Kaytranada is showing his gratitude to Freddie Gibbs.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, the Montreal DJ and producer said that Gibbs was one of his first peers to accept his sexuality. Kaytra publicly came out as gay in a 2016 interview with The Fader, ahead of his debut album, 99.9%.
“I still don’t think many people know that I’m gay. Even with that story,” he said. “Freddie Gibbs was one of the first artists that was like, ‘I’m proud of you, man, keep doing your thing.’ I thought that was crazy. That gave me hope.
“Now, we got Lil Nas X and rappers from the LGBT community just coming out. R&B artists, too,” Kaytranada continued. “It’s more acceptable and more welcome. I heard Snoop [Dogg] and Dr. Dre were performing at Pride in L.A. That’s crazy.”
Gangsta Gibbs caught wind of Kaytranada’s comments and responded on X, writing, “That’s my homie in real life tho.”
The pair are longtime collaborators, having previously worked together on songs like “My Dope House” and “Alexys,” and the KAYTRAMINÉ album cut, “letstalkaboutit.”
In the 2016 Fader interview, Kaytranada said he first told his family he was bisexual when he was 16, though the topic was never revisited.
“It was too many emotions at the same time,” he told the publication. “I was like, ‘Oh that’s good,’ and at the same time, I was like, ‘Oh what does mom think?’ We’re Haitians, and Haitians don’t appreciate gay people at all. I thought maybe it was a phase.”
In 2015, the now-31-year-old came out to his family as gay and they were supportive, though he never told his father because he didn’t know how to broach the subject.
“I feel better than I ever have, you know?” he said. “I’ve been sad my whole life, but fuck that. I know I have good things ahead. I don’t know honestly if I’m fully, 100 percent happy, but I’m starting to get there.”
“I don’t call myself straight, I don’t call myself gay, it’s just me. But, I guess, I am gay. I just wanna come clean and shit. Just to be less awkward with people. It’s so wack [to lie]. This is another step in my life. I haven’t changed since high school. I’m ready to move on.”
His third album, Timeless, is slated to arrive on June 7.