Wale says gay artists at an advantage: ‘Frank Ocean got the Grammy and everything’
By Will Stroude
US rapper and hip-hop star Wale says that being gay is now actually an advantage for artists in the music industry, who are hailed as ‘heroes’ for coming out publicly.
The 31-year-old – who most notably scored a UK Top 20 hit back in 2009 with Lady Gaga collaboration Chillin’ – made the comments during an appear on Power 105.1 FM’s Breakfast Club earlier this week (October 21), saying he believed that openly gay singer Frank Ocean won extra plaudits for his 2013 debut album Channel Orange because of his sexuality.
Asked by the hosts whether it would be possible for an openly gay hip-hop star to be successful, Wale replied: “Of course. Of course. If a dude was gay, man, he’d get a Grammy.
“They’re going to make fun of them, they’re gonna throw their Twitter jokes… but in the next three years there’s probably gonna be a dude who’s not even gay that’s just like ‘Man, this is my last resort’…”
He added: “But nah, I would sign a gay rapper if he was dope. ‘Go ahead man, go do that thing, go do them Versace fashion shows’.”
Admitting there were “probably” hip-hop artists in the closet, he went on: “It’s 2015 – that homophobic stuff is corny, for real. I’m uncomfortable with certain things, [but] that’s because I never grew up around it”, before explaining that a lack of affection between his parents would also make him uncomfortable with older people kissing.
“But the point I’m trying to make is it’s definitely – and people are probably going to go bad on me for saying this – but its an advantage to be gay in this country right now. That’s just the fact of the matter.
“Frank Ocean is very dope. Very very dope artist. He got pushed to the moon when he dropped his album though. He got the Grammy and everything. There’s about 30 artists in the country that sold about how much he did or more – they didn’t get any of that.
“And like I say that’s not taking nothing away from him, but do you think Miguel is getting those looks, like for real? Not really.”
He added: “People look at it like ‘you’re a hero, you’re a pioneer'”.
Watch the interview below (the discussion about gay artists comes just after the 8.15 mark):
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