Hip-hop artists insist it isnâ??t cool to be gay. So why do they look so camp? The world of hip-hop music is notoriously homophobic. "One of the worst rumours I heard about myself was that I was homosexual", said Outkast's exuberant frontman Andre 3000. "Especially in the hip-hop world, that ain't a cool rumour to hear."
There is, however, something of the Top Gun syndrome going on here. That film, while overtly macho, was as camp as Graham Norton singing Kylie; it featured slow-motion sweaty volleyball, towel-flicking and, of course, those big phallic airplanes.
Hip-hop - guns, weightlifting and all - appears to be following the same pattern.
This month sees the release of rapper 50 Cent's movie Get Rich or Die Tryin'. A look at the posters reveals that Mr Cent has as much trouble keeping his top on as Jordan. Indeed, he has built up quite a gay following for his impressive physique and odd habit of oiling it for photographs. A recent GQ shoot saw him draped in furs, eyebrows and chest waxed, pouting for all he was worth.
"Being gay isn't cool" is his statement on the matter - remarkably restrained compared with lyrics like Ludacris's "All you faggot motherfuckers get the fuck off the way". But the fact remains that hip-hop, for all its posturing about "bitches and hos", borders on cliched homosexual territory. Dolce and Gabbana's spaghetti-strap vest, best worn over a toned physique, is as popular with body-building rappers as it is among the gays. Some lyrics even make the step from misogyny towards rejecting women entirely: "Me give my heart to a woman? Never," sang (the straight) Jay-Z.
The constant need to reassert heterosexuality in videos groaning with girls smacks a little of protesting too much. I look forward to eventually hearing the first hip-hop cover of I'm Every Woman, and seeing the first rappers' guide to exfoliating, but don't hold out too much hope.
