Kanye, Gays, and Fashion

John Murph is a DC-based writer for The Root, NPR, Washington Post Express, JazzTimes, Down Beat and JazzWise.

Hip-hop artists make me nervous when they talk about gay people. If they aren’t advocating for our destruction, the so-called opened-minded rappers make half-hearted attempts to show tolerance and sometimes appreciation that are usually at once commendable and condescending.

Kayne West, hip-hop’s leading fashion plate and drama queen, has thrown us an olive branch before when he condemned homophobia in hip-hop. Kudos! This latest YouTube clip shows him explaining how gay people know how to rock hot fashion. My left eye began twitching, however, when he exhibited uneasiness when expressing his admiration for gay men’s fashion sense, especially when he made sure all of us understood, once again, that he’s straight and that he had to show respect on the down low.

Soon, I just began laughing, because obviously Kanye hasn’t gone to D.C.’s mainstream gay bars—Town, Halo, JR’s, Nellie’s, and 18th Street Diner. My guffaw came after realizing how not so fashion-forward our scene is. Shit, a lot of us could use pointers from Mr. West.

There’s no denying that those bars and others are filled with good-looking men with bodies so chiseled they suggest that they have no other hobbies outside gym and bar culture. What’s bizarre is that for all of our social and political striving to be open and free, not to mention our collective economic viability, we can be flossy and boring as an episode of Real Desperate Housewives of Orange County. In short, money doesn’t always yield great style. When I see men wearing logo brands—A&F, G Star, Diesel, etc.—so brazenly, the old phrase “new money” comes to mind; you know, people with money yet no individual style or imagination to rock something slightly different. At times, the bar crowd resembles high school, where just about everyone clamors for the same jeans, the same T-shirt, the same belt—the same look.

There once was a time when urban gay culture was the epicenter of both fashion and music. Straight people often came to our bars to hear the hottest new lick or see the newest fashion. Well, since the gay rights movement toward mainstream—yeah, I understand the benefits—we’ve somehow adopted all the boring attributes of our straight male counterparts.

Oftentimes now, I find myself going to predominately straight havens such as Marvin, Saint-Ex or the Rock and Roll Hotel to escape the Beyoncé/Janet/Rihanna/Madonna worship service in favor of hearing quality music with people who can actually dance on rhythm. And yes, I go to those aforementioned places to see inventive fashion, especially men who know how to pop a collar, tilt a fedora and give both elegance and street swagger.

So Kayne, while I commend you for giving us dap for our fashion sense, in all its Louis Vuitton, man purse, Gucci eyewear glory, the guys you’re slyly looking at are probably straight, as sad and ironic as that can be.