Rapper Aquinas (real name Kang Minsoo), who won second place on Mnet’s “High School Rapper 3,” has come out as bisexual through an Instagram post on July 13th KST.
At only 20 years of age in an industry such as hip-hop, the announcement has been met with an overwhelmingly positive reaction from both domestic and international fans.
In an interview with South Korea’s SPOTV News on the afternoon of the 13th, Aquinas explained his mindset leading up to the decision to come out publicly and revealed that he thought about it for three or four hours before posting.
“It’s just one piece of information that everyone has in life. I felt so frustrated because I had to hide this,” he said. “In our society, sexual minorities are still discriminated against and criticized. If I made such a confession at a young age, I thought sexual minorities would be encouraged and comforted.”
He went on to say, “I think sexual identity from birth is a natural thing. However, they are discriminated against and criticized for being a sexual minority. Some people are even shunned by their families.”
Aquinas revealed he has been thinking about saying this “natural” thing someday, gaining courage after thinking that he should stand by sexual minorities. While there were some comments of concern under his coming out post, the majority of responses are supportive, with many international fans congratulating the rapper in their own languages.
“I was wondering if I could post it or how the reaction would be. But I wanted to encourage sexual minorities, and I thought I should stand by them, so I ended up bringing up what I wanted to say.”
Although he confidently states he will never regret coming out, the independent artist said he has his family on his mind. “My family knew about me, but I don’t think they thought I would reveal it publicly like this. My younger brother is a high school student in particular, and I’m sorry, but I thought it was something I had to do.”
Aquinas first gained attention as the runner-up on Mnet’s popular hip-hop survival program “High School Rapper 3” in 2019 before making his official debut with the track “Oh!” in 2020. Just recently, he wrapped up promotions for his latest EP It Doesn’t Matter following an appearance on acclaimed KBS2 music program, “Yoo Heeyeol’s Sketchbook.”
Speaking about the future, Aquinas revealed he is working on songs for a new album that he will meet fans with soon. He also expressed his ambition to put a lot of the stories of sexual minorities into songs, explaining: “In the American pop market, there are a lot of stories about sexual minorities. I want to make a song like that and cheer for them.”
We congratulate and commend Aquinas for his courage and bravery at such a young age. We hope to see more idols/artists feel comfortable enough to come out and be met with sincere acceptance from the people they love.
See Aquinas in action by checking out his latest release “It Doesn’t Matter” below!
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Justin is a K-pop fan from Australia who is passionate about shining a light on underrated and lesser known groups and artists. A lover of all types of music, devoted television drama and soap opera fan, and part-time video game nerd.