James Earl Hardy

“It was the first Black, queer male love story that I ever read. I found it at an independent bookshop in Harlem. It’s the first hip-hop love story between two Black men that’s ever been written. In fact, hip-hop presents itself as the complete opposite of anything queer, even though elements of it are inherently queer. They will never admit that because of machismo and the patriarchy. But James Earl Hardy was the first to ever imagine and tell that type of story and that immediately drew me—its salaciousness, its comedy….The book made a really big impact in the Black queer community at that time, because we had never seen or read or imagined anything like it. It then had an impact on the culture and people started to want to act and dress like these characters. It had an effect on the aesthetic. People wanted a love like these two characters had. It was empowering.” Read more...

Best Books by Black Queer Writers

Robert Jones Jr., Novelist