[caption id="attachment_66511" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Photo by Rico Kinnard"][/caption]

It’s been well over a month since Frank Ocean bravely stepped out of the closet, with big names in the mainstream Hip Hop industry—Jay-Z and Russell Simmons to name a couple—supporting his decision to do so. But what does this really mean for openly gay Hip Hop and R&B artists who have made advancements outside of the limelight? I caught up with out-gay rapper Last Offence (aka LastO), who shares his experience with gay Hip-Hop and his opinion on the future of gay artists.

Dey A: For starters, how did you come up with the name Last Offence as your stage name? 

LastO: I was toying around with some names and then I came up with that concept of the first offense being the crime that they usually let you off for. So naturally the last offense is the one that would get you life... or the death sentence.  So I rolled with that.

DA: What made you decide to pursue your career in Hip-Hop as an openly gay artist?

LO: I didn't know what other option there was…for me—personally. I understand that there are gay men (and women) who have been mainstream rap artists and maybe they had careers that thrived, etc. They came up in a different industry... before MySpace and all that, it was either be hetero, rap hetero, etc. or you are basically not rapping at all. You had no way to be heard if you didn't fall into the status quo. If there was someone with superb talent in those days then it would've just boiled down to a choice he/she had to make -- early. You can slip into the industry and do what you're supposed to, or you can be relegated to performing at picnics and house parties. The Internet made it so someone with interminable hustle could reach a large number of people in different places with a click of the mouse, etc.

DA: Your hometown in St. Louis, Missouri is where you started your musical journey. Were there any obstacles you had to face or negative criticisms you received for being an out rapper while residing there?

LO: I did rap while I lived in St. Louis, but that shit was a far cry from what I am today. I wasn't gay there. I would say the real journey began in Los Angeles and I didn't face any obstacles out there. I came into a family environment... dysfunctional as the family was/is. There were a bunch of out rappers already in existence and they had already formed this bond. I just crept into the fold and it grew from there.

DA: What is one thing that was memorable about your first performance for a live audience?

LO: The review I read after it happened. The dude has said that it was whack and that he was disappointed.

LastO's Cypher via ADTV

DA: With the Hip-Hop industry being a hetero-normative industry, who do you look to as inspiration for your music?

LO: I don't know specifically. We listen and then we absorb.  Some people we listen to and get inspired to not do something. You'll hear a track and say 'damn, I hope I don't do no shit like that and if I have done it, let me make sure that I don't do it again'. When I first started rapping, my range of influence was real narrow -- it was like basically 3 New York rappers and I would just trace their rhyme pattern and stick my words in. Most people grow from there I think.

DA: So of course you know Frank Ocean came out over a month ago, and we’ve heard pretty good feedback from his mainstream peers. Even his Odd Future teammate Tyler the Creator, who has some highly homophobic lyrical content, backed him up. Being an independent Hip-Hop artist—and openly gay yourself—how do you feel about the potential future of your career?

LO: I don't think the success or failure of my career will have anything to do with me being gay or out. It will depend on me and how far I am willing to go and how crafty I can be. And that's the way it always is. These "boundaries" or "norms" always get trampled over within the confines of art and expression.

DA: If you could collaborate with any artists—gay or straight—who would be some ideal candidates for a LastO track?

LO: I just never think like that no more. I don't really want to collaborate with anyone. Of course there's a laundry list of producers but as far as another artist...I think once I said Bjork...we'll just stick with that.

DA: This is more of a fun question to wrap things up. What are three things about LastO that your fans—or anyone reading this—may not know about you?

LO: I was run over by a van when I was six years old and suffered a fractured pelvis. I don't drink alcohol. I have to this date only ever been in one official "we are together" relationship.

For more on LastO, visit his Facebook page and follow him on Twitter (@LastO). And if you're not familiar with his music, get hip to his BandCamp here, you won't be disappointed.

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Dey Armbrister (@DeyTimePhoenix) is listening to LastO's Not For Non Profit mixtape, wishing he was just as lyrically savvy.