A Timeline of Hip Hop Homophobia

1990: Public Enemy Reveals Limits to Their Progressiveness

If you were disenfranchised in the golden age of hip-hop, the angry, socially conscious Public Enemy was the group that had your back — unless you were gay. On "Meet the G That Killed Me," Chuck D rapped, "Man to man, I don't know if they can / From what I know, the parts don't fit;" on "A Letter to the NY Post," they even wax homophobic in the midst of a left-field shoutout to James Cagney, of all people: "Ask James Cagney / He beat up on a guy when he found he was a fagney / Cagney is a favorite / He is my boy / He don't jive around / He's a real McCoy." Indeed.

For the rest of the timeline, head on over to our partner Nerve.com. Next up: It's 1990, and Big Daddy Kane's career takes a hit over AIDS rumors.