On Wednesday, Jan. 18, rapper Taylor Bennett of Chicago came out as bisexual on Twitter.
I do recognize myself as a bisexual male & do & have always openly supported the gay community & will keep doing so in 2017. #ThankYou ??
— Taylor Bennett (@_TaylorBennett) January 18, 2017
In a series of three tweets, Bennett described growing up knowing he was attracted to both females and males, and decided to use his 21st birthday as an opportunity to come out to his fans and expose himself to the world as who he truly is. He says that he would like to use his platform to help others struggling with coming out while living in a primarily hetero-friendly world.
What makes this coming-out story truly incredible is the fact that Bennett is a black, male, rapper. Our generation witnessed the difficulty of coming out in the hip-hop scene with Frank Ocean in 2012. While there was a large community of support for Ocean, we do still live in a problematically hetero-society, which automatically leads to the marginalization of people belonging to the LGBTQ+ community. As if being a black male wasn’t a tight enough margin, adding gay or bisexual to the mix creates quite the squeeze.
In coming out on a public forum like Twitter, Bennett opened himself up to backlash not only from fans and internet trolls- but from his peers in the rap industry. While rap is an ever-evolving genre rooted in difficult, often ugly social issues that no one in the media wants to discuss, there is also the side of the scene that lacks evolution by a few decades. This is the scene where rappers spit the derogatory term “fa***t” in their bars. Where the lyrics are dripping in the sexual objectification of women in hopes of highlighting their singers’ “masculinity”. Where terms such as “pu**y” and “bitch” (words born of femininity) are used to degrade other men. Yes, unfortunately, this side of hip-hop is alive and well, just like any other problematic side of society.
But then there is the complete flipside of hip-hop pioneered by rappers long, long ago which highlights and eloquently discusses important issues that Americans- specifically Americans of color- face, such as the damaging image of masculinity, terrifyingly limited expectations of black men and women, systematic racism, poor opportunity given to minority communities, growing up in said minority communities, and hopefully making it out alive without a sentence as your career. This scene is being led and taken by the reigns by artists like Taylor Bennett (whose appropriately named latest album “Broad Shoulders” discusses these issues), Kendrick Lamar, J.Cole, Donald Glover, Frank Ocean, and last but definitely not least- Taylor’s big brother Chance the Rapper. These artists are destroying the stereotypes set before them and the lives that our racist, toxic society destined for them bar by bar. These noble men have created a safer environment for artists like Taylor to come out in.
I want to use this paragraph as the opportunity to check my white privilege and make it very clear that I know that as a white woman, the image of a black male in the rap game is one I can only perceive to a certain extent- I am not a woman of color, nor am I male. I can still understand that black men are very limited in what/who they are allowed to be in this world. Femininity in men is still a virgin concept, and it is even more virgin (from what I understand) in the black community. Black men are held to specific standard of dangerous masculinity. They are taught to be tough, sexual objects (yes, black men are incredibly fetishized) and… well, that’s it. See terrifyingly limited expectations above. And if you needed any more convincing as to how limited it is to be a black man in America, here’s an excellent article by a fellow Affinity writer to check out.
Taylor Bennett coming out is one of the first landmark, iconic moments of 2017- and it passed us all by relatively quietly. For whatever reason, not enough people are talking about this or giving Taylor the praise he deserves for his bravery. So go listen to his most recent album drop “Broad Shoulders”, tweet @ him some love, and make sure your hip-hop playlist is as woke as it can be.
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