iLoveMakonnen Says People ‘Discredit’ His Talent & Influence Since Coming Out As Gay
iLoveMakonnen, whose 2014 track “TUESDAY (ft. Drake)” placed him on the map, talks homophobia in the music industry and how people “discredit” his talent and influence ever since coming out as gay in 2017, a year after he left Drizzy’s OVO label.
While becoming one of the first mainstream male Hip-Hop artists to come out (ahead of Lil Nas X, Tyler The Creator, Kevin Abstract, etc.), iLoveMakonnen says his big reveal abruptly halted his ascension in the music biz. In a series of tweets posted on Friday (Apr. 2), the 31-year-old rapper, real name Makonnen Kamali Sheran, shared, “Why they love leaving me out of the 2014-2015 music talks now days, the shade the blogger girls and music sites be giving!!! Honey! Was I not there?? Is it cus I came out as gay? Since I came out as gay everyone has tried to discredit my music talents and originality and influence. I know y’all ashamed to say u was on a gay mans d**k, but just keep it 100 since everyone so real nowadays.”
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Subsequent tweets read, “For people to think I came out as gay for promo is beyond me. Like there was no album. No nothing. U think im tryna get support in a homophobic environment for promo. Lol the game so f**ked up. It was quite the opposite. I knew it would p*ss people off. But it was needed.” He pivots and talks about the hypocrisy in Hip-Hop with rappers loving gay designers while putting down gay rappers. “Rappers be feeling confident bragging about being in gay designer brands and buying their so called girlfriend gay designer handbags but u don’t f**k with music made by a gay man cus why?” #Socialites, thoughts?