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Young M.A
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Young M.A Is the First LGBTQ+ Rapper to Cover Out Magazine

The artist released her debut album, "Herstory in the Making," earlier this year.

At this point, making history -- ahem, herstory -- must come easy to Young M.A. After all, Herstory in the Making was the name of her debut album released earlier this year. With the Brooklyn native landing a spot on our 2019 Out100 as Rapper of the Year, she makes history, herstory, and theirstory as the first LGBTQ+ rapper to grace the cover of the magazine.

"I was like, 'Hello!'" she laughed when asked about the magazine's initial offer.

Founded in 1992, Out has long championed LGBTQ+ musicians across genres with artists of all stripes as cover stars. Rap and hip-hop artists however, though highlighted throughout the pages of the magazine and on Out.com, have often not landed such coveted print real estate. In fact, a cursory search of the Out archives shows only two other hip-hop artists have ever gotten the front page treatment -- Lil' Kim in 1999 and Nicki Minaj in 2010.

During her Out100 cover shoot and interview, M.A mentioned she hesitated saying yes to the feature, admitting that she hoped the focus of our story would not be her sexuality. The lyricist stopped labeling her identity "a few years ago," she said, but still gets asked for interviews most frequently when the media wants to talk about homophobia in hip-hop, or during Pride month.

"At first I believed in the whole identity thing," she said. "I just got to a point where I was like, at the end of the day, nobody can make no rules on what I decide to do. 'Yo listen, don't call me this. Don't call me that. I do what I want. I love who I love. I want who I want.' And I'm not the only one. There's a lot of people in this world who just choose not to identify."

"But then I was like, 'No. I get it. It's not [about] labels. [It's] expressing oneself. It's a magazine that shows your expression of who you are and what you represent,'" she added, which pairs well with where she is in her life and career."

M.A joins Sam Smith, Jeremy O. Harris, Ronan Farrow, Nicolas Ghesquiere as Out100 cover stars.

Editor's note: This article has been updated to reflect that Nicki Minaj was also a cover star.

RELATED | Out100 Rapper of the Year: Young M.A Is 'Herstory in the Making'

Tre'vell Anderson

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Columbia Records and Live Nation present a Miley Cyrus and XYZ Films Production Miley Cyrus
Miley Cyrus in “Something Beautiful” music video
Columbia Records and Live Nation present a Miley Cyrus and XYZ Films Production Miley Cyrus

Taylor Henderson

Taylor Henderson is a pop culture nerd. Lives for drama. Obsessed with Beyonce's womb. Tweets way too much.

Taylor Henderson is a pop culture nerd. Lives for drama. Obsessed with Beyonce's womb. Tweets way too much.

Music

Miley Cyrus cries over a doomed relationship this New Music Friday

Plus new tunes from Kesha, Kali Uchis, and Jake Wesley Rogers!

Happy New Music Friday!

Miley Cyrus in \u201cMore to Lose\u201d music video

Miley Cyrus

Columbia Records and Live Nation present a Miley Cyrus and XYZ Films Production Miley Cyrus

Another week, another batch of new songs from our favorite LGBTQ+ (and adjacent) musicians to add to your playlists!

Miley Cyrus continues her new album rollout with "More to Lose," David Archuleta enters his flirty era on "Can I Call You," singer-songwriter Jake Wesley Rogers is ready to sing "In The Key Of Love" on his debut album, and Kali Uchis releases her sixth studio album Sincerely.

And the collabs are stacked this week! Paramore frontwoman Hayley Williams teamed up with Moses Sumney for "I Like It I Like It," Halsey and Amy Lee combine their powers for the Ballerina soundtrack, Doechii joins The Weeknd and Playboi Carti on a remix of "Timeless," and UMI and 6LACK face some "HARD TRUTHS" on their new R&B track.

Scroll through to listen to this week's best new bops, and follow this writer's New Music Friday playlist on Spotify.

"More to Lose" - Miley Cyrus

Miley Cyrus is otherworldly in her ethereal new ballad "More to Lose."

"HARD TRUTHS" - UMI, 6LACK

Time to accept some hard truths with UMI and 6LACK's steamy new R&B track.

"All I Can Say" - Kali Uchis

Kali Uchis channels Old Hollywood in the morose music video for "All I Can Say."

"Happy Accident" - Jake Wesley Rogers

Jake Wesley Rogers's debut album has arrived, and "Happy Accidents" is just one of the stellar songs on In The Key of Love.

"I Like It I Like It" - Moses Sumney, Hayley Williams

The duo we didn't know we needed? Moses Sumney and Hayley Williams show off some insane vocals on "I Like It I Like It."

"too good" - Maren Morris

Maren Morris realizes she was always "too good for your ass anyway" on her new track.

"Can I Call You" - David Archuleta

David Archuleta's flirty new track delivers a smooth guitar lick and his sultriest vocals.

"Hand That Feeds" - Halsey, Amy Lee

Halsey and Evanescence frontman Amy Lee revive the 2000s emo rock ballad for the film Ballerina.

"DRAMATIC" - Cortisa Star

Rapper Cortisa Star brings the drama on her latest.

"Sugar Free Venom" - f5ve, Kesha

Kesha joins k-pop group f5ve's for their banger "Sugar Free Venom."

"Sweat" - Snow Wife

Ready to "Sweat"? Add Snow Wife's latest banger to your workout playlists!

"Milagros" - KAROL G

Latin superstar Karol G released a song to accompany her new Netflix film Tomorrow Was Beautiful.

"YIPEE-KI-YAY" - Kesha, T-Pain, A.G. Cook

Kesha's latest is an A.G. Cook remix to "YIPEE-KI-YAY."

"Looking Back" - Lord Huron

Lord Huron gets nostalgic on their latest single "Looking Back."

"FIGHT" - Jake Shears

Boyfriend and Jake Shears are ready to "FIGHT" on their new single.

"Timeless" - The Weeknd, Playboi Carti, Doechii

The Weeknd enlists Doechii for his latest remix of "Timeless."

"Illegal" - PinkPantheress

It feels illegal to make a song this good, but PinkPantheress did it anyway.

"God's Got Something Out For Me" - Rio Romeo

Rio Romeo is heaven's most wanted on the playful new track "God's Got Something Out For Me"

"BITCHES BREW" - SAILORR

New pop girl? SAILORR is letting these "BITCHES BREW" on her aesthetic new music video.

"Pretrial ( Let Her Go Home)" - Fiona Apple

Fiona Apple says she "observed thousands of court hearings as a courtwatcher," which inspired her latest song "Pretrial ( Let Her Go Home)."

Here's the playlist!

Taylor Henderson is a music contributor to Out magazine. Be sure to follow 'the alphabet mafia' playlist on Spotify!

See All 2024's Most Impactful and Influential LGBTQ+ People
Artists
Disruptors
Educators
Groundbreakers
Innovators
Storytellers