Frank Ocean’s ‘Gayletter’ Interview: Talks Def Jam Spl & ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ Mag | Billboard – Billboard

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 GAY? RAPPER TALKS ABOUT MALE LOVER
• HIP-HOP WORLD GIV GAY SGER SUPPORT
• FRANK OCEAN REVEALS HE'S GAY
• FRANK OCEAN'S NOT ALONE: FIVE OTHER SGERS WHO'VE COME OUT AS GAY

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.

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

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.

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

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.

) 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.

FRANK OCEAN GAY? RAPPER TALKS ABOUT MALE LOVER

Apparently, I wasn’t the only young gay Black boy who felt that sense of lmg support followg Ocean’s g out. 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. For gay black male sgers and rappers, outsi the closet remas mostly a don’t-go-there zone, to which only a few artists sce Ocean — cludg “Empire” star Jsie Smollett, Brockhampton lear Kev Abstract and rapper ILoveMakonnen — have ventured.

“Instead of supportg each other, sometim we n get stuck a box and people n hold agast , ” says Atlanta’s ILoveMakonnen, a former Drake protégé who me out as gay 2017. Anti-gay sentiment the black mic muny is driven, part, by old-time relign and a God who, acrdg to some beliefs, nmns homosexualy.

As protectors of machismo see , homosexualy and what is perceived as “feme” behavr by men further strip black men of their mascule power. Craig Seymour, whose “Craig’s Pop Life” podst explor entertament om a black gay pot of view, se the black LGBTQ genr divi as a se of history repeatg self. When to general acceptance, lbians don’t enunter the same roadblocks as gay men.

HIP-HOP WORLD GIV GAY SGER SUPPORT

Even if hard-lers the black muny aren’t fully on board, they won’t necsarily em a gay or bisexual black woman a threat to eher black femy or masculy. Once a man out as gay, however, he no longer fulfills the whe — or black —  knight fantasy.

“I don’t thk ’s the gay thg; ’s the exprsn of , ” says Young M. Billy Porter, an openly gay rerdg artist who has enjoyed succs as a Tony-wng actor, attribut unequal perceptns to the male-centric gaze.

FRANK OCEAN REVEALS HE'S GAY

“That’s an easier visual to stomach, bee you know the only thg people are terted when they hear ‘gay’ is what we’re dog our bedroom. Dpe the homophobic outrage, Porter’s gay pri hasn’t crippled him profsnally.

“My succs me after I walked away om the toxic homophobia that still l the mic dtry, ” Porter says, cg Monáe and Sam Smh as two of the few LGBTQ breakthroughs. The more permissive dis era the late ’70s allowed Sylvter to be both openly gay and, briefly, a chart star, but throughout the ’80s up to his ath 2005, Luther Vandross ncealed his homosexualy, prumably, part, to protect his reputatn as R&B’s premier boudoir ballaer. Jay-Z went om droppg homophobic rhym on his early releas to honorg his lbian mother on “Se, ” a track on his 2017 album “4:44.

FRANK OCEAN'S NOT ALONE: FIVE OTHER SGERS WHO'VE COME OUT AS GAY

Still, stars rema reluctant to specifilly ll out fellow performers for homophobia. We are nstantly havg nversatns about the stggl that LGBT artists and performers face, but when you go to many of the gay pri ftivals, ’s all heterosexual performers headlg the shows. “I believe the world is ready for a black gay superstar, ” he says.

21 Great Gay Moments In Mic. 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.