This last Tuesday, June 21, 2016, Grammy-winning R&B singer Frank Ocean made a rare decision. He took to social media, an entity he has been avoiding very much for the last two years, to have his voice heard. He posted on his Tumblr for the first time since posting about Prince's death and before that, he hadn't posted since the Paris attacks in 2015. This time, he was addressing yet another tragedy. However, this tragedy hit a little closer to home with him.
In 2012, Frank Ocean posted an open letter on his Tumblr where he revealed to the world that the his first "true love" was with a man in his young adulthood. The letter was released just weeks before his debut album, "channel ORANGE," which led to receiving widespread critical acclaim and various awards which included picking up two Grammy awards in 2013. The album is primarily centered around the summer in which he had his first love and how the man he fell for did not love him back. On the album there are various songs that reference that love directly such as his breakout single "Thinkin' Bout You," "Bad Religion" and "Forrest Gump."
In his latest post on Tumblr, he begins by describing how homosexuals and transexuals are being killed in the Middle East. Under Sharia Law, which is commonly enforced throughout the Middle East, homosexuality can be punishable by death. He then describes how his own pastors at church describe to him the "lake of fire"—or simply "hell"—that he is going to burn in because of his past love-life decisions. He says, "I heard the news say he [the Orlando gunman] was one of us." That "us" represents everyone in the LGBTQ community after there were allegations of the gunman's possible affairs with other men. He tells the story of his homophobic father and that the last time he saw him it involved him dragging a six-year-old Frank Ocean out of a diner because he refused to be served by a transgender waitress. The entire letter is centered around the hate that surrounds the LGBTQ community stating "many hate us and wish we didn't exist." However, despite the constant hate that is raining onto the LGBTQ community, Frank says that everyone in the community must express pride and love for themselves because if they don't who will? He states that "we are all God's children."
Since releasing that open letter and his debut album, he has received a large amount of support from around the music community. However, there are a few throughout the music community who have been critical of Frank and his decision to make the story of his first love public knowledge. R&B singer, Miguel once said in an interview that he only believes Frank Ocean won his Grammy's because of the open letter and he also refused to give him a standing ovation after losing to Frank in the same category at the 2013 Grammy's. Sitting down among Miguel was R&B superstar Chris Brown. Chris Brown also refused to give Frank Ocean a standing ovation after losing to him at the 2013 Grammy's but has also gotten into an altercation with Frank before. In January 2013, a feud over a parking spot at Frank Ocean's studio turned ugly after Frank and Chris allegedly exchanged blows with one another after, according to Frank Ocean, Chris called him a "faggot." This altercation left the two a little banged-up but it appears the whole feud has seem to have blown over.
Throughout Frank Ocean's career, he has received an immense amount of support from those around him yet also criticism. Through it all, he appears to have kept his head held high and continued to pursue his passion of music and all the other art forms he has been involved in. He has been working on his sophomore album for the past four years primarily in silence but he isn't afraid to poke his head out for the world to hear in times when many may need such an encouraging voice to hear.
Below is the direct text from Frank Ocean's recent Tumblr post on homophobia:
"I read in the paper that my brothers are being thrown from rooftops blindfolded with their hands tied behind their backs for violating sharia law. I heard the crowds stone these fallen men if they move after they hit the ground. I heard it’s in the name of God. I heard my pastor speak for God too, quoting scripture from his book. Words like abomination popped off my skin like hot grease as he went on to describe a lake of fire that God wanted me in. I heard on the news that the aftermath of a hate crime left piles of bodies on a dance floor this month. I heard the gunman feigned dead among all the people he killed. I heard the news say he was one of us. I was six years old when I heard my dad call our transgender waitress a faggot as he dragged me out a neighborhood diner saying we wouldn’t be served because she was dirty. That was the last afternoon I saw my father and the first time I heard that word, I think, although it wouldn’t shock me if it wasn’t. Many hate us and wish we didn’t exist. Many are annoyed by our wanting to be married like everyone else or use the correct restroom like everyone else. Many don’t see anything wrong with passing down the same old values that send thousands of kids into suicidal depression each year. So we say pride and we express love for who and what we are. Because who else will in earnest? I daydream on the idea that maybe all this barbarism and all these transgressions against ourselves is an equal and opposite reaction to something better happening in this world, some great swelling wave of openness and wakefulness out here. Reality by comparison looks grey, as in neither black nor white but also bleak. We are all God’s children, I heard. I left my siblings out of it and spoke with my maker directly and I think he sounds a lot like myself. If I being myself were more awesome at being detached from my own story in a way I being myself never could be. I wanna know what others hear, I’m scared to know but I wanna know what everyone hears when they talk to God. Do the insane hear the voice distorted? Do the indoctrinated hear another voice entirely?"
