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Rapper Murs Kisses Man in New Video Supporting Gay Rights

Posted by Chris Kilby on Sun 22 Jul 2012 at 16:57

Los Angeles underground rapper Murs has released a new music video, “Animal Style”, a ground-breaking show of support for gay rights in the hip hop community.

“Animal Style” is taken from Murs’ latest release "Love & Rockets Vol. 1: The Transformation". The video features Murs, who identifies as straight, playing Roderick, a closeted 17 year old student in love with his openly gay boyfriend Jonathan.

The video follows the story of these two boys in what turns out to be a tragic tale with a shocking and disturbing ending, aimed at showing the struggle of many in America’s LGBT community.

Shown wearing a ‘Legalize Gay’ t-shirt in clips throughout the video, Murs’ most powerful statement comes in the final shot of the video where he is seen kissing his character’s boyfriend. This has been recognised as “a prominent and powerful heterosexual endorsement of gay rights in a community that has stayed mostly silent on the issue in the past” by Billboard.com.

Murs claims he wants to challenge his audience to ask themselves,

Is the love shared by two people of the same gender really that different than the love I have for my partner of the opposite sex?

Murs went on Youtube to explain the song and its video.

Animal Style is a song I did for many reasons...The first was to be an advocate for people close to me who are out, and those who have yet to come out.

Finally, I just felt it was crucial for some of us in the hip hop community to speak up on the issues of teen suicide, bullying, and the overall anti-homosexual sentiment that exist within hip-hop culture. I felt so strongly about these issues and this song that I had to do a video that would command some attention, even if it makes some viewers uncomfortable.

Watch teh video below and let us know what you think.