January 15th, 2012
Magic Johnson Talks about Hip-Hop Homophobia
There has been a problem within the hip hop industry regarding issues of homophobia that seem to influence some of the songs that are produced these days by some of the biggest names in the genre and the topic is sometimes ignored by the public, fans and the musicians because nobody seems to want to correct what has been one of the low points of the evolution of hip hop samples over the past few decades. One interesting statement was made quite recently by someone who is not a vital member of the hip hop world but is still a vocal proponent of various issues was made by former basketball star Magic Johnson, who has been living with HIV for over twenty years.
Johnson recently gave an interview to “The Huffington Post” regarding his need to educate young members of the black community about the disease, AIDS and how he would like to convince rap and hip hop stars of the need to reduce prejudice in several areas that tend to show up in many of the lyrics released by hip hop stars today. There has been a pervasive amount of prejudice related to issues of homophobia and the existence of gay people in the hip hop world and Johnson has suggested that efforts should be made to ensure that people are not scared to talk about such issues within the black community.
Not only is Johnson becoming vocal regarding the need for attitude changes within the world of hip hop, but he is also creating a specific campaign meant to get help from rappers and hip hop artists who are famous enough so that their opinions would be a positive influence.
