The inclusion of “on the down-low” in songs by R. Given the damage done and the suspicions that remain, it’s disheartening to see the down low - which prioritizes assimilation over authenticity - persist as an aesthetic some gay men aspire to and others chase after.īefore the turn of the century, plenty of Black folks used “on the down-low” as a synonym for discretion and the term could apply to any private activity, from a teenager smoking weed to a grandma slipping a $20 bill into a child’s hands. The origins of the down-low identity are just as farcical, although it’s hard to be amused by the way an African-American colloquialism morphed into a pejorative against Black gay and bisexual men. His shorts started to rise when he talked about missing sex, and since I didn’t have any money for a tip, I gave him this instead!
One of the more comical realms of social media is the DL mystique - whether it’s guys trying to enhance their desirability to other men by insisting how non-gay they are, or ridiculous captions on freak videos that read like millennial updates of ‘70s porn scripts: My Uber driver was on his way to play basketball and his wife is eight months pregnant with their third child.
