Skip to Content
News

iLoveMakonnen Comes Out As Gay

8:49 AM EST on January 20, 2017

LOS ANGELES, CA – MARCH 22: iLoveMakonnen attends the record release party for “Drink More Water 6” at No Vacancy on March 22, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Randy Shropshire/Getty Images)

|Randy Shropshire/Getty Images

ILoveMakonnen, the Atlanta sing-rapper and former Drake associate who helped push Atlanta rap toward a spacier and weirder sound, has never spoken about his sexuality. This, in itself, was a radical act in a world as historically heteronormative as rap. But last night on Twitter, Makonnen announced proudly to the world that he is gay. Here's what he wrote:

As a fashion icon, I can't tell u about everybody else's closet, I can only tell u about mine, and it's time I've come out.

— Oceanic Makonnen (@iLoveMakonnen5D) January 20, 2017

And since y'all love breaking news, here's some old news to break, I'm gay. And now I've told u about my life, maybe u can go life yours?

— Oceanic Makonnen (@iLoveMakonnen5D) January 20, 2017

Makonnen's announcement comes a few days after the Chicago rapper Taylor Bennett came out as bisexual. While the rest of the world goes through its hellish regression, rap music pushes forward.