Singer Frank Ocean revelation about loving a man 'signifies that there is a changing of face of hip-hop'

BY NEKESA MUMBI MOODY, AP MUSIC WRITER

NEW YORK -- Both Anderson Cooper and Frank Ocean made revelations about their sexuality this week, but Ocean's could end up being the more significant announcement.

Ocean - the rising R&B singer behind the single "Novacane" and the self-released album "nostalgia, ULTRA," which critics heralded as among the best of 2011 - announced on his Tumblr page Wednesday that his first love was a man. He also tweeted a link to the post.

Earlier this week, CNN's Cooper acknowledged that he was gay. But the admission from the 24-year-old Ocean - who is part of the hip-hop collective Odd Future and was prominently featured on Jay-Z and Kanye West's "Watch the Throne" album - is noteworthy because he inhabits the world of rap, where anti-gay sentiments have long been part of the regular vocabulary. Gay epithets are often used in lyrics - one of Lil Wayne's catch phrases is "no homo."

"I think it's definitely important and it really signifies that there is a changing of the face of hip-hop," said Chuck Creekmur, founder of the leading website allhiphop.com. He called Ocean's announcement "a sign of the times," noting Cooper's announcement and President Barack Obama's recent support of gay marriage.

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Police say head belongs Canada body parts victim

ASSOCIATED PRESS

MONTREAL -- Montreal police confirmed Wednesday that a human head found in a park belongs to a Chinese student who they say was dismembered by a Canadian porn actor.

Montreal police spokeswoman Anie Lemieux said the head belonged to Jun Lin, who was killed and dismembered in May.

Luka Magnotta is accused of dismembering his lover Lin and mailing the body parts to Canadian political parties and schools. He pleaded not guilty to murder charges last month.

Lin's head was the only remaining missing body part until Sunday, when Lemieux said investigators found it in Park Angrignon after the major crimes unit received a tip. The park is a few miles (kilometers) south of Magnotta's apartment.

"It had been there for quite some time, but we won't go into details, partly out of respect for the family and friends of the victim," said Lemieux.

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Obama administration asks Supreme Court for quick review of gay marriage law

ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is asking the Supreme Court to settle the legal fight over a law that denies federal benefits to married gay couples.

The Justice Department on Tuesday asked the court to hear an appeal in its next term of lower court rulings striking down a portion of the Defense of Marriage Act. The earliest the justices might decide to hear the case is in late September. Arguments probably would take place over the winter and a decision returned by late June 2013.

The administration said it agrees with the lower court rulings, but wants prompt high court review because President Barack Obama has instructed federal agencies to continue to enforce the law's ban on federal benefits to married gay couples until there is a final court ruling.

R&B singer Frank Ocean posts letter about young man: 'It was my first love, it changed my life'

R&B singer Frank Ocean, 24, a member of the hip-hop group Odd Future, apparently has come out of the closet. (Odd Future was dropped from a New Zealand music festival last year "after promoters faced pressure from local activists over the group's homophobic lyrics," according to Billboard.)

Early Wednesday Ocean posted on Tumblr:

we’re all a bunch of golden million dollar babies. my hope is that the babies born these days will inherit less of the bullshit than we did. anyhow, what i’m about to post is for anyone who cares to read. it was intended to fill the thank you’s section in my album credits, but with all the rumors going round.. i figured it’d be good to clarify..

Then he posted this account of his first love four years ago - when both were 19-year-old men:

“Sleep I would often share with him. By the time I realized I was in love, it was malignant. It was hopeless. There was no escaping, no negotiating with the choice. It was my first love, it changed my life," he writes."