Hip Hop Hooray

A “hype man” by definition is the person responsible for getting the crowd pumped up for a performance or event. Go to any Hip Hop concert to see them in full action, or better yet listen to Jay-Z's “Encore” track off The Black Album. During a visit to DC for a gay pride event I was disturbed by what I felt to be “inappropriate hyping by a hype man.” If you have ever encountered a hype man you know the spill is pretty standard. The first objective is to get you hyped about the event or the artist that will perform shortly (unless it's a Lauryn Hill concert, in which case, means it could be hours). This is usually followed by getting you hyped about yourself – scream if you are grown and sexy and able to pay your bills – something like that. Yet, at this particular event it appears that the hype man didn't get a copy of the preempted script. He got the first couple parts right, and then decided to freestyle a bit. I've done some theatre, so I could appreciate an artist taking some liberties and improvising. So he's building up when he asks the crowd, a crowd of black gay men and women, to make some noise if they weren't HIV positive. I was floored. Wow, I thought. This was such a loaded statement. It implied so many things. How did this make HIV positive folks in the crowd feel, as they came out with anticipation of a good time, not a commentary on their status? My mind was racing. Yet, in my moment of shock I failed to realize that in all of his attempts to get the crowd hype this statement alone had garnered the greatest response from the audience. I was unsure about what I should feel or think. Unable to allow myself to be fully engaged in the bliss of the activities, I had to ask whether we were our own worse enemies, and if everyone else was merely taking our lead? Do black gays and lesbians believe that HIV/AIDS is a gay disease?

I guess that one could make the argument that HIV/AIDS is a gay disease, as there are a disproportionately higher number of cases among gay men. Yet, in the same breath one could make similar conjecture as it relates to the African American community. Things aren't always as simple as black and white. Numbers can not merely stand alone. Numerous factors should come into play as we determine our attitude about things. The lack of access to education and health care serve as major barriers that cause spikes among certain groups. It seems that everywhere I turn I'm faced with the thought of HIV/AIDS. Be it the magazines – Vanity Fair recently dedicated an entire issue to it – or merely going to my local Starbucks – the cup that contains my latte gives statistics about the affects that the epidemic is having on the youth. Awareness is a great thing as I realize the brevity of the issue. Yet, sometimes as a black gay man, I can't help but to feel sometimes suffocated by the issue. Within our community it seems to always ease its way into our conversations. In contrast, I feel that in my interactions with heterosexual friends, the topic of HIV/AID rarely surfaces. Not so much because it's not an issue for them, but because it doesn't carry the same amount of weight as it does for us. We give power to those things that we most focus on, so much so that there is a whole sub-culture of gay men out there who seek to get infected. I read an article some years back about the rising number of “bug chasers” and “gift givers.” “Bug Chasers” are gay men that seek to become infected with in HIV/AIDS, as they feel they will eventually contract the virus because they are gay and “gift givers” are HIV positive men who willing infect others.

I think that our actions point to where we really stand on the subject, as hard as it may be to swallow. Yet, I feel that we end up doing a disservice to everyone by simply buying into the hype; increased homophobia and creating a false sense of safety in the minds of some heterosexuals. We need to support a message of personal responsibility and accountability and focus less on allocating blame. I can't speak for anyone else, but I know that I have engaged in behavior that has put me at risk of contracting the virus. And the fact remains that every time we lay down with someone, gay or straight, and we don't engage in safe sex, we put ourselves at risk. Most of us are simply lucky. Along with that, no one has the right to speak from a place of superiority because they are HIV negative. As we navigate through all of this, we should be ever cognizant of how our actions affect other people. When situations arise like the one in DC, we must let our disdain to be known. We need to look beyond figures and actively engage ourselves in the process of bringing forth solutions.