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Loretta G. Woodard
Hardy, James Earl (1970– )
A prolific freelance journalist, entertainment
critic, and author, born and raised in Bedford-
Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York, James Earl Hardy
graduated with honors from St. John’s University
and the Columbia University Graduate School of
Journalism. Hardy distinguished himself by in-
troducing American readers to the plight of black
gay men living in the hip-hop community with his
first novel, B-Boy Blues (1994), a journey into the
complexities of being black, male, homosexual,
and a “home-boy” in late 20th-century America.
The post–civil rights hip-hop generation was the
first to attend nonsegregated schools, live outside
the realities of Jim Crow laws, be truly middle class,
and witness and benefit from their parents’ flight
to the suburbs. This generation’s urban language
and music is a historical record of its self-defined
disassociation with the previous generation. The
hip-hop generation was the first free teenage rebel-
lion expressed by African Americans.
B-Boy Blues received high critical acclaim and
gained Hardy a solid readership for his accurate
portrayal of an Afrocentric gay love story. The
success led Hardy to create a series in which he
further develops the central characters, Mitchell
“Little Bit” Crawford and Raheim “Pooquie” Riv-
ers, and explore their love story and duplicitous
roles within the African-American community. In
his second novel, 2nd Time Around (1996), Hardy
chronicles a tougher black gay street scene. Hip-
hop culture reigns supreme in a community that
proves ideal for a black homosexual to “come out.”
Hardy’s characters are placed amid street mores
and music youthful enough to define, redefine, and
rediscover itself. Although broader conflicts, such
as cultural differences and layers of acceptance be-
tween black and white homosexuals, are explored
in 2nd Time Around, Hardy delivers a more inti-
mate, honest struggle of what it means to be black
and gay through Pooquie’s role as a father.
Hip-hop culture also dominates Hardy’s third
novel, If Only for One Nite (1997), in which, by
coupling well-known song lyrics with strong rem-
iniscences, he explores the discrepancies between
romantic fantasies and love. Attending his 10-year
high school reunion, Mitchell, the protagonist, be-
comes reacquainted with his first lover; through
a series of flashbacks intensified by Hardy’s nar-
ratives on the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, the novel
fosters confident notions of black-on-black ho-
mosexual love in America. As the final segment
in the B-Boy Blues series, If Only for One Nite ap-
propriately instills concern in his readers over his
characters’ possible infidelities.
Hardy’s novels address the depths of friendship
and love that are shared between same-gender–
loving (SGL) men, breaking the contemporary
canon of literature written by black heterosexual
and white gay male authors. The hip-hop language
of Hardy’s dramatic narratives draws real char-
acters who challenge the stereotypical attributes
mainstream America often affixes to black men,
gay or straight. Furthermore, Hardy disrupts the
expected traditional costumes (representations) of
homosexuality. His characters never look, act, talk,
dress, or walk in an effeminate manner. Instead,
Hardy pens a new realism that is informed by a
truer, gruffer language cultured on the streets of
hip-hop.
The AIDS crisis of the 20th century filters
through Hardy’s series, most powerfully in The
Day Eazy-E Died (2001). In this novel, Hardy ex-
plores and discusses, thematically and through
characterization, such issues as HIV preven-
tion, safe sex, infidelity, and sexual engagement
with multiple partners. Hardy seems aware that
these are issues facing young people of all sexual
persuasions, particularly young black men, who
are disproportionately infected and affected by
AIDS. However, Hardy omits from his true, often228 Hardy, James Earl