The Center on Halsted continued its yearlong SpeakOUT series Sept. 22 with "Hip Hop on the Down Low," a free performance and panel discussion featuring four openly queer hip-hop artists.
After an energetic spoken-word performance from emcee Sage Morgan-Hubbard, local performers Lou Bigelow, Charity Taitt, Emanuel Vinson and Tim'm West took to the stage for two hours of live music and thought-provoking discussion.
"I think it's important for queer communities to challenge some of the class implications and racism that come with hip-hop culture," West said. "One of the reasons why gay communities largely haven't embraced hip-hop is because there's a lot of anxiety about young black peopleyoung black people fighting [or] hurting somebody. These presumptions get in the way of looking at a culture that has a lot to offer."
Subject matter from the night's performances included everything from Port-au-Prince and civil rights (from the quick-witted Taitt) to pop culture and double standards (Vinson's multimedia tracks). Homophobia and acceptance were pervasive themes.
In a song he wrote shorty after coming out, Bigelow rapped: "Human sexuality is like a ghost/if it's not straight, it's invisible to most." Turning to the audience, he asked: "Why does it matter who's in my bed? It's your turn to think about what I just said."
West focused on love, sensuality and fear before presenting his "A Real Man" music video. Shot on the South Side of Chicago, the 5-minute clip follows a gay Black couple as the men navigate a relationship where one is out, and the other isn't.
"It's sometimes really small acts of courage," West said. "It's very powerful for somebody to see two brothers on the South Side holding hands… Sometimes we think politics has to be a protest, but [it] can be deciding you're not going to leave your lover behind when you go back home for the holidays anymore."
In the Q&A session that followed, audience members asked performers for their take on the "no homo" phenomenon. In this recent pop culture trend, a heterosexual person immediately says "no homo" after complimenting someone of the same sex.
"It hurts straight people," West said. "I mean, I can't say someone's shirt looks nice without saying 'no homo'? … We as a community can take back that language and re-appropriate it. When I hear someone say 'no homo,' I say 'pro homo' or 'go homo.' We don't have to be victims to what people do to our language. We can fight back through language and make people feel silly."
Talk turned to current events in the hip-hop industry. In a problematic interview laden with misinformation about HIV, rapper Game (who talks about himself in the third person) urged queer rappers to come out of the closet. "Game don't have a problem with gay people," he said. "Game has a problem with people that are pretending not to be gay."
While Kanye West and others have also expressed acceptance, Tim'm West is cautious. "They are capitalists and smart, and they know with the growing queer presence, that if you're homophobic it could hurt you in terms of your sales. I don't think we should assume Kanye or Game are gay allies. I think it creates an opportunity for that happening because at least the conversation's happening."
Taitt agreed that open dialogue is the best way to change minds. "If you talk first, they're more willing to talk back," she said.
"Rosa [Parks] didn't wait for them to say, 'It's okay for you to sit in the front,'" West said. "At some point, you just have to take those steps."