Defected star on hip hop's homophobia

US soulful house star Quentin Harris chatted to Skrufff recently about his new album ‘No Politics’, and spoke candidly about the difficulties of growing up gay around Detroit’s notoriously homophobic hip hop scene. “It wasn’t easy to come out but when you come out you tend to know how to be smart about those things. I was fortunate in that I was always quiet as a kid,” he mused. “I’ve met people from school years later and found out they were gay and they found out I was and they’d be like ‘we had no idea, we had no clues’. I’ve never worn my sexuality on my arm,” he added.

The deep house producer grew up hanging out with Eminem and his D12 Crew going on to play trumpet with Aretha Franklin aged 20, though stressed that throughout his career he’s never wanted to be categorised as just a gay artist (‘it’s very limiting’). He also revealed an understanding of hip hop’s homophobia declaring ‘I think it’s because of the street elements within in, (it’s caused by) that whole concept or not being seen as a weak individual.”

“I was always the wise kid, I’d always question things until I found the answer,” Quentin continued. “So I’d say to people ‘OK, you’re into hip hop and you have issues with gay people but a lot of early hip hop was spawned from disco records which were mostly played in gay clubs’. Some people get really frustrated when I say things like that but sometimes the truth hurts.”

He was also defensive about Eminem, who attracted controversy in the late 90s over his liberal use of the term ‘faggot’. “I knew Eminem personally, you have to realise a few things,” said Quentin. “Eminem was a white guy in a place that was very segregated because of the race riots in the 60s and he was doing something that was perceived as a black art form, and he had to stand out in some kind of way. So his style became such that you couldn’t believe the things that were coming out of his mouth. That was always his thing.”

His position mirrored Eminen’s own defence when he was challenged in an interview with NYRock.com in 2001. “I’m not gay bashing. People just don’t understand where I come from. ‘Faggot’ to me doesn’t necessarily mean gay people. ‘Faggot’ to me just means… taking away your manhood. You’re a sissy. You’re a coward,” he explained.

“It does not necessarily mean you’re being a gay person. It just means you’re being a fag. You’re being an asshole or whatever. That’s the way that the word was always taught to me. That’s how I learned the word. Battling with somebody, you do anything you can to strip their manhood away,” said Eminem.

Quentin Harris’ album ‘No Politics’ is out now on Defected Records.

You need to be logged in to add comments... Login Now

There are 0 user comments