This is beautiful. Responding to President Obama's endorsement of gay marriage, commander-in-chief of hip-hop Jay-Z has weighed in with his own support of equality. In the video below, you can see Jay say:

It's no different than discriminating against blacks. It's discrimination plain and simple...I think [announcing support of gay marriage is] the right thing to do, so whether it costs [Obama] votes or not — again, it's not about votes. It's about people. It's the right thing to do as a human being.

Here's a real evolution. As opposed to Obama's years of public tiptoeing around the idea that gay people are deserving of marriage equality, Jigga comes from a world where "faggot" is still said as if it's any other word. Jay's no stranger to it, either. In 1999's "Nigga What, Nigga Who (Originator 99)," he says, "Faggots wanna talk to Po-Po's, smoke em like cocoa." Meanwhile, in a response to Nas' implication that Jay himself is gay, Jay shot back in "Takeover" with, "You's the fag model for Karl Kani Esco ads." He's referenced Buju Banton's murder music and has repeatedly used the "no homo" stand-in "pause."

All of this is to say that here we have someone who's repeatedly on the record saying ignorant or unkind things regarding gays, who now has come out in support of their civil rights in the plainest language possible. Granted, it'd probably be exhausting to be so hateful all the time given his wife Beyoncé's own entourage of gays. And he's basically married to a drag queen in the first place (I mean that as a supreme compliment), so he was probably due for an evolution if he hasn't just felt this way all along.

None of that makes Jay's move less bold. It's a lot like Fat Joe's recent words in support of the gay community. Expect to see a lot more like this. Jay's wielding his influence like a public service.

[Image via AP]