Frank Ocean Comes Out!!!

Today, Frank Ocean published a letter on his tumblr that confirms the rumors that he is gay (or at least bi). In some songs on his upcoming album Channel Orange, he sings about love with a man, which lead to speculation about his sexuality. He reveals that his first love was a male friend in this letter:

Tyler, the Creator responded to his friend and fellow OFWGKTA member's coming out with this tweet, showing that even though he uses homophobic slurs in his music, it does not mean he is anti-gay and that he supports Ocean coming out. 

This is huge. Homosexuality carries many negative stigmas in both hip-hop and black culture, so to come out of the closet as a popular artist is not easy. This is a step towards understanding and acceptance in the hip-hop community and even though it will take A LOT more than one artist coming out to make a change in the minds of homophobic individuals, this was an extraordinarily brave move for Ocean and will hopefully prompt the community to rethink some things. 

What do you think about homosexuality in relation to hip-hop? Do you think there is a big stigma against it? Did you have any idea Frank Ocean was gay? Because I sure didn't. 

Kanye West & Pusha T - New God Flow

Last night, Kanye performed his verse from his new song with Pusha T, "New God Flow", on the BET Awards last night. If you saw it, then you know he killed it. If you missed it, I'll post a video at the end. The song seems to serve as an introduction to the future of G.O.O.D. Music. Pusha T takes the first two verses, which are both lackluster. It basic self-hype about how badass they are and how fresh they are and all that jazz. The same shit every other rapper talks about. Being your own hype man is played out, sorry Pusha. Kanye's verse, however, salvages the song with a few well-placed and meaningful bars. I'll go through the 2 that stood out to me and then post the song & video. What lines, if any, stand out to you?

What has the world come to, I'm from the 312, Where cops don't come through and dreams don't come true

312 is the area code for Kanye's hometown, Chicago, which is far from a safe, cushy suburb full of affluence and opportunity (hence "dreams don't come true"). Like many other hoods, there is clash between the police and the citizens they serve.

I'm living three dreams: Biggie Smalls', Dr. King's, Rodney King's

Quite self-serving, but Kanye's ego is big as hell so you know he can't go like 3 bars without hyping himself. However, this line is still meaningful in that each of these three spoke of a "dream". Biggie's famous line "it was all a dream", Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, and Rodney King's dream of harmony.