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Love letter for him6/25/2023 ![]() Cee’s contributions to rap and affirmed that he would still work with the DJ “any time.”īut what we haven’t heard in these well-publicized statements of support for gay artists or occasional pleas to abandon homophobic language is the key note in Ocean's composition: love matters. Cee was arrested while having sex with a man in his car, 50 Cent-a prime example of cartoonish hypermasculinity-emphasized Mr. Several years ago, Kanye West discussed his adoption and subsequent rejection of homophobia as a young man and a hip-hop artist. Tyler and Jay-Z issued immediate statements of support for Ocean once the letter became news. The recent history of hip-hop is encouraging, though. And when same-gender-loving women are discussed by men in hip-hop, it’s usually as part of the man’s spectacular descriptions of his own sexual conquests and fantasies. Rappers persist in using homophobic slurs and descriptions of gay sex acts as lyrical weapons for demeaning opponents and critics. But beyond that erasure, bigoted notions of manliness permeate hip-hop. As DJ and hip-hop journalist Davey D points out, this history includes repeated attempts to erase and forget LGBT hip-hop artists. So even though Ocean is not a rapper, the impact of the letter echoes throughout hip-hop, which has a history of casual and vicious homophobia among its most commercially successful artists (and many fans). Ocean is a brilliant musician, but his present day notoriety is built in large part from his associations with rappers like Tyler, the Creator Jay-Z and Kanye West. However, Hampton links hip-hop and soul because hip-hop has colored and in some cases colonized several music genres over the past two decades. As a singer, the ability to embody a hard, hyper-masculine persona is not required for commercial success. But elsewhere, Hampton rightly hints that gender is not incidental, because in hip-hop and soul music, “gender constructs are cartoonishly fixed.” It’s true that soul music and hip-hop music are two different worlds, and Frank Ocean is not a rapper. Hampton’s description of Ocean’s use of the male pronoun as “almost incidental” is important, showing how Ocean’s journey in love is universally relatable. What we haven't heard in rappers’ well-publicized statements of support for gay artists is the key note in Ocean’s composition: love matters. ![]() We have all been in a love that felt ‘malignant.hopeless’ from which ‘there was no escaping, no negotiating.’ Your promise to your first love, that you won’t forget him, that you'll remember how you changed each other, is so full of love and grace. The male pronoun of the object of your desire is practically incidental. It is about falling in love and feeling rejected and carrying both that love and rejection with you through life. ![]() Your letter is revolutionary not least of all because it is about love.
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