Lil Nas X Comes Out: Deadass Thought I Made It Obvious - Essay Sample

Introduction

The American entertainment industry has, in the recent past, shifted attention to the LGBT community. The attention ranges from movies to music and even dance crews. Celebrities have also not been left behind with some hinting and others openly declaring they are gay. The latest in the list of such celebrities is Lil Nax X. The rapper revealed in a tweet remarking, "deadass thought I made it obvious." Alongside the tweet was a screenshot of rainbows from his music video. The rapper then sent another tweet with a short clip attached. The clip starts in black and white and then transforms into a rainbow.

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The announcement that the rapper is gay was not received well by a section of his followers with one comment stating "Can you not be gay" and another saying "He's gay I'm no longer listening to this." The negative reaction is representative of the obstacle present in popular culture. Worth noting is the fact that the rapper is African American. This paper will examine how Lil Nax X overcame the obstacles of being a gay black man in the music industry and still proceeded to become wildly successful.

History of Gay in Popular Culture and Music Industry

Gay celebs in American popular culture have for long kept their sexuality a secret. In a 2013 HBO special, Behind the Candelabra, Liberace one of the America most celebrated pianist is documented to have hidden his homosexuality from the public (Chatzipapatheodoridis, 2017). At one point he had sued Bill Connor for suggesting he was homosexual. The case ended with Liberace being awarded PS8000 in damages (Chatzipapatheodoridis, 2017).

The film, however, reveals that indeed Liberace was gay and had had an affair with Scott Thorson (Chatzipapatheodoridis, 2017). All his life, the pianist had covered up his sexuality from his vast and idolizing public (Chatzipapatheodoridis, 2017). In addition, the fear to come and lose his status to a public that was still hostile to homosexuality status might have led him to keep his sexuality a secret.

Though Liberace never advocated for gay rights, pop culture in later years was increasingly used for this purpose. The initial open advocacy in public using music can be found in Madonna's vogue performances and tours. Voguing, which was a highly stylized, queer form of dancing among New York's black and Latino LGBTQ community, was popularized by Madonna (Chatzipapatheodoridis, 2017).

Chatzipapatheodoridis (2017), who examined the legacy of vogue, noted that because of the influence of Madonna, the dance was known to the greater public. Here pop culture had achieved a great milestone to bring the queer culture to light.

Black and Gay

There are limited research and studies on the black LGBTQ community due to resistance towards coming out as well as lack of responses in surveys and research studies. Gecewicz and Lipka (2014) note that African Americans are also less likely to support same-sex marriage. The authors found that only 42 percent of the African Americans support same-sex marriage compared to 53 percent of whites (Gecewicz & Lipka, 2014).

The same survey found that 70 percent of blacks acknowledged homosexual as sin compared to 47 percent of whites. Gecewicz and Lipka (2014) argue that black members of the community not only suffer because of their race but also due to their sexuality making them a target for discrimination from whites and their community.

Popular culture not only fills the void on racism facing the black population but has also taken up the role of advocating for the rights of the black gay community. The use of popular culture as a way to induce acceptability is favored for its vast reach and a lack of boundaries. Kidd (2014) observes that popular culture is a commercial culture identifiable to both the very rich and the very poor. Moreover, the author argues that there exists a connection between the creators and the audience that ultimately impacts how the show gives an accurate reflection of society.

The author points to the example of Glee and argues that director Ryan Murphy, portrays the high school culture in the film from his own experience and what he has seen in the news (Gecewicz & Lipka, 2014). It, therefore, follows that the film captures a relatively accurate picture of the real-life high school experience. The author makes interesting arguments on why popular culture may not be as effective as it appears to be (Gecewicz & Lipka, 2014). First, that popular culture insists that we have failed to fully integrate while at the same time labeling consumers as freaks and strangers.

Secondly, that bias in the production and content present a flawed picture of the real issue which might not be accepted by critical consumers (Kidd, 2014) Moreover, Kidd (2014) further notes that the fact that the culture industry is controlled by a very small handful of corporations shows that they aim at perpetuating consumerism. In addition, the author argues that the culture industry does not sell enlightenment, no life lesson and no new possibility of the human experience (Kidd, 2014)

Kidd (2014) argument might not capture the trouble experienced by the black gay community identity crisis and Lil Nax X use of popular culture to stand up to this community. To test the argument by Kidd (2014), we might as well observe the movie Moonlight to examine whether it accurately captures the struggle of the black gay community or just perpetuates consumerism. Moonlight narrates the story of Chiron, a poor, gay, black boy growing up in South Florida.

Unlike most African American movies, it goes beyond drugs and violence and depicts issues regarding societal pressures and familial relations. The film depicts the queer love story of Chiron and his childhood friend and their eventual romantic interests. The film challenges the stereotypes of gay communities in that it presents a homosexual character that has the traditional masculinity.

Chiron does not wear fancy clothes and is rough and muscular while being attracted to men. Moreover, unlike the other films that depict the gay community as having a smooth upbringing, Chiron grows in a tough and poor neighborhood. One characterized by physical violence and discrimination.

Rudy (2016) captures the stereotype associated with gay men. For example, the notion that they are "feminine." That is gay men as ones who express themselves through speech, dressing, and behaviors that are traditionally feminine. However, in the film, Chiron is seen as challenging this stereotype. The film is representative of the new age of the queer black male in popular culture.

Moonlight can be seen as building upon the efforts of yesteryears to liberate the black gay. Such efforts can be traced to a Harlem Renaissance writer, painter, and illustrator Richard Nugget (Chatzipapatheodoridis, 2017). Richard Nugget was among the first African American writer to pronounce his homosexuality in print (Chatzipapatheodoridis, 2017). The impact of Nugget in popular was felt through films that documented his works on black and gay history and a film Smoke Lilies and Jade based on Nuggets 1926 short story by the same name (Knadler, 2002).

In the short story, Prince is depicted as an always trailblazing artist who was candid of his sexuality and gender fluidity and captivated his fans until his death in 2016. Prince enabled the queer black men to feel appreciated and affirmed. Munoz (1999) in his book Disidentification: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics, unpacks the cultural importance of artists that put a spotlight on queerness, like Jean-Michel Basquiat, a celebrated black artist alongside his friend Andy Warhol. In the book Munoz writes, "The line I want to trace is one that begins with identifying with one's heroes, actually becoming like one's role model and then moving one (Munoz, 1999).

The line is not easy to follow since its neither linear nor straight but rather a queer trajectory". The phrase points at the impact queer artist had had on their followers. Just like Moonlight, earlier artist of popular culture influenced and advocated for black gay, not because of the sponsorship but rather because they identified with the community (Munoz, 1999). This argument faults Kidd (2015) argument that those behind popular culture were pushing for their interests.

Fast forward to the current decade; several queer black men have come out to inspire others. Frank Ocean, known from his association with the group Odd Future, broke the hip hop culture of homophobia and hypermasculinity by expressing his queerness (Chatzipapatheodoridis, 2017). Frank Ocean released a letter in 2012 that narrated of his first love to a man.

Over, the years he has further advocated for queerness in his music such as the soundtrack "Thinking About You" (Blake, 2018). In addition, the artist further expressed agony after the Pulse massacre. In a similar style like Frank Ocean and Lil Nax X, Kelvin Abstract, a black rapper from Texas redefined convention about boy bands and rappers in his music (Blake, 2018).

The lyrics to his songs incorporate his queerness unforgivingly. Lines such as "I'm so claustrophobic," "My boyfriend saved me," "I'm stuck in the closet," and "My mother so homophobic." In an interview with BBC, the musician noted that he did not want to be labeled a queer rapper but "just wanted to be a rapper" (Blake, 2018). The artist is quoted to have said: "I have to exist in a homophobic space in order to make a change and that homophobic space would be the hip hop community" (Blake, 2018).

Efforts to fight the stigma associated with black male queerness extends beyond the hip hop culture and into the film. Keiynan Lonsdale, an actor, known for acting CW's Flash, came out as queer on Instagram page. The rapper expressed his pain over lack of support from the entertainment industry, a factor that encouraged him to steer clear of the topic. Lonsdale today continues to be a successful actor and his coming out as queer has not ended his career. This indicates that unlike earlier years where such declaration would have ended one's career no longer exist have changed.

Starting in the 1970s as a music genre associated with race, violence, and unapologetic blackness, hip hop has broken barriers to be used as a platform by the black gay artist. It no longer carries with it the sexism and homophobia of earlier years (Li, 2018). The continued success enjoyed by celebrities who have come out as gay shows that times have changed.

In addition, they have shown that queer black men have found platforms that found them worthy of representation in mainstream popular culture (Blake, 2018). The coming out of celebrities not only affirms the presence of queer black men but also allows them to exist the boundaries set by black hypermasculinity and the misrepresentation of their experiences (Blake, 2018).

Conclusion

Lil Nax X continues to enjoy success even after he came out as gay. His song "Old Town Road" maintained the top position as the longest-running number-one song since the announcement that he was queer. The paper finds that the continued success by Lil Nax X is attributed to the efforts by both straight and queer artists who have advocated for queer black men inclusion. From Richard Nugget who stood out alone to Lil Nax X, the road to inclusion has not been easy.

However, the continued success by Lil Nax X cannot be solely argued as one based on an increasing understanding of popular culture fan base. That is the fight for the inclusion of queer black men as boring fruits. However, there is a need to examine whe...