The first transgender artist takes on the battle rap scene
This transgender artist is reforming rap battles by being open about her gender identity.
Rapper NoShame is devoted to battle rap- a rhyming or free-styling competition between two artists with the intention of trumping the other with insults and gloating.
Even after her transition from male to female, she continued her passion, where the most impressive verses often decide the winner.
The only transgender battle rapper, she said in an interview with HipHopDX: “I’m introducing the Battle Rap culture into the LGBT community and at the same time I’m introducing the LGBT community to the Battle Rap culture.
“Really man, what’s sad is they’re both about struggle. . .
“It’s really the same story.
“It’s sad to see it divided ‘cause it really should harmonize very well together.”
The art is reforming its former conventions- rooted in American culture, battle rap is spreading through the United Kingdom and Cuba in particular.
While the primary participants used to be African-American males, the scene is changing to include females, different races and the LGBT community.
Disclaimer: This video contains language that some may find offensive.
She said: “When I’m out in public and I’m not in the Battle Rap world, I talk like a female. . .
“I know that’s hard for people to believe ‘cause it’s like they see me rapping and they just see this big, tall motherf***er there with a deep voice.
“It’s hard for them to picture me being dainty, but that’s what actually happens.
“When I go into the battle world, and I’ve had people tell me this, like, ‘We wouldn’t have accepted you if you came in dainty.
“If you would have came in light like that we wouldn’t have accepted you.’”
NoShame began taking hormones several years ago, after struggling with her decision to transition.
She faced her share of bigotry in the industry following her transition, but, so far, has come up against Michael White, Joe Cutter and Kidd K.
Following her rap with Kidd K, even the notoriously brutal comments section of YouTube was gushing with praise for NoShame.
In an interview with Vice, NoShame credited DJ Headkrack as her motivation to continue her battle rap career.
She said: “If I go into hip-hop, I have to have thick skin.
“I know that people aren’t fully educated.
“One of the things I found most therapeutic about my transition was that if I wanted people to accept me for who I was, I had to accept their viewpoints, no matter how disgusting.
“Some of the most redneck, right-wing people have come around to accepting me.”
NoShame clarified that the LGBT community should not be entirely upset by the derogatory slurs because, most of the time, they are expressed harmlessly.
Originally from Phoenix, Arizona, NoShame was raised in the “Deep South” of Dallas, Texas.
