Last month, I shared with you two stories about toxic masculinity and LGBTQ acceptance in the rap/hiphop industry.
First, I shared the fact that rapper Wiz Khalifa thought any man who bites out of a banana is “sus,” which is basically a cry for a reality check.
Realizing the wrong message about the hip hop/rap industry might have come across, I then wrote up a list of 10 big name rappers/hiphop artists who are LGBTQ themselves or accepting of us. One of those rappers was Taylor Bennett.
Now, I’m happy to share with you that Bennett is being just as inclusive and representative as we hope all LGBTQ creatives would be.
While being interviewed on radio talk show The Breakfast Club (which is ironically the same talk show where Khalifa said his unfortunate statement), Bennett shared that the hip hop industry is more welcoming than people think. He aso said that its his wish to represent LGBTQ Black people who live in hostile environments where its dangerous to come out.
"Hip Hop is gay as f*ck,” the artist stated, “but also know that there's a lot of Black people that never had the opportunity like me to come out. That's what I want to do is I want those motherf*ckers to feel comfortable."
Bennett also shared a few words for homophobic parents and people who make Black teens feel the need to remain in the closet.
"I want your kids to feel comfortable. N*gga, you can hate on me but Imma put this out and make sure that when your kid is in school that he gets to be whoever the f*ck he wanna be."
For those who don’t know who Taylor Bennett is, he first got attention for being the younger brother of Grammy winning artist Chance the Rapper. Bennett then came out with his own music.
On top of that, Bennett came out as bisexual last year to honor his 21st birthday. In a tweet, Bennett share with the world that he’s grown to accept his sexuality enough to be open about it.
Bennett’s older brother Chance, real name Chancelor, then shared that he didn’t know about his brother’s sexuality beforehand but he’s honored to know now.
“We honestly didn’t talk about it until after he put it out on Twitter… so I think it’s cool he could tell everyone via the Internet and kind of blunt the impact,” said Chance to Inquirer.net, “I think what he did was stronger than most people.”
He added, “I kinda just stepped back and… admired him.”
We need more rappers like Taylor Bennett.
And again, you can check out this list of nine other rappers like him.
