’90s. Rappers like Queen Latifah and MC Lyte broke beyond the confines of the boy’s club, letting loose lyrics that promoted female empowerment. During an August 2010 interview on NPR’s Tell Me More, documentary filmmaker Ava DuVernay stated, “...during that time, you saw, you know, good numbers of women comparatively, about 45 or so, women signed to major labels... recording, touring, making music videos... And there’s been a drastic drop off to the point where we’re at... there are about three women [Nicki Minaj, Trina and Diamond] signed to major labels at this point.”

Consequently, since that time, there has been a tendency towards hyper-masculinity in rap, which includes a shameful display of homophobia in the rhymes of many male rappers and reggae artists, at times even baiting audiences to kill gay men. Unfortunately, this attitude has permeated into mainstream audiences and has led to the ill-informed conclusion that hip-hop is inherently homophobic.

But now, female rappers are coming out in droves, embracing their gay following and acknowledging the unfortunate decision of some rappers to hijack the industry and feed the public homophobic hate speech. In a May 2010 interview with Details magazine, Nicki Minaj, hip-hop’s current flavor of the year, addressed the homophobic nature of hip-hop: “I think the world is getting more gay-friendly, so hip-hop is too. But it’s harder to imagine an openly gay male rapper being embraced. People view gay men as having no street credibility. But I think we’ll see one in my lifetime.” This month she graces the cover of Out magazine, following in the footsteps of Lil’ Kim, who posed for the magazine in December 1999. Minaj, whose lyrics sometimes reference gay men, admits her own mistakes, in particular the use of the phrase “no homo.” Minaj has since substituted the phrase—which, in her words, means “no sexual connotation intended”—for “pause,” after a gay male fan complained to her via Twitter.

In her second mixtape, The Lola Monroe Chronicles, newbie Lola Monroe raps about her love for gay men and drag queens. The song “Taking It” boasts the lyrics, “You see a pretty b— with a pretty mean swag,/ sassy talk, pretty Audi and I’m such a f— hag,/ you see I live for the f—s and the pretty, pretty drags...” While to the politically correct, these lines are less than perfect, the intention behind the words might be viewed as brave. Although Lola has the support and backing of Trina—a very powerful endorsement in the rap game—she is still green in comparison, and such a bold statement can, no doubt, divide a prospective audience.

The presentation of homophobic language in hip-hop is no doubt the result of masculine insecurity, and the attempt at defining oneself as a “real man” at the expense of an entire community. My own fascination with rap music is focused almost exclusively on female rappers—Trina, Lola Monroe, Nicki Minaj and Nisha Rockstarr—who are almost consistently outrageous and genius in their lyrics. However, the support of LGBT individuals by such female rappers has almost exclusively excluded female members of the gay community. Part of this might be an attempt by female rappers to distance themselves from the image of the “dyke”—ironically, the same sort of oppositional defining of the self that male rappers do. A strong woman in any field fears the labels that may follow success in a male dominated environment.

Another theory on female rappers’ acceptance of the gay community is that this acceptance operates within the confines of stereotype: Chiefly, the stereotype that the gay male can only be accepted as an accessory to a lively, beautiful straight female. That he cannot exist outside the identity of his “hag.” For female rappers, this idea could be ego-empowering.

Or perhaps female rappers are catching on to what members of other industries have begun realizing over the years—there is a lot of money swirling around in the gay community. According to Witeck-Combs Communications, a Washington, D.C.-based communications firm, the buying power of the LGBT community in 2006 was $660 billon, an estimate that is expected to increase to $835 billion by 2011. In 2009, gay publications saw record high revenues for ads, a total of $349.6 million. Maybe female rappers’ pro gay lyrics and magazine interviews are borne out of a desire to increase their market share rather than any higher purpose of dismantling damaging stereotypes.

Of course, this may be a wholly cynical view of the recent phenomena. While the unique relationship of female emcees with their gay fans may be some of these things in part, it must also be attributed to the increasing visibility of gay men and women in all fields, and perhaps the steady and progressive direction that history, and individuals, inevitably always takes.