Kanye West Calls for End to Gay Bashing

[felicitylen]

NEW YORK - Kanye West says "gay" has become an antonym to hip-hop — and that it needs to be stopped.

During an interview for an MTV special, the 27-year-old rapper launched into a discussion about hip-hop and homosexuality while talking about "Hey Mama," a song on his upcoming album, "Late Registration."

West says that when he was young, people would call him a "mama's boy."

"And what happened was, it made me kind of homophobic, 'cause it's like I would go back and question myself," West says on the show, "All Eyes on Kanye West," set to air Thursday night (10:30 p.m. ET).

West says he changed his ways, though, when he learned one of his cousins was gay.

"It was kind of like a turning point when I was like, `Yo, this is my cousin. I love him and I've been discriminating against gays.'"

West says hip-hop was always about "speaking your mind and about breaking down barriers, but everyone in hip-hop discriminates against gay people." He adds that in slang, gay is "the opposite, the exact opposite word of hip-hop."

Kanye's message: "Not just hip-hop, but America just discriminates. And I wanna just, to come on TV and just tell my rappers, just tell my friends, `Yo, stop it.'"

West, whose debut disc "The College Dropout" won a Grammy for best rap album, will see his second record in stores on Aug. 30.

__http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050818/ap_en_mu/people_kanye_west_

[Rene]

thats why i love kanye so much-thats pretty cool of him to say this

[Dean Winchester]

Originally Posted by felicitylen

NEW YORK - Kanye West says "gay" has become an antonym to hip-hop — and that it needs to be stopped.

During an interview for an MTV special, the 27-year-old rapper launched into a discussion about hip-hop and homosexuality while talking about "Hey Mama," a song on his upcoming album, "Late Registration."

West says that when he was young, people would call him a "mama's boy."

"And what happened was, it made me kind of homophobic, 'cause it's like I would go back and question myself," West says on the show, "All Eyes on Kanye West," set to air Thursday night (10:30 p.m. ET).

West says he changed his ways, though, when he learned one of his cousins was gay.

"It was kind of like a turning point when I was like, `Yo, this is my cousin. I love him and I've been discriminating against gays.'"

West says hip-hop was always about "speaking your mind and about breaking down barriers, but everyone in hip-hop discriminates against gay people." He adds that in slang, gay is "the opposite, the exact opposite word of hip-hop."

Kanye's message: "Not just hip-hop, but America just discriminates. And I wanna just, to come on TV and just tell my rappers, just tell my friends, `Yo, stop it.'"

West, whose debut disc "The College Dropout" won a Grammy for best rap album, will see his second record in stores on Aug. 30.

__http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050818/ap_en_mu/people_kanye_west_

I'm not a fan of his music, but damn, Kanye West rocks

The biggest thing that has kept me from getting into hip hop music is the blatant homophobia that is branded tolerable in the genre, with artists spewing the word "***" out like it's okay. The coolest part is that Kanye has enough respect and clout in the genre, people will listen. Tho I'm sure one or two *******s in the genre will write a diss record to Kanye and call him a "*** lover" or something.

[L&OFan4Eva]

That's really cool of Kanye. He's the coolest. His music rocks and so does he.

[MissZero]

go Kanye! It's pretty cool that he had the courage to go out and speak his mind when most rappers woul NEVER think of saying that (even if they believed it)

[vashti1999]

The interesting thing is Sway, the guy who interviewed Kanye on MTV, is homophobic. He's said some negative things against gays in the past, so I was interested in his reaction to what Kanye was saying. That's a good job by Kanye. Both he and Common have been against homophobia. One, maybe two rappers will take his advice to tone it down though.

[MissZero]

Originally Posted by vashti1999

The interesting thing is Sway, the guy who interviewed Kanye on MTV, is homophobic. He's said some negative things against gays in the past, so I was interested in his reaction to what Kanye was saying. That's a good job by Kanye. Both he and Common have been against homophobia. One, maybe two rappers will take his advice to tone it down though.

thats interesting..i didnt know sway was homophobic. overall i thought that was a good interview and i might even pick up the new cd tuesday

[vashti1999]

Originally Posted by MissZero

thats interesting..i didnt know sway was homophobic. overall i thought that was a good interview and i might even pick up the new cd tuesday

Yeah, there's an actor on HBO's The Wire named Michael Williams who plays a gay character on that show. He was interviewed by Sway on the radio station Hot 97 a couple of years ago here in NYC. Here's an excerpt from an article on it:

The actor had his first face-to face confrontation with homophobia in a recent radio interview on New York City's Hot 97 with DJ and MTV personality Sway, who objected to a steamy love scene Williams had enacted with Ernest Waddell, playing Omar's on-screen lover Dante. "He ambushed me with his homophobia," recalls Williams. "He said that he was personally repulsed by the scene and said it was morally outrageous. Then I got the same thing from callers in to the show. One guy who was Jamaican called me a batty boy." (Sway later got flak for his on air behavior and, says Williams, almost got fired from Hot 97.)

So I was curious to see Sway's reaction sitting there while Kanye gives his support to gays, but I guess he kept his mouth shut this time. I admire Kanye and Common for taking a stand that isn't easy to take in the world of hip hop.

[Rene]

i didnt know sway did that- i dont like him anymore

[Karen*]

That's awesome. I love Kanye West.

[PrettyinPink55]

Go Kanye!!! I think he is awsome, and amazingly talented!

[Superstar]

I don't like Kanye but its about time somebody spoke out about gay bashing in hip hop.

[Brad Russ]

That's awesome that he had the guts to come out and say that. I'm sure Eminem will probably come out now and diss him pretty hard, but I don't think that'll bother Kanye much. Hopefully he won't stoop to Eminem's level, and retaliate, if Eminem does indeed decide to attack him. Homophobia is one of the MANY reasons I gave up listening to most rap music, so I think it's refreshing to see that someone is finally coming forth, and addressing some of these issues. Hopefully he'll next say something about the degrading of women that is done in much of rap music today. Some of the hateful stuff said towards women in rap songs, and some of the things done to women in many rap videos, is downright sickening!! It would be nice to see him, or some other big name rap star address that, and some of the many other issues that plague rap music today.

[vashti1999]

Originally Posted by Little Mel

Hopefully he'll next say something about the degrading of women that is done in much of rap music today. Some of the hateful stuff said towards women in rap songs, and some of the things done to women in many rap videos, is downright sickening!!

I would agree with you as far as what the rappers put in their lyrics, though the degradation of women in the music isn't as prevalent as you might think. As far as the videos go, the women don't have agree to appear in them scantily clad and gyrating around. As long as there are women who agree to do that, those videos will be around. There needs to be some accountability on the female's part too.

[Brad Russ]

Originally Posted by vashti1999

I would agree with you as far as what the rappers put in their lyrics, though the degradation of women in the music isn't as prevalent as you might think. As far as the videos go, the women don't have agree to appear in them scantily clad and gyrating around. As long as there are women who agree to do that, those videos will be around. There needs to be some accountability on the female's part too.

That's a good point. I just find it sad that anyone would stoop to that kind of stuff, whether it be rappers, MTV, or the women who appear in the videos. And unless some big name steps up and says something, I just don't see things ever changing. But you're right, alot of the accountability does need to lie with the women who agree to appear in those kinds of videos. They're certainly not victims, as long as they agree to be a part of it. I definitely agree with you on that.