ROUGH DIAMOND COLLECTIVE

The story of DDm, gay MC, though, begins at a Red Maple rap battle in March 2010—more than a year before his coming out.

That night, he went up against A-Class, one of the city’s most respected and relentless battle rappers. In the first round, DDm, whose sexual orientation was speculated upon by many in the Baltimore rap world, hurled this at A-Class: “When I come hard, you know that it’s over, I got Vaseline motherfucker, bend over.”

“I knew he was gonna try to call me a faggie,” DDm recalls, unimpressed, “so I was gonna try to take the power out of that.” A-Class took the bait, calling him a “faggot” as soon as it was his turn to respond. In the next round, DDm rhymed an arch love letter to A-Class. After that, the usually whip-smart rapper’s comebacks just weren’t hitting like they should. A-Class lost the battle.