Kanye West praises Frank Ocean for combating homophobia in music industry
The rapper has spoken out in support of his fellow singer.
Kanye West has voiced his support of Ocean, who he believes ”broke ground” in the genre by discussing his past relationship with a man back in 2012.
The ‘Gold Digger’ singer said that Ocean had made a brave move by opening up about his sexuality in a genre which is notoriously homophobic.
“Like people don’t have a problem with white rappers now because Eminem ended up being the greatest artist, and everyone thought that with Frank Ocean,” he told contactmusic.com.
“I think it’s so cliché to mention him with this subject, but there always are people who broke the ground and I think he is the one who broke the ground because people don’t give a f**k.
“People love his music so much. The people who break the stereotypes make history,” he added.
The rapper added that he can relate to Ocean because of the prejudice he faced when entering the design industry – where he says he was singled out because he wasn’t gay.
‘Yeah, it’s funny. Isn’t it so funny how just the culture of different art forms are so different?”
”Where it’s like I felt that I got discriminated against in fashion also for not being gay,” he said ahead of the release of his second fashion range.
“Whereas in music you definitely get discriminated against if you are gay. And it definitely takes some amazing talents to really break down that barrier.”
“I just thought it was interesting to point that out about the fashion world and the music world and how just culturally it’s reverse discrimination.”
The rap star gained praise earlier this year, when he gave an unexpected response when he met Caitlyn Jenner for the first time after being introduced by wife Kim Kardashian.
“You couldn’t have been up against more,” the 38-year-old said.
“Like, your daughter is a supermodel, you’re a celebrity, you have every type of thing, and it was still like, ‘f*** everybody, this is who I am.’”
