Music

Deaf rappers are def

by Tyler Munro

Saying deaf rappers are def isn’t just a clever play on words—a lot of deaf people are into hip-hop. It makes sense – there’s heavy bass, there’s words that can be signed. And it only makes sense that there are now rappers – numerous rappers – who can’t hear much of anything.

By now you’ve hopefully seen footage of American Sign Language interpreter Holly Maniatty stealing the show with both Wu-Tang Clan and Killer Mike, keeping up with their flow and proving that there are signs for words like “motherfucker” and “pussy.” But the deaf rap scene is so much bigger than that.

This week on This Exists we look beyond interpretaters into the works of artists like Sean Forbes, Signmark and Prinz-D, whose tried to beef with both of them. He’s trying to cross over to the “hearing” audience, and that’s gotten him some flack. Is it fair? We have deaf athletes and Oscar winners – so why not deaf rappers?