In 2012, as part of an effort to open dialogue on problems many of the almost popular and commercially successful emcees are afraid to touch on, HipHopDX launched "The Taboo Serial." We ran editorials on Hip Hop'due south obsession with the Illuminati, race relations and Hip Hop and Christianity. Cheers to an overwhelming response from our readers, the series is returning this year.

As rappers and their handlers go along to limit press access, it volition undoubtedly become increasingly difficult to get emcees to talk almost some subjects without fearfulness of fan backlash or diminishing endorsement opportunities. We've already seen Rick Ross' Reebok money threatened by his date rape-related comments on "U.O.East.N.O." Meanwhile, the YMCMB camp tin't positively spin their own alien reports fast enough to cover Lil Wayne's near-death feel in what about of us recollect was a seizure induced past a codeine bender.

Luckily, some rappers are still talking. And they're happy to offer more merely politically correct sound bytes. The 2013 edition of The Taboo Serial features more straight quotes from artists every bit well equally the usual statistics to back up our sometimes-controversial opinions. Whether we're talking nearly rappers in dresses (alibi us…kilts), Hip Hop'due south seemingly phony CB4 mentality or emcees' mental health problems, there are no shortage of controversial topics in Hip Hop. DX'south readers have never needed prompting, but if in that location's a topic yous'd like to come across in future editions of The Taboo Series, feel complimentary to sound off in the comment section, via Twitter (@HipHopDX) or on our Facebook page. With that said, let's go to the 2013 edition, which will run every Friday through April 26.

Dressing The Function: Hip Hop, Style & Gender Roles

"I used to pop a wheelie on my blueish and grey Stingray / That had Mags / That was when bitches had Gucci bags / And wasn't rockin' Starters / Lookin' harder than niggas / Hoes wore dress that exposed they figures…" –Mutual, "Nuthin' To Do."

By the fourth dimension Mutual spit the above rhyme onetime effectually 1994, nigh people felt Conscious Daughters, Da' Brat, Bo$$ and to a lesser extent, The Lady Of Rage, sported looks that ranged from androgynous to tomboy chichi. And despite photo evidence to the reverse, Hip Hop has always internally and externally been considered a masculine genre. I call back some of this is inherent in the civilisation. Now, almost 20 years later, there's a ordinarily held assumption that a lot of the males inside Hip Hop both await and dress more effeminate. The jeans are tighter, and rappers are popping upwardly at Style Calendar week while shouting out designers as much as fellow emcees.

There are no numbers to support this opinion, simply if you're a product of Hip Hop'due south golden era, then information technology anecdotally passes the smell exam. But, I'm of the reluctant belief that things similar Lil Wayne's leopard print jeggings and Kanye West'south kilt are the byproduct of cyclical fashion trends and other societal factors.

Hip Hop'southward History Of Questionable Wardrobe Choices

"[Run-D.M.C.] were b-boys beyond belief. They wore sneakers when other rappers were rocking thigh-high boots like Rick James. They wore leather suits and hats when other rappers had on cowboy outfits, feathers and studded jackets similar heavy metal stars. Considering ghetto shit came every bit 2d nature to many of the early on MCs, they didn't see the theatrics in their own lives." –Russell Simmons, Life And Def.

We similar to presume that this trend of less street-influenced wardrobe is some new phenomenon. Merely during Hip Hop's formative years, a lot of the top emcees dressed in a fashion that was anything but masculine. If you have a look at Kool Moe Dee'southward video for "How You lot Like Me Now," you can see what information technology feels similar to exist trapped between the "thigh-loftier boots" culture that Simmons despised and the burgeoning era of glamorizing "ghetto shit."

I call up emcee's wardrobes have ever matched their agendas. Hop's foundational, mail service-disco days were all about live shows and showmanship. To me, it was essentially operation art. If we look back at Afrika Bambaataa in "Planet Rock," Melle Mel in "The Message" or even Dr. Dre during his Earth Class Wreckin' Cru days, those emcees were very much in costume. One of the keys to performance art is that performers don't dress in the same fashion equally the audition. In that location's a articulate line of demarcation that says, "I'm the creative person, and you lot are the consumer." Simmons' quote speaks to a paradigm shift where artists and the executives looking to commoditize Hip Hop civilization replaced the musical theatrics with supposedly "authentic" theatrics of crime, prison and drug tales.

What golden era Hip Hop fans consider normal wardrobe—hardcore, prison and gang culture-inspired wearing apparel of the late '80s and '90s—was very much about promoting the agenda of actuality. But actuality is a false construct. Amorphous, sagging jeans, bandanas, and in some respects, fifty-fifty cornrows are style cues that are at least in function picked upwardly from street gangs and prisons. I don't retrieve it'south a stretch to say that the average rapper has just had secondhand or fringe encounters with the penitentiary or organized street gangs. Anecdotally, for every 50 Cent or Mysonne that has documented ties to the drug game or the prison house system, there are dozens of rappers who are more than likely to have been a correctional officer than a drug kingpin. I'd say a vast majority of "hardcore" artists are just rapping about the exploits of an associate or they take very vivid imaginations.

Obviously the natural development of vesture styles also played a huge part in the changing wardrobe of performers in all genres. With the exception of Brett Michaels and Steven Tyler, Rock performers don't opt for the '80s "pilus ring" expect anymore. Only, equally it concerns Hip Hop, I call back today'southward allegedly effeminate stylings seem like more than of a divergence considering many fans assumed emcees were doing the things they rapped near. And if rappers wanted listeners to believe they might accept been involved in criminal activity, it fabricated sense to clothes like a criminal. To be fair, street civilisation (criminal or otherwise) has always influenced the way entertainers dress to a certain extent. Personally, I've resigned myself to the fact that Hip Hop music and culture can sometimes be only every bit contrived as professional wrestling. If rappers are returning dorsum to the days of being larger than life operation artists and setting aside the construct of authenticity, then their current wardrobe reflects it. That doesn't mean they're becoming more effeminate.

Ladies Start: Women, Wardrobe And Role Reversal

"What'due south worse / Is to see the females switch the sexual mentality / It doesn't match with their given beefcake / Man they'd rather be hoes like that male emcee / And walk around like they got nuts / Or utilize they tits and ass similar a crutch / Man the surreptitious'south well-nigh not existence exposed / And then you better take your naked ass and put on some clothes…" –Posdnuos, "Wonce Over again Long Island."

We can't have a conversation nearly male rappers allegedly dressing like females without talking near actual females. While Bo$$, Da' Brat and Witting Daughters are the nearly easily identifiable examples of women that toyed with wardrobe and gender roles, you tin likewise see the aforementioned matter happening with women that accept served as Hip Hop's fringe contributors.

Much like the members of TLC before her, Aaliyah subverted her physical features to draw more attention to her music. For some, this merely drew more attention to them; it's almost like the Modest Venus and her arm bra. She hid behind night shades, and also covered half of her face but for good measure. She wore men's boxers that purposely peeked from nether sagging, ridiculously baggy jeans. Her halter-tops foreshadowed what fans would eventually see in "Rock The Boat." Just during her formative years, open up baseball jerseys oftentimes covered those tops. If you subscribe to the notion of women controlling their own paradigm and sexuality, so Aaliyah Dana Haughton was a great case study in shattering gender roles.

Aaliyah was a transcendent star. Her talent, charisma and runway looks are just role of the reason artists are still shouting her out 12 years afterward her untimely passing. But unlike Da' Brat or Conscious Daughters, there was goose egg "hard" virtually Aaliyah's music—fifty-fifty when a human being like R. Kelly—was penning the lyrics. So I don't think it'due south a coincidence that, some of the about lyrically vulnerable emcees such equally Drake and Kendrick Lamar end up repeatedly name-checking Aaliyah. Are we really making progress with gender equality and being serious about trashing some of these assigned gender roles that have been hanging around since the '50s? If so, then Kendrick and Drake are no more "feminine" or "soft" than Aaliyah was hard. The golden era generation of emcees grew up on hyper-masculine men. For a brief period, today's generation of Reagan Era babies saw a select few females flip that ideal on its ear. I remember that at least partially explains Kendrick paying tribute to Aaliyah on "Accident My High" and why Drake seemed hell bent on a posthumous Aaliyah album. Conversely, y'all can come across the dichotomy between an older generation stuck in traditional gender roles and today's generation play out when Drake and Common respectively have shots at each other on "Sugariness" and "Stay Schemin'."

Loftier Fashion And Sexual Self-Identification

"ASAP bitch / Suck my motherfuckin' dick / Twomp sack nigga / And I'm comin' for your chick / Every girl I fuck suck my motherfuckin' dick  / 'Cause I'one thousand a pretty bowwow / Human it is what it is / Word around town is I'm effectively than my bitch / I'm the president with bitches in my office / Head in the mornin' by a young ass bitch / I'm a fuckin' goon turned to a pretty bitch…"—Lil B, "Pretty Bowwow."

So what does all of this mean for the present scene? Like many things, the answer is complicated. I don't recollect it's bigoted to say both homosexuality and coded racism were often embraced within the high way community. We're only five years removed from the infamous Vogue magazine embrace that cast NBA magnate LeBron James in the role of Male monarch Kong next to supermodel Gisele Bundchen. And, if Hip Hop is really taking baby steps toward tolerance, the average fan has to admit there has been a sure amount of sexism and homophobia within both our music and culture. Even, fashion friendly rappers like Azealia Banks are even so referring to homosexual men as a certain 3-alphabetic character word that rhymes with bag. It shouldn't come equally a surprise that things get muddled when a traditionally African American and homophobic genre like Hip Hop starts mingling with the world of high manner, which lets coded racism slide while embracing homosexuality. In that location's withal an uneasy tension between the two worlds, and apparently that tension isn't lost on A$AP Rocky—another ane of the young emcees simply as likely to appear on GQ as he is on XXL.

"I kicked downwardly the door for kids that's my age…or older or younger to exist able to wear Jeremy Scott sneakers, rips in their jeans, and non feel gay," A$AP told HardKnock Tv set'due south Nick Huff Barilli. "That's what society of the urban community tries to portray—that if you exercise certain things similar snug manner and loftier-end fashion, and other things that'southward non really in the criteria of the small state of mind of the urban customs, you're 'gay.'"

Saying today's rappers wearing apparel softer is a scrap of a cop out to me. And the lines are blurred even more when we encounter an artist like Wiz Khalifa clearly paying homage to Jimi Hendrix with his recent wardrobe choices. They definitely dress differently than the previous decade. And, for what it'due south worth, I wouldn't be caught expressionless in one-half of that bullshit they're wearing. Simply I'm from a dissimilar era, and I'grand not an entertainer.

Shifting The Focus Away From Just Fashion

"You'll detect a lot of the reason we behind / Is because the system is designed to go on our third eyes blind / But not blind in the sense that our other two eyes tin can't see / Y'all just stop up investing quality time in places you don't even need to exist…" –CeeLo Greenish, "Fighting."

An artist like Consequence may poke fun at how loftier style and dandyism has infiltrated Hip Hop, merely what happens when the great, little categories we like to put artists in disappear birthday?

"Fashion has inverse these days…any the guys feel gratis and comfortable wearing, I'm down with it," offers Big Freedia, the Queen Diva of Bounce. Freedia is a man that's hard to categorize, and it doesn't seem to be something he's especially interested in anyway. He carries a gun, dates a homo, is absurd being called the Queen Diva and counts, "the big bag and the latest shoes and purses with the hair on point" amid the things that ascertain being fashion forward. "They're always going to try to categorize what people should habiliment. But people should article of clothing whatever they feel. That'due south merely the fashion I expect at it. From the Hip Hop artists, to the gays to the straights, nobody should be judged."

The cocky-proclaimed, high minded music critic or listener may try to bait artists like Freedia into a long-winded discussion almost sexual cocky-identification. Simply maybe it all comes back to comfort. Non just comfort in the most literal sense of fashion, only a reflection of many people's ain discomfort with their sexuality beingness projected onto artists if their fashion doesn't fit the norm.
"Information technology's near music and having fun," Freedia added. "But my look and my style is what makes me accept fun. When I feel confident on stage, that's what makes me have fun."

Ultimately, maybe we're paying attention to the incorrect things past looking at how a rapper dresses. I reached out to a woman that's both a dice-hard Hip Hop fan and knows a thing or two about the link betwixt wardrobe and sexuality.

"Lil Wayne gets a lot of backlash, because most of us remember when Lil Wayne offset came out, he was wearing red bandanas and was thugged out," offered radio personality, journalist and retired adult film star Sinnamon Love. "To see him go from that type of image—basically an exaggeration of gang culture—to of a sudden wearing women'south jeggings on stage is a big leap. Because of the association of gang culture and prison house, him suddenly wearing women'south apparel brings up other questions that a lot of people may not be gear up to hear the answers to. I don't know him, and I've never met him. And so I can't speak to his sexuality. Just I think he generally displays a lot of irresponsible sexual behavior. The fact that he has as many kids as he has with so many different women speaks more to his behavior than what he'due south wearing."

It's probably a condom bet to say neither you nor your children should accept whatsoever cues from an entertainer, whether they're a rapper or otherwise. And as absurd as a man in spandex, leopard impress, women'south leggings is, the logic of avoiding being influenced by rappers applies to things much more than important than wardrobe choices. There'due south a ton of coded sexism, racism and homophobia at piece of work when rail manner and Hip Hop are mixed together. Hopefully he doesn't dislocate his shoulder while patting himself on the back for his efforts, but A$AP Rocky should be applauded nonetheless for his stance on homophobia. If you're truly almost tolerance, then the reaction to Mr. Cee'south 2011 abort and Frank Ocean'southward open up alphabetic character are signs that Hip Hop is taking small steps to evolve. If one of the frequently-forgotten pillars of Hip Hop is knowledge, wisdom and understanding of the civilisation, then nosotros should hope that our thinking somewhen becomes as advanced equally our manner sense—leopard-print jeggings be damned.

Omar Burgess is a Long Beach, California native who has contributed to various magazines, newspapers and has been an editor at HipHopDX since 2008. Follow him on Twitter @OmarBurgess.