This is a look we need to see more of. In the current zeitgeist, where black men are constantly being profiled as thugs, criminals, and a danger to society, Brooklyn-based rapper Music Bear Tony Banks is smashing the stereotypes with positivity, and soulful hip hop tracks, proselytizing about his life, his unapologetic gayness, his love of men, and his friends that inspire and support him. On Static, the first track from his upcoming album Yes, Homo, Banks flows about exiting a relationship that has run its course. “You gotta have the courage to make change and the strength to stand up on your own two feet and press forward”, says Banks, who describes himself as a gay, black man with the fun of Missy Elliot and the swag of LL Cool J. “Life is too short to allow someone else’s self-destruction bring you down.” Watch the video below, and get the single Static, out July 4th!

Music Bear Tony Banks:

“I’m often inspired by people around me, and now and then, I’ll use their lives as subjects for songs. For me, the power of music is about writing something I know someone out there needs to hear or feel me say. The industry turns hip hop into a misogynistic, homophobic creature that sells its soul for the promise of money, cars and hoes. It then turns the people in it into that same image. Remember, hate is a learned behavior. No one is born homophobic but when hip hop spreads that message to millions of people, for decades, it catches on and it’s hard to break away from.”