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Was This the Decade Hip-Hop Finally Moved Past Its Homophobia?
Looking back at all the artists who came out in the 2010s, it’s easy to think that the culture matured. Not so fast.
Update 6/7/22: Level has a new home. You can read this article and other new articles by visiting LEVELMAN.com.
There may be no better allegory for the state of hip-hop today than the seven shots that blipped Saucy Santana onto mainstream rap’s radar barely two weeks ago. In mid-December, the 26-year-old rapper and two of his friends were shot and wounded while scouting video locations in Miami; while no suspects have been questioned as of this writing, Santana is sure of their motivation.“It happened out of nowhere,” he told NBC. “Everybody isn’t going to be accepting of the type of artist that I am.”
The type of artist that he is isn’t easy to find on Rap Caviar or Billboard charts: When the Tallahassee trapper-ternt-emcee saunters onto a stage, his bodacious fake lashes, designer booty shorts, and Chanel bags come, too. All of which explains why, when #Santana started trending on Twitter in the wake of the shooting, most people checked in on Carlos and Juelz before they got to Saucy — if they knew of Saucy at all.
