Fame is so much more than fame. Fame is gossip, recognition, pressure, speculation, criticism, and I don’t even want to know what else. It sounds awful.

Frank Ocean of the hip-hop group Odd Future had recieved all of the above surrounding his sexuality. Largely stemming from attention blogger This Is Max had given him, the clarification Ocean gave was incredibly personal, honest, and well-spoken.

Ocean posted on his personal tumblr to inform the world of his view into what everyone had been formulating for him. He chronicled a past summer where he had fallen in love for the first time — with a man.

“Four summers ago, I met somebody. I was 19 years old. He was too. We spent that summer, and the summer after, together. Every day almost, and on the day we were together, time would glide. Most of the day I’d see him, and his smile. By the time I realized I was in love, it was malignant. It was hopeless.”

Interestingly enough, his entire statement never uses a label like “gay” or “bisexual.” Ocean simply recounts a love story between two human beings. He shares with us his feelings, his trepidations, and ends with a beautifully peaceful outlook on the whole situation.

“I’ve never had more respect for life and living than I have right now. Maybe it takes a near death experience to feel alive. Thanks. To my mother, you raised me strong. I know I’m only  brave because you were first.. so thank you. All of you. For everything good. I feel like a free man. If I listen closely.. I can hear the sky falling too.”

Ocean is truly braving the path for anyone within the LGBT community in the hip-hop industry. He is preceded and currently surrounded by overly masculine heterosexual artists, many of whom treat accusations of homosexuality like a racial slur.

Fortunately, Ocean has been met with overwhelming support. His Odd Future bandmates, Tyler The Creator and Earl Sweatshirt, reached out via Twitter, along with Flea of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Solange Knowles, RuPaul, Johnny Knoxville, and more.