ASAP Rocky Talks Homosexuality & Hip Hop

By: Amanda Anderson-Niles

ASAP Rocky is still enjoying his success as one of the newer top rappers in the game. Although he’s still technically a newbie to the success, he still has his opinions on the politics of the music industry. One of the things ASAP says he doesn’t like about Hip Hop is the way he feels homosexuality is viewed in the culture. And in a recent interview with Interview Magazine, the rapper further elaborates on his views of homosexuality and Hip Hop. ASAP says:

“…I just always wanted to be knowledgeable of my whereabouts, my surroundings, and what was going on with our generation. So now that I’m here and I’ve got a microphone in my hand and about 6,000 people watching me, I need to tell them how I feel. For instance, one big issue in hip-hop is the gay thing. It’s 2013, and it’s a shame that, to this day, that topic still gets people all excited. It’s crazy. And it makes me upset that this topic even matters when it comes to hip-hop, because it makes it seem like everybody in hip-hop is small-minded or stupid—and that’s not the case. We’ve got people like Jay-Z. We’ve got people like Kanye. We’ve got people like me. We’re all prime examples of people who don’t think like that. I treat everybody equal, and so I want to be sure that my listeners and my followers do the same if they’re gonna represent me. And if I’m gonna represent them, then I also want to do it in a good way.”

ASAP Rocky further explains that he feels the need to speak out on the issue because he feels his success kind of forces him to be a role model:

“I also want people to see that I come from the ghetto—I come from the hood—and honestly, man, the mind-state there was kind of f*cked up for a while. But now you see me—and other people like me—who are standing up and saying, ‘All right, the jig is up. It’s not a joke. These are actual people we’re talking about.’ It’s same as with racism. There was a time when someone would get on a plane and request to move their seat just because the person sitting next to them was of a different ethnicity or religion or nationality. But I don’t think my generation wants that. That’s how it used to be. People are racist because parents and grandparents are embedding that kind of sh*t in their heads. But it’s 2013. Time goes on. We’ve moved past that. Everybody should be able to enjoy their life, because you only live once. So I just want to get it all out there and be the best role model that I can be, if people want to put me in that kind of predicament. I mean, I didn’t ask to be a role model, because I’m not perfect.”