This week has become a big one for the gay, lesbian bisexual and transgender community. First, CNN talk show host Anderson Cooper came out in an email to writer Andrew Sullivan, which was very nonchalant and now R&B singer Frank Ocean has come out as well. Ocean belongs to the hip hop collective Odd Future and has written some songs for singer Justin Bieber, John Legend and Beyoncé. Ocean came out on his blog by writing the following:
“In the last year or 3 I’ve screamed at my creator, screamed at the clouds in the sky, for some explanation. Mercy maybe. For peace of mind to rain like manna somehow.
4 summer ago, I met somebody. I was 19 years old. He was too. We spent that summer, and the summer after, together. Everyday almost… Sleep I would often share with him. By the time I realized I was in love, it was malignant. It was hopeless. There was no escaping.
I don’t know what happens now, and that’s alrite. I don’t have any secrets I need kept anymore… Thanks to my first love, I’m grateful for you. Grateful that even though it wasn’t what I hoped for and even though it was never enough, it was… I feel like a free man. If I listen closely… I can hear the sky falling too.”
Ocean’s coming out came only a couple of days after a review was published of his new album ‘Channel Orange.’ The review claimed that Ocean “[opens] up about his sexuality on the album” and that “…on the songs ‘Bad Religion’ ‘Pink Matter and ‘Forrest Gump’ you can hear him sing about being in love and there are quite obvious words used like ‘him’ and not ‘her’.”
Ocean was congratulated for coming out on Twitter by one of his cohorts from Odd Future, Tyler the Creator. The congratulatory words from Tyler the Creator are not a coincidence since he has been accused of homophobia in the past. The Tweet has some language that might be offensive to some.
“F**king Finally Sus Boy @frank_ocean Hahahaha, You Still Aint Got No Bitches Hahaha My N***a Dawg” and “My Big Brother Finally F***ing Did That. Proud Of That N***a Cause I Know That S**t Is Difficult Or Whatever.”
Nicki Minaj and Fat Joe are just a couple of hip hop artists who are gay-friendly and Azealia Banks and Ocean are artists who are proving that the hip hop community is becoming more tolerant of homosexuality, which has been a problem in the past.