Saucy Santana has been working to address homophobia in hip hop culture.
During an interview with Grindr‘s “Who’s The A**hole?” podcast, Santana shared with host Katya, the “Material Gworl” about the acceptance of same-gender loving artists in the game and how he navigates the space.
“It’s definitely real,” he began. “Coming into rap, I was strategic. I said I was going to rap from a girl’s standpoint and I remember when my song came out, it went viral. I remember 2019, and 2020, I couldn’t be in certain rooms. Dudes was like ‘nah’ — not necessarily rude to me, but you could just feel the energy. But one thing about me, once you be around me, people love me.”
“I’ve been around street dudes and hood hyper-masculine boys, and my game plan was: I was always mean. I was stiff,” he went. “A lot of times men have a stigma that gays are gonna come around and, ‘Oh I wanna suck your d*ck’ and we’re gonna start twerking and all that, and I would be in the room like, ‘You could never touch me bi**h.’”
Although he has encountered numerous challenges, his persistence and major co-signs from some of the most well-known rap artists helped him to solidify his status in the game.
“Once my accolades started speaking for me, I had so many different men in rap like, ‘Bro keep going.’ Drake done FaceTimed me with Caresha, Jack Harlow… I get so much respect from different dudes outside now,” Santana said.
Even though he has performed on stages with icons like Madonna, Santana believes that he is just getting started to make an imprint on the culture.
“I still got a long way to go,” due to the “older generation of rappers still not having it,” Santana remarked.
In addition to being a trailblazer as a rapper, Saucy took his talents to reality TV as one of the new cast members of “Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta.”
According to the logline, the new season follows Santana and his relationship with partner and “Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood” alum ZellSwag, who is learning “to embrace his sexuality in his new relationship.”
Other members of the cast include Bambi, Erica Dixon, Jessica White, Karlie Redd, Kirk Frost, Rasheeda, Scrappy, Yandy, Mendeecees, Momma Dee, Yung Joc, and more.
