Odd Future’s Syd the Kyd is not the first woman in hip hop to come out of the closet. In 1997, Brooklyn rapper Queen Pen addressed homosexuality on her album My Melody on "Girlfriend," a riff on Me'Shell NdegeOcello's "If That's Your Boyfriend (He Wasn't Last Night)." Syd, though, has been the most forward, including a girl-kiss in The Internet’s video for "Cocaine." In a recent interview with LA Weekly, she got to the heart of why she chose to come out:
"I decided to do it because I wish I had someone like that [an openly gay female artist] while I was coming up. People write on my Tumblr just thanking me for making the video, saying that I really inspire them, and they want to be like me. But I wasn't always this way, this comfortable with myself, and I remember what that was like. So I figure, fuck it. Everyday people aren't given this opportunity and I realize that. And I didn't at first. I thought I was just lucky to be along for the ride... We didn't make the video to make a statement about Odd Future and homophobia. It was to showcase a song by the Internet... the world is just now starting to become open about homosexuality. I can't really say I've contributed to that, and I'm grateful to the people who have set a path for me to be who I am today. And I guess in that sense I want to return the favor.
