“Queen Latifah had a song saying she wasn't a bitch, and gays need to say the same: We ain't your fag.” In Houston April 6 at Club Dignity. Deadlee

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It's no secret that for the past two decades, hip-hop has been at the forefront of modern-day culture. Turn on your TV and you're bound to see or hear the music in some form or fashion. It's a multi-billion dollar industry that, besides the music, has resulted in everything from designer clothing labels (Roc-A-Wear, Sean John) to artists acquiring ownership in pro-basketball teams (Jay-Z, Usher). In 2006, hip-hop gained more mainstream popularity when Three 6 Mafia took home the Academy Award for their song "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" from the film Hustle & Flow. Hip-hop, which has its roots in the Bronx club culture in the '70s, is now enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (with the induction of Grandmaster Flash last month). An art form that was once considered a passing fad has stood the test of time—but in a significant way has yet to really catch up with the times.  

In the late '90s, radio personality Wendy Williams caused a bit of controversy when she spoke of a "gay rapper" within the confines of the hip-hop community. The $64,000 question was "Who is it?" and emcees from LL Cool J to Queen Latifah became suspect. Needless to say, the "gay rapper" was never revealed, but over the years, hip-hop has never been kind to anyone with a life that centers on anything apart from what is considered the norm. Buju Banton, the successful dancehall musician from Jamaica, created a considerable amount of international controversy with his 1992 song "Boom Bye Bye" that called for violence against homosexuals. Popular rapper Eminem has earned his fair share of press for his antigay lyrics as well. His sophomore release, The Marshall Mathers LP, received praise from critics but provoked a backlash from gay-rights activists and feminist groups who asserted that the album was misogynistic and homophobic. In what was considered a publicity stunt, Eminem performed his song "Stan" at the 2001 Grammy Awards with gay icon Elton John. In a post-ceremony interview with MTV newsman Kurt Loder, Eminem said that he wasn't aware John was gay and that he respected him. Neither the gesture nor his comments appeased critics.

Portrayals of masculinity in hip-hop and rap often mimic stereotypes of aggressiveness, violence, sexism, and homophobia. To make mockery of someone's sexuality by regulating them to "bitch-made" status or to make lyrics that degrades a man by "making a n--ga suck my dick" is one of the driving forces that causes many people take a look at rap music today and ask, Just how did it get to be so homophobic? Why is the music so violent? What's really going on with a cat who is supposed to be so "thugged out" and "hardcore," yet is depicted bare-chested in a video dissing women while cavorting with a bunch of dudes? Is it homoeroticism or homo-thuggery? In his new documentary Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes, filmmaker Byron Hunt calls attention to question when he asks Busta Rhymes—who made news a year ago when he lashed out at a gay fan in Miami—to describe his feelings about homophobia in hip-hop culture. Rhymes refuses to answer the question and instead walks away from the camera.

"I'm becoming numb, so to speak. I believe most people who are homophobic have deeper issues they're not willing to deal with," says Ernie Ball, when asked about his feelings about homophobia in hip-hop culture. "Society has made it easy to disrespect people of a different sexual orientation. Even though the GLBT community has come a long way, it's still a fight for respect. There will always be people who don't agree with the lifestyle and will always have negative things to say about it."

There are many who share Ball's sentiments, but from the depths of the urban underground, a new breed of emcee has stepped to the mic and now rocking new rhymes about their own experiences. They are standing up for themselves and in all honesty don't care whether you—or the rest of the hip-hop community—like what they have to say or not.

Several of these performers, including Deadlee, Mz Fontaine, Johnny Dangerous, Bigg Nugg, FoxxJazell, and QBoy, roll through Houston this month as part of Homo Revolution Tour 2007, the first-ever music tour featuring gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender hip-hop artists. Homo Revolution, which lands here on Friday, April 6 at Club Dignity, located at 1927 Scott (just off I-45 near the Texas Southern University campus), offers a chance to experience another aspect of the hip-hop genre. Through their words and beats, the Homo Revolution artists—who perform in El Paso (April 3), San Antonio (April 5), Austin (April 7), and Dallas (April 8) on their Texas leg of the tour—also shed light on changes that are necessary for hip-hop to come to grips with the negativity it has accumulated over the years. At the same time, the Homo Revolution hip-hoppers offer new role models for people who feel they are not represented in mainstream hip-hop.

Gay hip-hop, or "homohop," as it has been called, has been around for a while in the underground, but it was first brought to the attention of the larger GLBT community in Alex Hinton's 2005 documentary about the genre, Pick up the Mic. That 90-minute film profiled 18 GLBT hip-hop artists, who included Houstonian Miss Money, interviewed last fall by OutSmart ("She's So Money," September 2006).

Before the launch of the Homo Revolution Tour on March 29 in San Diego, I spoke with several of the performers who will appear in Houston (the stop here is sponsored by the local Gay and Lesbian Latino Organization as well as Unity in the Community, a new group established by club promoters Barbara and Zip Short-Morgan, among others).

Deadlee, who refers to himself as "the queer bastard child of Lil' Kim and DMX," is a roughneck and grimy vigilante whose lyrics have tackled race, class, police brutality, and, of course, sex. "I think we need to directly challenge the homophobes and let them know that gays are not to be f**ked with. Gay peeps can also be masculine, and it just hasn't been shown in the media," Deadlee said in a phone conversation with OutSmart. "I remember when Queen Latifah had a song saying she wasn't a bitch, and gays need to say the same: We ain't your fag. I grew up with hip-hop, and it's my music, too. I don't understand how anyone can tell me that I can or can't do this. It is more upsetting that the black community knows struggle and bigotry, yet they can be the worst homophobes."  

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"Hip-hop is not homophobic. There are plenty of positive, conscious artists out there who are not getting any light on them, because the big corporate sponsors have decided that negative rap not only makes them money but also continues to propel negative connotations of black society."

Click here for a list of HomoRevolution artists and their website links