Odd Future member and risg R&B star Frank Ocean announced tonight via his tumblr that he's bisexual or gay. The post, which was origally supposed to be the ler not for Channel Orange, his upg album, scrib the first time he fell love wh a man, and how he's alt wh the years sce. It's worth readg full - 's lked below - but here are some highlights:
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
FRANK OCEAN: ‘I CRIED THE NIGHT I ME OUT AS GAY’
The Blon artist sat down wh 'Gayletter' to grace the ver of their latt issue, which released on Tuday (April 16). * frank ocean letter about being 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.
FUSE TV - TYLER, THE CREATOR KNEW FRANK OCEAN WAS GAY BEE OF HIS SNACK PREFERENC
"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.
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. Frank Ocean has said that he “cried like a fuckg baby” the night he me out as gay. The ‘Pyramids’ sger revealed that he was motivated to wre the post on Tumblr, which he said he was gay, after he Skyped to a Def Jam ‘Channel Orange’ listeng ssn and noticed one of the journalists was “very harmlsly” wrg a piece about how often he male pronouns songs.
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.” In the note, he wrote:.