Everything in fashion comes in waves. It’s only a matter of time until the new “it” girl looks like a roaring 1920’s flapper and before the 6 month interval is over, there will be another outcry of the obnoxious 1980’s or the lavish 1970’s and so on and so forth. Those trends are cute, but hardly any style statement curdles society’s blood like androgyny

From David Bowie to Grace Jones to Freddie Mercury to Madonna to Lady Gaga, rattling the lines of gender makes people squirm in their seats and usually concludes in them being in awe of the person able to explore gender barriers or lash out with terminology that would make Prince squeal. And that’s just in mainstream, pop culture. Dive into subcultures that don’t explore these treacherous grounds and there is a groundswell of criticism.

The most recent controversy is the rapper DPhillGood. DPhillGood, through the help of the hood’s favorite website WorldStarHipHop, a local news spot has gone viral. “The movement has gotten a lot of exposure.” The movement Mr. PhillGood is speaking of is the XY movement. The newest trend of gender-benders came from the rarest place. A Lil’ B inspired, tights-wearing, lipstick-sporting rapper inspiring polar opinions consisting of people who are fascinated and outraged, but all can’t deny that DPhillGood’s XY movement is interesting.

“The XY movement is about self-growth […] a lot of people think I want them to follow what I’m doing and that’s not what it’s about. It’s about self-growth.” When the gender-bending rapper talks about his movement, you hear a calmness and serenity that isn’t quite mastered by hip-hop outcasts like Tyler, The Creator or Lil’ B. Good doesn’t come off as raddled or disturbed like his naysayers might suggest. “A lot of the things people say I feel like they’re just not happy with themselves and they’re lashing out.” The lashing out is to be expected, especially in a culture so deep-rooted in masculinity, homophobia, and bravado. The contradiction, however, is found in many of jeggings, ballet recitals in videos and transsexual scandals. Hip-Hop is a culture dictated by what it hates the most which consistently births eye and ear grabbers like DPhillGood and his XY movement. “It was a growth process [...] I had the idea and I knew people would talk a whole lot of shit.”

Though, he comes off extremely copacetic, it fearless of him to be doing what he’s doing, especially where he’s doing it. He’s not a New Yorker or in L.A. He’s a native of Dallas, Texas. “It’s really conservative [...] I definitely took that in consideration, but I didn’t think too much about it.” Of course, Cee-lo and Andre 3000 are funky southerners that might ruffle a few feathers in Hip-Hop, so what DPhillGood is doing isn’t unique at all, but that’s another hang-up in Hip-Hop. Hip-Hop, in respect to gender and sexuality expression, is consistently making glass ceilings. Once one person does something and is successful, the glass ceiling gets a bit higher, but it’s still there. It’s still there for somebody to break and be ridiculed for… and perhaps become iconic in the community. You know, everybody hates it until the right person loves it.

Is DPhillGood and his XY movement that next right thing that changes the landscape of hip-hop culture? Who knows. It is known that the XY movement is igniting a talk in hip-hop that creates clear lines of what is acceptable and unacceptable. Do you find it troubling that hate and bigotry have such a heavy hand in an artistic culture? If so, don’t fret. DPhillGood has advice that is more self-centric than expected about his journey. “My advice is to follow your own advice [...] I just started exploring myself and I really just found myself.” I also say, don’t fret, but do take this food for thought; for every Hip-Hop artist trying to break barriers of sexuality and gender with fashion and music, there’s another Hip-Hop artist trying to keep those barriers strong and high, while he orders a transsexual escort. The contradiction is rich and humorous similar to a boy in lipstick. DPhillGood’s project, “Good vs. Evil” is dropping in the first half of 2012. Stay tuned.

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