No Lincoln
I hope you enjoyed the guest post on my blog yesterday. In case you missed my post on Jon’s blog, it’s available here. I recommend you check out his blog as well, as it contains a lot of good stuff. Meanwhile, back to your regularly scheduled programming:
A lot of my close friends know that I have an undying love for all that is Kanye West, and that I will even find ways to excuse his most egregious behavior. However, one thing that Kanye has spoken out about in the past that needs no excuse is his dislike of the rampant homophobia present in the hip-hop industry. He once stated that “everyone in hip-hop discriminates against gay people … I wanna just come on TV and just tell my rappers, tell my friends, ‘Yo, stop it.’”
What Kanye is referring to specifically is the rampant hatred for gays that exists in the hip-hop scene, such as Method Man’s suggestion that “You can’t be f**king people in the a** and say you’re gangsta” or rhymes such as Eminem’s “I was put here to put fear in faggots.”
Thus it was a little surprising to hear Kanye rap, “it’s crazy how you can go from being Joe Blow to everybody on your d**k, no homo” on Jay-Z’s single, “Run This Town.” The phrase “no homo” is one often used in songs and other pop culture as a caveat roughly translated as, “what I just said shouldn’t be construed as though I am gay.”
“No Homo” unquestionably began as a homophobic statement, but it’s since become more of a joke than anything else. The phrase shows up in interviews on SportsCenter, in rhymes as a joke more than a disclaimer, and even, as Jonah Weiner from Slate Magazine suggests, as a current “gentleman’s agreement” on the road to eliminating homophobia from the hip-hop scene.
Nonetheless when I heard, “It’s crazy how you can go from being Joe Blow to everybody on your d**k, no homo” on Jay-Z’s recent album, Blueprint 3, it came as no surprise to me that the word homo was censored on the radio. The history of homophobia is too strong to allow a rhyme like that through.
But I digress. Recently, Adir informed me that he had begun using the term “no Lincoln” to mean “no homo” but without the negative connotations associated with the original term. The reason stems from a rumor, passed through our friend Justin, that Abraham Lincoln was homosexual. There is, of course, no historical basis for this rumor, but nonetheless it gave rise to the term “no Lincoln” to allow Adir and others (myself included) to make the jokes that would otherwise have been made with “no homo” without risk of causing offense.
Ideally, because it flows trippingly off the tongue, and because it’s amusing, we’d like “no Lincoln” to replace its more offensive cousin. So the next time you hear “Run this Town” on the radio, sing, as I do, “to everybody on your d**k, no Lincoln.” It may not rhyme as well, but it’s certainly hilarious.