In April, Lil B sparked a heated debate by titling his to-be-released album “I’m Gay.” Now, several months and death threats later, Lil B is covering his tracks with a completely uncontroversial album cover.

Nonetheless, it does beg for some explanation. Lil B talked to sohh.com about the deep meaning behind the artwork:

“Pretty much the album cover, you see it’s the three sides of the slavery, mental slavery and mental freedom at the ending where everybody is happy,” B explained in an interview… The I’m Gay album artwork was inspired by Marvin Gaye‘s I Want You album cover drawn by late African American painter Ernie Barnes.

As for the controversial album title itself, Lil B says he is trying to lessen the impact of  “gay” as a homophobic term.

“The reason why I did the I’m Gay album, I really seen that the hip-hop community is being very close-minded and very hateful, very violent…People use evil words, money, separation, stuff like that. I just wanted to make this to show words don’t mean anything.”

Via SOHH.

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