Danny Boy Gay: Popular 90s Death Row Singer Opens Up About His Sexuality, Frustration With Gay Community
Danny Boy has come out as gay, with the popular 1990s Death Row rapper opening up on Instagram about the pressures of being gay and his frustration that has resulted.
The post, which was made last month, detailed the conflicted feelings that Danny Boy seemed to have with being gay.
“Never Should have signed up for this gay s**t,” he wrote on Instagram. “N***as is hoes, nobody faithful in the gay community… wish I could start my life over and forget half the n****s i met”
As AskKissy noted, Danny Boy may have stayed in the closet during the peak of his career in order to protect his place in the rap industry.
“It was some speculations about his sexuality back than, but it was kept under wraps because Suge Knight was homophobic who publicly expressed his dislike for gays.
Plus Danny wanted to appeal to his female fan base.
Since all that is under the rug now, recently Danny boy came out on Instagram and even admits how much he hates being Gay.
He also opens up about his depression.”
Many had criticized the rap industry as homophobic, especially during the early 1990s. In recent years the atmosphere has shifted considerably, with many high-profile rappers coming out against homophobia.
In an interview with Interview Magazine, rapper A$AP Rocky said he has seen the rap industry growing more accepting of all lifestyles.
“One big issue in hip-hop is the gay thing,” he said. “It’s 2013, and it’s a shame that, to this day, that topic still gets people all excited. It’s crazy.
“And it makes me upset that this topic even matters when it comes to hip-hop, because it makes it seem like everybody in hip-hop is small-minded or stupid—and that’s not the case…
“I treat everybody equal, and so I want to be sure that my listeners and my followers do the same if they’re gonna represent me.”
The rapper Common, who like Danny Boy is from Chicago, said he changed his stance on the gay community after some fans called him out on it.
“They was like, ‘Why you keep disrespecting homosexuality?’ I thought about it. I ain’t here to judge ’em, so I just decided not to approach it like that,” he said (via Pink News). “I took out some words on my (new) album after that, because I wanted to show a step for myself toward improving on certain things.”
Danny Boy played an important role in the heyday of Death Row records in the early 1990s. He signed with the label when he was just 15 years old, and made his debut in the Murder Was the Case soundtrack in 1994. The following year, he released his first single, titled “Slip N Slide,” which also featured then-unknown Ginuwine singing the chorus.
The video for “Slip N Slide” featured scenes with some of the label’s other famous rappers — including 2Pac, Snoop Dogg, and singer Nate Dogg. Danny Boy later sang vocals on a number of famous 2Pac songs, including “I Ain’t Mad at Cha,” “What’z Ya Phone #,” “Picture Me Rollin,'” and “Heaven Ain’t Hard 2 Find.”
There were varying reactions to Danny Boy’s announcement that he is gay. While some fans offered support, others had more negative reactions including one who asked what 2Pac would think to learn that his friend was gay.
“[Tupac] was my friend and I think he would have treated me as such,” Danny Boy responded. “Furthermore I’m grown who I kiss or f**k and nobody’s business…. What I eat shouldn’t make you s**t…. Why is so called straight guys worried about another man??”
The now openly gay Danny Boy has continuing his singing career on his own label, Eclectic Soul Music Group.
[Image via Instagram]