After R&B crooner Frank Ocean came out as gay last week, there has been an outpouring of support fromt he urban music community, including some from another R&B pop star, Beyonce.
Bey posted an open letter — OK, more of an open picture — on her website to Frank Ocean with handwritten encouragements over his photo. Check the note below.
“”Be fearless. Be honest. Be generous. Be brave. Be poetic. Be open. Be free. Be yourself. Be in love. Be happy. Be inspiration.,” she wrote on Saturday.
Queen B’s husband Jay-Z also wrote a note of support on his Life + Times website under the post “Thank You, Frank Ocean.”
“Your relieving yourself of your ‘secret’ is as much about wanting to honestly connect as it is about exhibition. We are all made better by your decision to share publicly,” the rapper wrote.
Another singer, Anthony Hamilton told GlobalGrind in an interview, “[Ocean’s] creative, doesn’t matter if it’s his album or whatever album he puts his talent to, it’ll be OK. I think he’s creative enough and clever enough to go with what’s needed – to adjust to whatever the climate is in the music business.”
Some of the support for Ocean’s declaration was sparked because of some statements from other artists like Lil Scrappy, who put out some controversial statements last week.
“I’m glad that he came out … so all the real women that love to mess with real men, straight men, we can keep the AIDS situation down, you feel me?” he told TMZ.
Frank Ocean’s “coming out” about his sexuality last week sent shockwaves into the hip-hop and R&B world. Ocean has been a hot commodity since his group Odd Future blew up and he was tapped to work on songs with Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “Watch the Throne” album. Odd Future and other artists have used the words “homo,” “fag” and “gay” as derogatory in their lyrics, and there are very rare outed male acts in hip-hop, particularly those as high-caliber as Ocean these days.
“I am an extremely huge fan of Frank Ocean. His music is impeccable to me, and as far as I’m concerned, I respect the dude completely. I don’t know if it’s just about hip-hop being willing to accept [homosexuality], I think the whole world is ready to accept whatever people choose to be in life,” as Busta Rhymes told MTV News on Friday.
Oh, so with all that said, you wanna hear some music? How about Frank Ocean’s brand new, soulful track “Sweet Life,” streaming below. Gay, bi-, alien, the track is ungh, yeahhhh. The song is on his forthcoming “Channel Orange,” due next week on July 17.