Tyler, the Creator on How He Knew Frank Ocean Was "Gay," and Why He Don't Care | Complex

Contents:

• FRANK OCEAN: ‘I CRIED THE NIGHT I ME OUT AS GAY’
• FUSE TV - TYLER, THE CREATOR KNEW FRANK OCEAN WAS GAY BEE OF HIS SNACK PREFERENC
• FRANK OCEAN IS GAY? FANS REACT AFTER LEARNG OF ALLEGED HOMOSEXUALY
• MAC MILLER STANDS BEHD FRANK OCEAN: “HIM COMG OUT & BEG GAY WAS COOL AS F*CK”
• TYLER, THE CREATOR ON HOW HE KNEW FRANK OCEAN WAS "GAY," AND WHY HE DON'T CARE
• FRANK OCEAN HELPED ME NORMALISE BEG GAY AS A TEENAGER
• HIP-HOP WORLD GIV GAY SGER SUPPORT

FRANK OCEAN: ‘I CRIED THE NIGHT I ME OUT AS GAY’

" "Frank Ocean Com Out and Be the First Gay Rapper History. " That last one is wrong on several levels: Ocean did not e the word "gay, " nor is he a rapper, nor would he be the first gay rapper if eher of those labels applied. Especially black mic, which has long been sperate need of a voice like Ocean's to break the layers of homophobia.

" At, Jaah Lemix noted that while few urban artists openly embrace homosexualy, many are "the closet wh the glass door, " livg a life they don't reveal their mic. "I hope that Frank Ocean don't bee 'the gay sger, ' for would be crimally unfair for him to wear that label as so many of his peers are sleepg wh and lovg same genred persons, while sellg imag of hyper-heterosexualy, " she wrote. Unlike the standard g out gture – newsman Anrson Cooper's public email to his iend Andrew Sullivan, "The fact is, I'm gay" — Ocean's prented sexualy as somethg that aris wh particular circumstanc, fed by shiftg sire and dividual enunters rather than solidifyg as an inty.

FUSE TV - TYLER, THE CREATOR KNEW FRANK OCEAN WAS GAY BEE OF HIS SNACK PREFERENC

There is a leage of Ain Amerin artists who've prented broar fns of sexualy through their songs and their public personali, as well, though homophobia has certaly kept many more om livg fully hont liv. Gospel mic thory Anthony Heilbut's newly published book of says discs the impact of "the gay men of gospel, " om key mil archects like Jam Cleveland to crossover figur like Bayard Rt. (Kelefa Sanneh's 2010 New Yorker profile of the gospel artist Tonex explor how homophobia n impact an artist wh that muny.

FRANK OCEAN IS GAY? FANS REACT AFTER LEARNG OF ALLEGED HOMOSEXUALY

) David Hajdu's bgraphy of De Ellgton's llaborator Billy Strayhorn shows how the lyricist's life as one of the few openly gay men mid-century jazz helped shape classic songs like "Lh Life. Though the "No Homo" meme rap tipped the discsn toward adolcent game playg and bigotry, even stubbornly straight pop scen, the trend is toward passn.

While hip-hop and R&B, had been monly wrten off as herently homophobic, the rponse to Ocean’s emotnal letter was mostly posive, wh many praisg the one-of-a-kd talent for his bravens and honty.

As a young gay Black boy who grew up stgglg to reckon my love for hip-hop, rap, and R&B wh the homophobic sentiments often rattled off, Frank’s g out was a pivotal moment — one that let me know I wasn’t alone and that society uld be ready to accept others like me, too. Apparently, I wasn’t the only young gay Black boy who felt that sense of lmg support followg Ocean’s g out.

MAC MILLER STANDS BEHD FRANK OCEAN: “HIM COMG OUT & BEG GAY WAS COOL AS F*CK”

Durg a recent holiday episo of Zane Lowe’s #AtHomeWhAppleMic show, Lil Nas X, an openly gay rapper himself, revealed how much Frank Ocean — and his close llaborator Tyler, The Creator, who is also openly queer — has meant for his reer. On “We All Try, ” the third track om his 2011 but mixtape nostalgia, ULTRA, he voiced support for gay marriage four years before beme legal natnwi:. The night the album dropped, Frank appeared on Late Night Wh Jimmy Fallon to but the song “Bad Relign, ” which ntas the most overt discsn of a gay relatnship on the album.

Frank ma a brief but important return June 21, 2016 after the Pulse Nightclub shootg Orlando, Fl., when he spoke out agast stutnal homophobia our society wh an emotnal Tumblr post, reflectg a siar msage to that of “Bad Relign. On the song “Skyle To, ” Frank returns to the ia of relig nmnatn of homosexualy while sgg about a sexual experience wh another man:. Frank was raised the South, where sayg someone has “sugar their step” or “sugar their tank” is slang for llg them gay.

TYLER, THE CREATOR ON HOW HE KNEW FRANK OCEAN WAS "GAY," AND WHY HE DON'T CARE

The journalists who have been burned by broken promis and the fans who have eagerly awaed Ocean’s sophomore album have nmned the sger as outrageoly, unnecsarily evasive. Ocean’s sexualy is, as he scrib , “dynamic”—a self-asssment that hasn’t stopped journalists om pigeonholg him as bisexual or gay.

” By refg to claim an inty, he rerv the right to nstantly is not to say that Blon fully evas the qutn of homosexualy. In “Good Guy, ” Ocean croons about beg taken on a date to a “gay bar.

FRANK OCEAN HELPED ME NORMALISE BEG GAY AS A TEENAGER

It’s the kd of irreverence and mutabily that mak Ocean such a difficult gay in, and such an trigug queer one. Frank do not seem cled to take on any rponsibili as the hip-hop world’s pre-ement gay artist—a label he’s never claimed and do not seem likely to.

While he wrote eloquently and openly on the Orlando Pulse shootg, Blon don’t nta any siarly polil gay statements or logi.

HIP-HOP WORLD GIV GAY SGER SUPPORT

To fe onelf leads to prsur and rponsibili—to produce another Channel Orange, or to pen the next gay anthem. Hip-hop has never had a gay superstar. As a muny, the hip-hop world is still plagued by homophobia, and prohibive molds of masculy.

” While Young Thug’s remarks triggered a b of a backlash, wh hip-hop fans and media outlets mg on his sexualy, there also seemed to be an creasg unrstandg that queerns isn’t synonymo wh homosexualy.