On Frank Ocean and “Coming Out”

I think there’s something kind of genius about Frank Ocean’s original decision to talk about his sexuality via his new album liner notes.

Liner notes are about as intimate as the musician/fan relationship can get, at least traditionally speaking. Frank wanted to share his life with his fans, not necessarily the whole world. He wanted to let in the people who already love him, the ones who ride for him, first. I get that.

It’s a shame that the media took that away from him by leaking the story early.

Part of me still thinks “coming out” is dumb. Part of me thinks that sexuality doesn’t define you the way blackness or whiteness does, at least not in the way the movement has constructed. I think that’s particularly true for black gay/SGL/bisexual men.

That aside, Frank Ocean is a trailblazer and the game is fundamentally different now. Looking at that sentence, I don’t even know what that means in real terms.

I guess we’ll see.