Of course, it’s equally problematic that OF drops the slur “faggot” in every other lyric. Syd the Kid has given the use of the word numerous Kanye shrugs, most recently when she said,

Most of the homos I know use homophobic slurs, and it’s never a problem unless someone who’s not a part of the group is using the word. But a lot of people take things out of context, and you’ve got to understand that there is a difference between saying, “Hey, you faggot” and “Hey, faggot.” When Tyler says “faggot,” he’s not referring to gays, he’s referring to lame people. And in our vocabulary, that’s what the word “faggot” means. I’m not offended by the word “faggot” — and I am one.

Macklemore’s recent pro-gay-marriage song, “Same Love,” seemed rather pointed when it decried the use of the slur in hip-hop music.

Call each other faggots
Behind the keys of a messageboard
A word rooted in hate
Yet our genre still ignores it

Regardless of what you think of OF’s use of the word “faggot,” it’s taken for granted that Tyler is not intentionally being homophobic… not in the least.

As you probably know, Tyler, the Creator, is the head of Cali hip-hop skate/rap collective Odd Future, known for his skills as a crafter of original beats using synthesizers and his callous, controversial lyrics. His trilogy of albums narrated by a fictional, endearingly clueless guidance counsellor, Bastard (2009), Goblin (2010), and Wolf (2012), is his best-known work.

Lest you doubt that some of Tyler’s lyrics are, indeed, odious and cringe-worthy, I took the liberty of looking up a few of his worst. It’s important to note that when a feminist activist took him to task on these lyrics (and rightfully so), Tyler unleashed a torrent of immature tweets, and his fans followed suit, in some cases, quite violently. It’s one thing to say you’re not as role model, but sometimes, you don’t get a choice in the matter.

Note that all lyrics are from 2009’s Bastard.

Yo, I’m fucking Goldilocks, up in the forest
In the three bear’s house, eating their motherfucking porridge
I tell her it’s my house, give her a tour
In my basement, and keep that bitch locked up in my storage
Rape her and record it, then edit it with more shit
— “French”

You call this shit “rape,” but I think that rape’s fun
— “Blow”

Now you stuck up in my mothafuckin' basement all bloody
And I’m fucking your dead body, your coochie all cummy
Looking in your dead eyes, what the fuck you want from me?
What did you want from me? What did you want from me?
— “Sarah”

Earl wrote, in the lead-up to his technically mindblowing sophomore album Doris in 2013,

I anticipate a loss of fans … I hope I lose you as a fan if you only fuck with me because I rapped about raping girls when I was 15.

As in Marvin Gaye, the consummate artist behind that doozy of a makeout track, “Let’s Get It On.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKPoHgKcqag

2010’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, which is easily my favorite hip-hop album… even though, as we’ll discuss in later installments, it’s as much a rock album as it is a hip-hop one.

Because Paul Gadd, a.k.a Gary Glitter, was convicted of pedophiia in Vietnam in 2006, and placed on the UK’s own national sex offenders registry in 2012, accused of molesting as many as 300 children over 40 years. I have to admit that, despite my assertion that you should try not to let the artist interfere with the art, this is pretty nasty.

Perhaps I digress, though. Even after Gadd’s arrest, Kanye West, who himself claims that he prefers not to know too much about the artists he samples, gave “Rock and Roll Part 2” new life as the beat for his propulsive single, “Black Skinhead.”

A Tribe Called Quest were an influential and beloved “conscious hip-hop” group from NYC, active from the late ‘80s to the mid '90s. Their first three albums, Peoples’ Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, The Low End Theory, and Midnight Marauders, are amongst the most important and best albums in hip-hop. Tribe made heady but danceable rap featuring diverse samples and marked by the comic interplay between the group’s two main MCs, Q-Tip and Phife Dawg.

Louis Armstrong (1901-1971) was one of the most popular jazz musicians of the twentieth century, known for his trumpet playing and his scratchy, baritone singing voice. Armstrong is a personal hero of mine for having said, “There are two kinds of music: the bad, and the good. I play the good.”