In a recent MTV UK interview the rapper 50 Cent said that we could be at a turning point in hip-hop.
"Obama is for same-sex marriage," he said. "If the president is saying that, then who am I to go the other way?" 50 Cent followed Jay-Z, Will Smith, and T.I. in saying they support the president's stance.
When we recently asked rapper Murs if President Obama's support of same-sex marriage may have changed opinions in the urban music community, he said, "I think it has. I think it's been a slow change. Frank Ocean, myself, President Obama, I think if all these things were happening without the president, the community may not have been as accepting. I got to perform at Obama's party at the Democratic National Convention, and he said something about marriage equality then. My jaw dropped. I mean, I remember: no president, black or otherwise, has said that. It didn't change how I felt, but it made me want to do something."
50 Cent also went further to defend Frank Ocean, whose debut album, Channel Orange, opened at No. 2 on Billboard's Top 200 Album Chart. "Anyone that has an issue with Frank Ocean is an idiot," 50 Cent said in the interview. "I think Frank Ocean is a talented artist, I think he's created material that made me know his name, that impressed me, with things he said on a song like 'Novacane.'"
50 Cent said Ocean's decision to come out before his album dropped could be "revolutionary." But he was cautious about what might happen next.
"The results of how popular the music becomes now would say how cool or uncool it is to being open," he said, "so I'm sure the gay community will go out and support Frank Ocean. They have to. Because the more successful that project is now is going to leave people in a position to say, 'Look, I'm gay.'"
