But this is still a genre that has never been supportive of change.” “We are finally starting to see queer black men celebrated in the genre. “It’s hard to be out in genres where being gay, or expressing your sexuality, is frowned upon,” added platinum rapper and singer iLoveMakonnen, born Makonnen Sheran, who rose to fame as a protégé of Drake and came out as gay in 2017. “Lil Nas X re-imagined an image of the Wrangler-wearing, horseback-riding man’s man into a young black representative of youth culture, got the attention of two traditionally macho cultures and then came out on the last day of Pride,” said Roy Kinsey, a Chicago-based librarian and rapper at the forefront of Chicago’s queer rap scene. That he did so in the orbit of hip-hop and country, genres that have historically snubbed queer artists, was groundbreaking. Overnight, the 20-year-old Atlanta native - born Montero Lamar Hill - became the biggest gay pop star in the world. “But I look back at this moment, I’ll see that I’m fine.” “Embracin’ this news I behold unfolding … I know it don’t feel like it’s time,” he raps. but before this month ends i want y’all to listen closely to ‘c7osure’” he wrote, referring to a track from his debut EP “7,” then the No.
“Some of y’all already know, some of y’all don’t care, some of y’all not gone fwm no more. On June 30, the final day of Pride Month, the young country-rap sensation Lil Nas X came out to his 2.2 million Twitter followers.
