No Homo

This is a new one to me, and strange, because y'all know how I am so into the hip-hip scene, yo.

Dr Marc Lamont Hill, a political commentator on Fox News has spoken out against the use of a new, trendy gay slur: No Homo. It has become increasing popular in the hip-hop scene, but Hill denounces it, saying the phrase "reinforces the idea that gay and lesbian people are worthy of ridicule, shame, and surveillance". Hill, who is also a professor at Columbia University, published an essay on his website, HERE, commenting about the recent rise in the slur.

The term 'No homo' is generally used in African-American and urban slang to follow up a remark to ensure it won't be mistaken as homoerotic. Dr Hill gave an example using the words of the Dip Set rap crew who made the slur popular urban slang: "One of the members, Freeky Zeeky, was talking about an upcoming album and said, 'I couldn’t have gotten it done if Cam’ron hadn’t really gotten behind me. No homo!'"

Hill believes, as do many, that this new, 'no homo', fad shines a light on the difficulties that the African-American community has in dealing with gay identities amongst themselves. It also, as Hill points out, highlights an interesting link between certain cultures and the gay community, and that fads such as 'no homo' show an underlying animosity between different identities.

But most interesting of all is Hill's statement: "The use of 'no homo' also reveals a deep homoerotic impulse within our culture. After all, how can you constantly say 'no homo' without constantly thinking about gay sex?"

True. When you constantly feel you have to protect yourself from people thinking you might be gay, then you are spending an awful lot of time thinking about being gay.