Most recently, ODD Future singer, Frank Ocean, did the unthinkable. In an open letter on his Tumblr page Frank Ocean came out of the closet and revealed the details about his first love which happened to be for another man. “4 summers ago, I met somebody,” he wrote. “I was 19 years old. He was too. We spent that summer, and the summer after, together. By the time I realized I was in love, it was malignant. It was hopeless. There was no escaping, no negotiating with the feeling. No choice. It was my first love, it changed my life.”
You can read his compelling letter on his website, HERE!
Frank Ocean has truly done something brave and brazen, especially in the homophobic landscape of Hip Hop.
Best-selling author, Terrance Dean, who wrote about down low and gay celebrities in his memoir, “Hiding In Hip Hop,” has penned an open letter thanking Frank Ocean on his courage to stand up and be proud.
Read below:
An open letter to Frank Ocean:
Over the course of the past few days I read on the blogs, and saw a few tweets chattering about an R&B artist coming out. Your name surfaced, along with an interview you did overseas, and then you wrote on Tumblr about a relationship you had four years ago with a young man. You shared how it changed your life, and how that young man was your first love.
Initially, when I first heard the news about an R&B artist coming out I wasn’t moved. I actually thought it was a hoax created by someone. As we all know how well internet gossip fuels outings, pre-mature deaths, and other lies about celebrities. So, I dismissed it. I was waiting for you, or your publicist, to issue their pre-made ready-to-go written statement For Artists Who Are Considered Gay When The Rainbow Is Not Enuff: “I am not gay. I am a heterosexual man, and I love women.” However, that didn’t happen. You actually responded to your legion of fans, and the world, by announcing your love and declaration affirming yourself in a new era Hip Hop world that is drifting toward a new normal that is no longer filled with the hetero masculine machismo that despises homosexuality.
You can read the entire letter, HERE:
http://bossip.com/607808/a-lil-positivity-author-terrance-dean-pens-heartfelt-open-letter-to-frank-ocean/
1 comment:
Homosexuality is rooted in the deep sexism of hip hop, of rap, of men in power. How dare a man appear feminine? That'd be the worst thing ever. So...what does that make women? The power struggle, the dismissiveness, the entitlement of straight men in hip hip is pervasive. I would like to know, Terrance, what YOU do to address this specifically.
Thanks.
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