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Hip-Hop Artists Who Embrace Being Gay, Lesbian or Bisexual
Lil Nas X attends The 2021 Met Gala Celebrating In America: A Lexicon Of Fashion at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on September 13, 2021 in New York City.
Lil Nas X
Lil Nas X became a diamond-selling artist in 2019, thanks to his hit song “Old Town Road.” With the popularity and massive success under his belt, he shared that he is gay in 2019. Since then, he continues to be open with his sexuality on social media. Nas X also grabs headlines for pushing the boundaries with homoerotic undertones in his “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” music video this year. As an openly gay artist in hip-hop, the Georgia-bred rapper feels the culture does not respect him or his art. Nevertheless, Nas X says he’s here to stay whether people like it or not.
“Honestly, I don’t feel as respected in hip-hop or many music places in general,” Lil Nas X told XXL in the magazine’s fall 2021 issue. “But these are communities that I am a part of, whether people would like it or not. This is something that I wanted to do because, not that my entire album is rap, but there are rap tracks on my album. I am a rapper. I am a pop star. I am a gay artist. But it’s like, I belong in these places, you know?”
Lil Nas X isn’t letting homophobic detractors like Boosie BadAzz and others deter him from making an impact in the rap game.
Young M.A
Michael Fequiere
Young M.A
Young M.A decided not to hide or compromise her sexuality in order to be successful in hip-hop and hopes that her openness will help young kids who might be afraid to come out.
“I think it was a point where I was just lost, personally and mentally,” she said during a 2016 interview with XXL. “I had just lost my brother and I was holding onto this secret of being gay from my family for a long time. It was just a lot of overwhelming stuff that was coming about.”
iLoveMakonnen
iLoveMakonnen
iLoveMakonnen, who rose to prominence thanks to his hit song “Tuesday,” the drug-soaked hymn for the midweek turn up, decided it was time to clear the air and let the world know he’s gay on Jan. 20, 2017. “And since y’all love breaking news, here’s some old news to break, I’m gay. And now I’ve told u about my life, maybe u can go life yours,” Makonnen tweeted. As the news began to circulate around the internet, Makonnen’s name started trending on Twitter.
Frank Ocean
Frank Ocean
Prior to the success of his major label debut album, Channel Orange, Frank Ocean shared an open letter he wrote via Tumblr, in which he revealed his first love was a man in 2012.
“Four summers ago, I met somebody. I was 19 years old. He was too,” the singer wrote. “We spent that summer, and the summer after, together. Everyday almost. And on the days we were together, time would glide. Most of the day I’d see him, and his smile… Sleep I would often share with him. By the time I realized I was in love, it was malignant. It was hopeless. There was no escaping, no negotiating with the feeling. No choice. It was my first love, it changed my life.”
Lil Peep walks the runway during the Vlone Menswear Spring/Summer 2018 show as part of Paris Fashion Week on June 23, 2017 in Paris, France.
Lil Peep
Lil Peep was a buzzing underground artist, blowing up on the emo rap scene, when he revealed his sexual orientation to the world in 2017. On Aug. 8 of that year, Peep announced via Twitter, “Yes I’m bi sexual.” He playfully followed up with the tweet, “who wants a kiss.” Prior to his tragic passing in November of 2017, Peep made no qualms about confronting homophobia on social media. He also worked closely with openly gay hip-hop artist iLoveMakonnen.
Azealia Banks
Azealia Banks
The always-outspoken rapper Azealia Banks identifies as bisexual, which she’s explained on Twitter in the past.
In 2015, the rapper was branded as homophobic for using the word “f***ots” on Twitter. Her response to the claims included the news she is bisexual. “For fuckk’s sake, just give the Azealia banks is a homophobe thing a rest because I’m not,” she tweeted. “I have a transgender sibling. My whole life is gay. All of my friends are gay, I am bisexual…. So please… Stop.”
Kidd Kenn Moves video
Kidd Kenn via YouTube
Kidd Kenn
Chicago native Kidd Kenn recently made history as the first openly gay rapper to participate in the BET Hip Hop Awards Cypher. The 18-year-old Nicki Minaj disciple, known for his singles “Move” featuring Rico Nasty and “Eriod” featuring Queen Key, has been out since he started making music in 2018. “People in my community [are] building stuff in this game and it shows from what everybody is doing that [success] is going to happen,” Kenn told Red Bull in June 2021. “We’re making room. We’re here. So I just know the plan that I have is most definitely working, and I’m doing it right.”
Chika performs at 2019 A3C Festival & Conference / Fader Fort Women in Hip Hip at Center Stage on October 9, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Chika
2020 XXL Freshman Chika, who identifies as bisexual, has been open about her sexuality, speaking candidly about the topic in her music on songs like “Can’t Explain It” and “FWB.” She’s also had honest conversations on social media through the years. “Women are more than fine objects placed on earth to turn you on. you can appreciate a woman without sexualizing her,” she posted on Twitter in July of 2018. “As a gay female rapper, i have the opportunity to show my colleagues that being attracted to the female body doesn’t mean i have to fetishize it.”
Kevin Abstract
Kevin Abstract
Kevin Abstract appreciated Frank Ocean’s 2012 Tumblr letter, in which Ocean detailed a relationship with a man, for the ways in which it “saved” the Brockhampton member. The Corpus Christi, Texas native felt the letter was like an epiphany for him. “It was just like, I had just had my first experience with a dude,” Abstract shared in a 2016 interview. “It was just like, Thank you. It saved me.”
Abstract also raps of his first love on his sophomore solo album, American Boyfriend.
Angel Haze
Angel Haze
The 2013 XXL Freshman shared that she’s bisexual in 2014. Angel Haze identifies as agender, meaning neither masculine or feminine, and has addressed this struggle in the rap world.
“Being gay in hip-hop is still really stigmatized,” Haze shared in a 2014 interview. “There are so many people in this world that are closet homosexuals. I guess I’m ‘out,’ but people ask me what my sexuality is all the time and I always tell them that it doesn’t matter. You don’t deserve to go through that and you don’t have to let that define who you are.”
Relying on her own experience, Haze also helped repair a relationship between a mother and her bisexual daughter in the past.
Le1f
Le1f
The openly gay New York rapper made history in 2014, just by being himself. Le1f became the first gay rapper to perform on The Late Show with David Letterman. Le1f performed his song “Wut,” off his EP Hey.
Princess Nokia performs during the 2021 Governors Ball Music Festival at Citi Field on September 26, 2021 in New York City
Taylor Hill, Getty Images
Princess Nokia
In a 2019 interview with Playboy, Princess Nokia told the publication “I’m a gender non-conforming androgynous person.” The rapper has identified as queer since youth and at one time, bisexual. Nokia came up in the music scene performing at gay clubs in her hometown of New York City, with the breakout single “Tomboy.” In 2017, Nokia told Out that she credits the LGBTQ community with giving her foundation in strength. The 1992 artist also cofounded the Smart Girls Club, a collective of women focused on supporting urban feminists.
“I think I identify more sexually fluid because I think bisexuality may perhaps be limiting in terms of the logistics of how we use things now,” she said in a 2018 interview with Blavity. “I don’t put a particular label on it.”
Kaytranada
Kaytranada
Though the Haitian-born, Canada-bred producer has kept his private life out of the spotlight, Kaytranada made the decision to open up about being gay during a 2016 interview.
“Something inside me was like, ‘Wake the fuck up,’” he shared. “I felt like there were two people inside me. I was trying to be somebody I was not, and I was frustrated that people didn’t know who I was.”
Snow The Product
SnowThaProduct via YouTube
Snow Tha Product
Snow Tha Product and her partner Julissa have been together since 2017. In July of 2019, they happily announced their engagement via YouTube. The couple shares a podcast called everynightnights and a YouTube channel titled everyday days. Snow, who now identifies as lesbian, has an 11-year-old son from a previous marriage.
Ppcocaine performing in her “BMPU” music video
ppcocaine inc via YouTube
Ppcocaine
Ppcocaine rose to fame on TikTok during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The Los Angeles native’s sexually charged songs like “3 Musketeers” featuring NextYoungin” and “Shake Some Ass” have become viral hits on the social video-sharing app.
Another track, “For That Cash,” has been crowned as the lesbian anthem on TikTok, thanks to the 20-year-old rapper’s lyrics like, “Turn around, lemme see that ass is fat (Fat)” and “Wanna taste it, put my face up in your cat.”
Ppcocaine, who is openly gay, revealed to the Los Angeles Times in September of 2020, that she came out to her family at an early age, but it wasn’t a big deal. “My grandparents kept telling me boys to marry and stuff. I’m like, ‘I’m 12.’ But now they’re OK with it,” the Columbia Records artist said.
Lil Wop attends as SoundCloud celebrates What’s New, Now and Next in Music at The Good Room on December 13, 2017 in New York City.
Slaven Vlasic, Getty Images for SoundCloud
Lil Wop
Lil Wop decided to share an update on his sexuality with his social media following on Feb. 13, 2022. In a post to his Instagram account, the Chicago-born, Atlanta-based rapper revealed that he is bisexual. “I’m Bisexual I Like Guys & Girls 😌💕 It’s W.E 😛,” he wrote in the caption for a photo of himself wearing a T-shirt rolled up to show off his chest.
The announcement had many of his fans showing support. “Lil wop coming out as bisexual is a huge movement,” one person wrote on Twitter. Another tweeted, “I’ve never really listened to one lil wop song but now that he’s bisexual im finna listen to his whole discography😍.”