One of the challenges of this show was one inherent to the genre itself, the language. As Part 1 is the segment for airing on broadcast radio, I reluctantly had to do a little editing...you'll probably know when...and select very carefully the songs used. But the luxury of having a large website allows me to upload additional segments, with no language restrictions, so Part 2 and Part 3 are very adult, complete with the explicit language and sexual references. You've been warned...:) And of course, with featuring over 38 different artists I was not able to share complete versions of most of the songs, but it should give you a great taste of the genre. There were many more I wish I could have included in these almost 3 1/2 hours.

    

Above left and right, Bigg Nugg starts and ends my 3+ hour special. His 2007 debut album, "La Revolucion," features seven different guest artists, demonstrating the collaborative spirit of queer hip hop. Shown in the middle is Man Parrish. Many credit his song "Hip Hop Be Bop" from 1984 as the first gay hip hop song.

   

I consider the trio Age of Consent as the first gay rap group and with recording the first gay rap song. In 1981 they first performed "Fight Back," and it was included in the 1983 compilation "English as a Second Language." Part 3 of this show features an interview with John Callahan, who is shown below, with Thea Other and (right) David Hughes. A collection of their music was released in 2004, called "Old School on the Down Low."

    

Above, Me'Shell Ndegeocello's bold song "Leviticus: Faggot" captured lots of attention in 1996, and the next year she joined Queen Pen on the even bolder "Girlfriend." That song is way too explicit for radio, but the lyrics can be heard clearly in Part 2.

Tori Fixx Interview

Singer, writer, producer, DJ, remixer...Tori Fixx has been pioneering gay rap and hip hop for many years, including a slew of solo releases, serving as a member of the group Rainbow Flava and producer and collaborator on more tracks than even he can remember. And, he was a featured artist in the documentary "Pick Up the Mic" and the Homo Revolution Tour 2007. I'm pleased to bring you an interview where he talks about his music, the genre, homophobia, the future of gay hip hop and more.

  

An act important to the history of gay hip hop is Deep Dickollective, also known as D/DC. The act was formed in early 2000 by Juba Kalamka, Tim'm T West and Phillip Atiba Goff, and a number of others have contributed over the years. They have been called intellectual architects of homohop as they deftly serve up their politics and beats with a barage of polysyllabic words. This is a group that takes close listening.

  

Added June2023: Link to a Terrific article
on Juba Kalamka and his Hip-Hop World

Below, some of the bright new stars of gay hip hop: Deadlee, Johnny Dangerous,
and God-des & She

    

    

    

While the song "Love You Better" is not released yet, I couldn't resist grabbing it from their myspace page.

Perhaps the godfather of gay hip hop, Dutchboy, shown below with his music partner Shante Paradigm, who are called BQE. While queer hip hop goes back to the early 80s, it wasn't until around 1996 that a community would evolve, mostly due to the efforts of Dutchboy. He founded the group Rainbow Flava and reached out to other queer artists, and founded Phat Family, a record label largely responsible for giving exposure to many artists with their series of three compilation albums.

  

  

Above left, a shot I took of Shante & Dutchboy at the Outmusic Awards in 2003,
where he was given an honorary award. At right, Deadlee missed the photo
shoot for their duet on "No Flagz Allowed."

    

  

The Homo Revolution Tour 2007 CD features most of the artists who took part in the tour, a great
introduction to the current world of queer hip hop. Pass your cursor over the cover to see the back.