Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 19, No. 14, Ed. 1 Friday, August 2, 2002 Page: 40 of 68
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Yo, Eminem, DMX and Ice Cube! Homohop artist Tim'm is ready to wake up
the rap world with his cerebral brand of socially conscious poetic stylings.
By Mekado Murphy
Features Writer
In a modern cultural landscape where gay-
ness has penetrated almost every art form, it's
no shock that queer sensibilities have found
their way in the hip-hop movement. Though
hip-hop has traditionally been one of thb more
homophobic music genres out there, that fact
is only fuel for the fire among the brave artists
who have come out and are using hip-hop as a
tool for gay expression.
This musical subculture — called homohop
by those who have helped form it — is gaining
momentum within underground scenes, and
the people performing aren't likely to be gun-
wielding gangstas. In fact, Tim'm T. West — a
homohop emcee — has a bachelor's degree
from Duke and a master's from Stanford. His
music offers an informed alternative to much
of the self-important, belligerent, sexist
straight hip-hop that dominates the scene.
He'll be sharing his stylings this weekend in
Dallas, offering locals a taste of what homohop
is all about.
"I'm not a thug," West says when describ-
ing his musical approach. "My lyrics are very
politically progressive and conscientious. I
don't do a lot of cussing. I don't promote vio-
lence. I promote spiritual uplift of black peo-
ple and awareness about issues, sexuality
among them. But you can listen to my music
and not be beaten over the head with the ACT
UP bat."
West affirms that his life is larger than sex,
and he won't dwell on it in his music just
because he's gay.
"Some people say, do you want to get up
and write a song about cute boys in thongs?
No, that's not my reality," West says. "I'm out,
I'm doing youth work, I'm trying to build up
communities. And that's an aspect of gayness,
too. A lot of rappers are trying to broaden the
spectrum of what's being talked about in hip-
hop in general, aside from my car, my gold,
my gold teeth, whatever."
A pioneer for social change, West devotes
much of his time to youth work within his San
Francisco Bay-area community. His music
complements his social work nicely, and has
allowed him to instigate change on many lev-
els. West was originally pursuing a Ph.D at
Stanford, but chose another path as he became
more attached to his art.
"I prematurely left my program with a
master's degree because I was at the point
where I realized my creative work was a much
better medium to get my message out," he
says. "If you know anything about academia
and intellectual writing, it's theoretical and
only a small percentage of the population can
even understand it. And though I do it really
well, so many years of being in the academy it
got really frustrating for me because 1 couldn't
talk to my mom about what I was learning. 1
realized through my poetry and my songs, my
mother could get a better sense of who her son
has become. And not only that, I can challenge
homophobia in the black communities and
how race is dealt with in gay communities."
Though the past couple of years have seen
more artists emerge in the homohop scene
(like Caushun, Rainbow Flava and Morplay),
its exposure is still limited and access to the
music is not as easy as a trip to Tower Records.
West says it has to do with the homophobia
that still permeates the recording industry.
"There's a lot of good material out there,"
he says. "It's just that there are a lot of labels
who may have some anxiety or fear surround-
ing actually promoting a gay rap artist. They
wonder if that's going to mark the label. I
think that's where the homophobia in the
music industry is really starting to play out.
Because you have so many really talented
artists who aren't getting recognized. And the
underground is recognizing them, saying, hey,
why don't these people have a deal?"
With hip-hop being primarily a collabora-
40 AUGUST 2, 2002 DALLAS VOICE
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Vercher, Dennis. Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 19, No. 14, Ed. 1 Friday, August 2, 2002, newspaper, August 2, 2002; Dallas, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth616279/m1/40/?rotate=270: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.