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James Braxton Peterson: Homophobic Culture in Hip Hop

James Braxton Peterson
James Braxton Peterson for WBGO

Dr. James Braxton Peterson, director of Africana Studies at Lehigh University and founder of Hip Hop Scholars, LLC, believes Hip Hop will lose its millennial followers if it does  not clean up its homophobic attitude.  It was a refrain uttered in 2005 by Kanye West.

But despite gay marriage and the mainline acceptance of the LGBT community, homophobia remains a constant in Hip Hop culture. 

Dr. Peterson grew up in Newark amid the murder, mugging and general mayhem that has plagued  the city for generations.