All of this was already on my mind for a while....but peeping what Jay just posted motivated me to speak on it right quick.

NEWS FLASH! HIP HOP IS GAY AND BEEN GAY FOR A WHILE NOW!

I say that in the same context that Killer Mike said "Rap Is Dead" years before Nas copied and said "Hip Hop Is Dead." We all know that there is still some good shit out there, so we can't say ALL of Hip Hop is dead or gay. But, I will say, Hip Hop is more gay than it is dead.

My niggas, look at what you are being sold on a daily basis. As a friend of mines once pointed out, Interscope Records (and other labels, obviously) alone has sold us plenty of shit with gay undertones. Don't get the wrong idea, I'm not calling 50, Rich Boy or Young Buck gay (although 50 does have his moments). But what's up with those album covers. Say if I was actually a fan of these gentlemen. As well as WEEZY WEEZY WEEZY or the umpteen other rappers who insist on posing with no shirts on. Say if I had all of these CDs in my CD book. Wouldn't that shit look more like a wall in a teenage girls bedroom? If you was to go over to one of your homeboy's house and see wall to wall pictures of dudes with their shirts off, wouldn't that raise some eyebrows?

I ain't saying that every person who walks around shirtless is homo, but damn though. Sometimes when I go to the grocery store to flip through new magazines or go to the record store to see whats new, it feels like I'm at a male revue or someshit because all I see is male nipples.

Plus, we all know that the females this stuff is being "marketed" to are more likely to spend money on going to a show than they are on an actual CD. And while I fear sounding sexist, I betcha none of us know more than two women who can tell you the names of two songs outside of the singles/videos on any of those albums. So I ask, who is this shirtless Hip Hop really being peddled to? They always says sex sells, but they never say to what gender.

Beyond the subtle imagery, some of the content in Hip Hop music is evidently gay too. I learned a long time ago that any dude who is either overtly harsh on women or just pays broads TOO much attention is probably gay.

For instance, remember back in elementary school when some dudes in your class or neighborhood used to be on that "girls are yucky" shit and wanted to go build treehouses or hangout spots with signs that said "no girls allowed." I might have hung out with some niggas who was on that shit one time, just because I wanted to fit in. Granted, they wasn't doing gay shit like hunching on each other, but being around all of that unbridled testosterone wasn't cool. Yeah, I was shy around girls at a young age, but that didn't mean I didn't like being around them.

If you look at Hip Hop over the last last few years, the shit looks like a treehouse with the "no girls allowed" sign. For instance, when I used to do club and party promotions with some of my potnas, we'd usually hire the homeboy to DJ. One night he played alot of West Coast shit including "Ain't No Fun" by Snoop and Tha Dogg Pound. I'm not gonna act holier that than thou and act as if that song still doesn't jam, but damn. Reciting the words to that shit with my niggas, in the middle of the dancefloor, with women looking at us...felt awkward to say the least. Sure, you can use the whole "they're talking about bitches and hoes...not women in general" arguement, but that's a tough one to believe. It ain't like they're making that distinction in the song.

Speaking of that song in particular, I once heard Michael Eric Dyson break the shit down. He said something to the effect that, "why is it that when you have a broad in the room willing to do what ever you want her to do, the first person you think about is the homie? Is that not gay?"

Another thing is the type of attention niggas in Hip Hop pay each other now. Niggas are very preoccupied with each other nowadays. These petty back-and-forth's that many of us love to call "beefs" look more like infatuations. I mean, you really gotta have a muthafucka on your mind to go to the extent to which some of these dudes go attack and humiliate each other.

Any and every person I've ever had a problem with, I've confronted them head on. Not even on no super-aggressive shit , just on some "yo, whats up, whats the problem?" But these niggas now? Blame it on technology, but it seems like a diss record or ill-advised concert visit just ain't enough anymore. Niggas go all out on some jealous ex-girlfriend shit nowadays, digging up the past and spreading shit on the internet. Isn't that the equivalent of spreading rumors in high school? Ha, youtube/onsmash/blogging=whispering in niggas ears.

Add that to the devalued image of women in Hip Hop and you have a very gay subculture. Granted, is "just a cartoon," but the Boondocks hit the nail on the head with "Homies Over Hoes." Wow, just as I typed this my dude R.E. just hit me and said something I've always wondered but never put into words. Why the fuck, better yet how the fuck, is the rap game considered a "male-dominated industry" but we always seeing niggas with their shirts off. Something just ain't adding up. Well, its adding up...its just that no females are in the equation.

As usual, this blog has turned into random rambling, but what do ya'll think about the point I started off making. Do you think Hip Hop been gay? What is a book gonna tell us that we don't already know or should have noticed by now? Do you think dude dropping a book AFTER being in the industry is just like how John Amechi decided to start talking AFTER he was out of the NBA?

p.s.-To the ladies (if you are out there) feel free to weigh-in too. Rap blog comment sections be looking like gay treehouse clubs sometimes. Your company is more than welcome.

More From XXL