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Is Hip Hop and R&B Ready for an Openly Bisexual Artist?



R&B crooner Frank Ocean sent shockwaves through the Hip Hop and R&B community Wednesday after announcing through his Tumblr his first love was a man.

Released on Independence Day, the letter serves as a symbolic gesture for Frank Ocean finally accepting himself and feeling like a “free man.”

In Ocean’s debut album Channel Orange, he sings candidly about love and his sexuality on tracks “Bad Religion” “Pink Matter” and “Forest Gump” where he uses the word “him” instead of “her.”

But many are now wondering how the R&B and Hip Hop community will take to Ocean’s lifestyle. The topic has long been discussion with several members of the Hip Hop community revealing their thoughts on the matter.

Fellow Odd Future band mate Tyler the Creator took to Twitter to congratulate his friend.

“My Big Brother Finally F**king Did That. Proud Of That N**ga Cause I Know That S**t Is Difficult Or Whatever,” Tyler tweeted. Anyway. Im A Toilet.”

“Fucking Finally Sus Boy @frank_ocean Hahahaha, You Still Aint Got No Bitches Hahaha My Nigga Dawg,” he tweeted.

Rapper Killer Mike, who has spewed homophobic lyrics in past works, called Ocean’s news “no big deal” and regarded Luther Vandross as a gay R&B artist.

On Twitter, Killer wrote, “Really no big deal the Best R&B guy ever to me was Gay. #LongLiveLutherV!!!”

On the track “Re-Akson” (remix), the rapper spits “My dad ain’t raise no f*g, my mom ain’t had no punk.”

The genre of Hip Hop has long been regarded as hyper-masculinated and homophobic.

Rapper Too Short revealed to VladTV that he was very “homophobic” in the 1990s until the world “got so gay” that his mindset changed. The “Blow the Whistle” rapper said he would work with a gay artist as long as it wasn’t “a gay song.”

“If we were talking about a subject, I ain’t tripping. I don’t care,” he said.

Los Angeles rapper The Game told VladTV he doesn’t have a problem with homosexuals. The only type gay the rapper says he has a problem with are those still “in the closet.”

“Do you, it’s a free country,” the Compton rapper said. “Be gay. Game doesn’t have a problem with gay people. Game has a problem with people pretending not to be gay, but are gay.”

New York rapper Jada Kiss told VladTv he’d record a song with an openly gay rapper “if the check was right and song was right.”

Frank Ocean may possibly be the first openly bi-sexual artist in the Hip Hop and R&B arena to garner commercial success. As the Hip Hop community becomes more accepting of the LGBT community, more gay artists may take Frank Ocean’s lead.

Head over to Collegiate NetVision (CNV) to watch the Hip Hop Community’s reaction to Gays in Hip Hop by clicking here.

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Listen to “Thinking Bout You” by Frank Ocean

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