Frank Ocean: 'I cried the night I me out as gay'

Contents:

• FRANK OCEAN: ‘I CRIED THE NIGHT I ME OUT AS GAY’
• IS FRANK OCEAN GAY? THE SGER OPENED UP ABOUT HIS S*XUALY
• FRANK OCEAN IS GAY? FANS REACT AFTER LEARNG OF ALLEGED HOMOSEXUALY
• GAY OR BI? THE DANGERS OF LABELG FRANK OCEAN
• FRANK OCEAN GAY? RAPPER TALKS ABOUT MALE LOVER

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

Ocean’s nfsn, which two days after Anrson Cooper‘s announcement that he is gay, sends a bold msage to the world of hip-hip, where homophobic ntent has equently been ndoned. 21 Great Gay Moments In Mic.

IS FRANK OCEAN GAY? THE SGER OPENED UP ABOUT HIS S*XUALY

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 two tracks, "Bad Relign" and "Forrt Gump, " Ocean sang about a male love tert, which was a profound act a genre still stifled by homophobia.

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

Especially black mic, which has long been sperate need of a voice like Ocean's to break the layers of homophobia. " It's now been five years sce Ocean's transcennt breakout album, and the effects of his sexual emancipatn are as fluential as the past few months alone, rappers like iLoveMakonnen and Taylor Bent have e out as gay and bisexual, rpectively.

Sure, homophobic groups, such as Migos, are still given airplay, but a new wave of LGBTQ artists have emerged to steer the genre a new directn.

" Fans and crics appld the song's bisexual unrton, but was by no means as earth-shatterg a statement as his Tumblr g out--the one-off track wasn't even featured on his sophomore album. " "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.

GAY OR BI? THE DANGERS OF LABELG FRANK OCEAN

" 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.

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 GAY? RAPPER TALKS ABOUT MALE LOVER

) 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.