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Did notoriously homophobic rapper Tyler The Creator just come out?

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Is controversial rapper Tyler the Creator coming out — or simply trolling everyone, as is his wont?

His upcoming album Scum F**k Flower Boy is scheduled to come out on July 21, but it’s already leaked online and the lyrics to several songs have made fans believe he’s about to make a major announcement about his sexuality.

*SCUM FUCK* FLOWER BOY: 7/21

A post shared by Tyler (@feliciathegoat) on

According to High Snobriety:

The most interesting takeaway from the leak is the album’s lyrics, which can be interpreted as Tyler coming out. As well as pointing out the album’s name itself perhaps being indicative of this, Twitter users highlighted bars such as, “I been kissing white boys since 2004? on “I Ain’t Got Time,” and the album’s seventh track “Garden Shed,” featuring Estelle, where Tyler raps, “That was real love I was in, Ain’t no reason to pretend” before spitting “All my friends was lost / They couldn’t read the signs / I didn’t want to talk / I tell ’em my location and they ain’t want to walk” later on in the song.

At this point, it’s hard to know how much of his tongue is planted in his cheek, or whether any of this is to be taken seriously. He’s been toying with people’s perspective for years regarding his sexuality, as seen in this 2015 tweet:

Last August, he had this to say regarding rumors that he was dating Kendall Jenner:

Related: Tegan and Sara Are Pissed About Tyler the Creator’s Homophobic Raps. But What About Nicki Minaj’s New Insult?

Highsnobiety also transcribes the lyrics to the first verse of his song “Garden Shed,” speculating that the garden shed is the closet and “Frank” is Frank Ocean:

Ayo
Garden shed, garden shed, garden shed, garden shed
For the garden
That is what I was hiding
That is what love I was I in
Ain’t no reason to pretend
Garden shed, garden shed, garden shed
Garden shed for the garcons
Them feelings I was guarding
Heavy on my mind
All my friends lost
They couldn’t read the signs
I didn’t wanna talk and tell em’ my location
And I didn’t wanna walk
Truth is, since you kid, I thought it was a phase
Thought it would be like the Frank poof, gone
But, it’s still going on
Big fan of the base 10
Polk a dot nose how it goes
Had to keep it on the subwoofer
A couple butterflies when I float
I was always like ehhh
Barely interested, but I went to my boys like bruh
This is a crucial subject matter
Sensitive like cooking batter
‘Till the temperature that’s rising
Stepping on that ladder
Tryna grab the rings of Saturn
I’m a plant it by the time you hear this
Chittin’ chatter bout to heat it
It will not fucking matter

Tyler’s lyrics have sparked controversy over and over again and was blasted by GLAAD over use of the word “fa*got” (which he used 213 times on his debut album).

“I’m not homophobic,” he told NME at the height of the controversy.

“I just think ‘fa*got’ hits and hurts people. It hits. And ‘gay’ just means you’re stupid. I don’t know, we don’t think about it, we’re just kids. We don’t think about that shit. But I don’t hate gay people. I don’t want anyone to think I’m homophobic.”

Talking to MTV, he said:

“Well, I have gay fans and they don’t really take it offensive, so I don’t know. If it offends you, it offends you…If you call me a n—a, I really don’t care, but that’s just me, personally. Some people might take it the other way; I personally don’t give a sh–.”

And here’s what he told Arsenio Hall:

”That’s just a word, you can take the power out of that word. The way that I see things, it’s you chose to be offended if you care more about stuff like that. And that might sound very ignorant, but if you’re a black person and someone calls you the n-word and you get offended, maybe you might be. But if I know that I’m not a n-word…I’m not gonna get offended because I know that I’m not that. Frank [Ocean] is gay and I use that word all the time. He doesn’t care because he knows me. He knows when I say that word I’m not thinking of someone’s sexual orientation. It’s just another word that has no meaning.”

It’s worth noting that in 2015, Tyler starting selling a t-shirt on his website, which he says aimed to make a statement against homophobic by putting his own spin on a white supremacist symbol:

On Tumblr, he explained his thinking behind the shirt:

It was a period in time where all i wanted to do was read about different dictators across the world. The way that one man could control so many brains always intrigued me. This opened a door to a lot of things, one of them being the Nazi regime during the 40s. Soaking my brain with as much info as i could on the subject, i pondered to myself if there was anyone still pushing this Nazi propaganda during these days? That is when i came across Neo-Nazis, The Ku Klux Klan and The White Nationalist Community. To make it simple, its just a group of Caucasians who take pride in being white. Nothing wrong with that correct? But the weird thing is that its primarily supported by White Supremacist organizations.( KKK, Aryan Nation, Etc) Now it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that these guys aren’t fans of Blacks, Gays, Asians or anything else that doesn’t fit in “white” box.

Now having the thought process that i have, i asked myself some questions: What if a black guy wore this logo on a shirt? Would he be promoting self hate? Would he be taking the power out of a shape? What if a gay guy wore this on a shirt? Would he promoting Homophobia? Then BAM! I Had it. Throw a little rainbow in the logo ( i still wonder, who was the guy that said a rainbow is the gay symbol? thats another article stay tuned) and take a photo with a white guy in it and we have an amazing photo. The thing that tops it off is the homo erotic tone of the hand holding, which to some degree HAS to piss off the guys who takes this logo serious. This made the photo even more important to me, because it was me playing with the idea of taking the power out of something so stupid. Or maybe my whole idea on this is stupid. Who knows, but why not try it out?

Also, ever since my career started, ive been labeled as a homophobe, simply because of my use of the word faggot. Again, trying to take the power out of something, I WAS NEVER REFERRING TO SOMEONES SEXUAL PREFERENCE WHEN USING THAT WORD. I mean, i’m legit one of the least homophobic guys to walk this earth but, most people just read the surface. But maybe someone will see this photo and say “ hey, he’s just mocking gays” or “ this has a negative undertone to it, he is still pushing this homophobic whatever the f–k it is”. What ever it is, i just wanted to give you guys some background info on the design before you purchase the shirt. You should know what you are wearing. be safe, love. RACISM F–KING SUCKS golfwang.com

Here’s what he said to Larry King in 2014 about a gay rapper:

Now, Twitter is speculating whether this is an elaborate publicity stunt or the real deal:

Think Tyler The Creator is really coming out, or are we being trolled? Sound off in the comments below.

h/t: Towleroad