Gyre is a Queer South African Rapper whose music speaks to the queer black experience. When we first came across Gyre’s work in 2018 we were overwhelmed by the sheer unapologetic queer brilliance at the release of his mixtape Queernomics in 2018. In Queernomics, Gyre spits fireball-bars, deep dives into the politics of the not so politically correct politics of Queer love.
Quarantine is the eighth track on the mixtape and the opening number in the chapter “I am…Love”. In Quarantine, Gyre sing-songs how queer love is demonized in a society where heterosexuality is assumed to be the norm/default/natural sexual orientation. This is known as being heteronormative.
You might be wondering why that’s a problem.
If you don’t fit the heteronormative bill by being Queer for example; you’re forced to explain yourself. Questions about why you’re queer, what the sex is like and other invasive questions are thrown about with reckless abandon. Not only is this demeaning, but it’s also highly inappropriate. Whereas, if you are cisgender ie. a person who identifies with their biological sex and simultaneously hetero it’s easy to take for granted the space you so freely occupy in the privilege of socialized normality.
Speaking of SPACE…
In Quarantine, Gyre refers to his queerness as a disease yet a space he can safely be himself. If there is anything these past couple of days have taught us; it the over-looked freedom of occupying spaces at will. The supermarket, your favourite coffee shop/bar/club, the salon or transiting through a taxi rank. Many of us due to the COVID-19 Pandemic have been excruciatingly confined to our homes. Tweets, memes and Tik-Toks spell out panic, frustration, chronic boredom and suffocation.
When anyone queer or otherwise has to make a comparison this stark about their freedom; self-introspection is necessary!
What do we do individually and collectively; consciously or sub-consciously to make different people safe enough to simply be?
Gyre’s Quarantine visuals celebrate safe spaces for queer love and expression.
To hear more of Gyre‘s music it’s available on Soundcloud, iTunes, Apple Music, Deezer, Spotify, Google Play, YouTube and Amazon.
