Kevin Abstract Takes GQ

Photo Credit: GQ

GQ is showing out for PRIDE Month and I am here for it!

GQ has begun its Pride Week coverage, with its first ever Pride digital cover, starring rapper Kevin Abstract of music group Brockhampton. The 22-year-old talks to playwright Jeremy O. Harris about coping with fame, the Brockhampton #MeToo moment, accepting himself, and informal therapy sessions with Shia LaBeouf, Ryan Phillippe, and other LA creatives.

Rapper and Brockhampton frontman, Kevin Abstract, covers the first ever GQ Pride digital cover. The 22 year-old sits down for a Q&A with critically acclaimed playwright Jeremy O. Harris, kicking off a week of LGBTQ+ coverage on gq.com.

“I [came out] to survive,” Abstract says. “I couldn’t keep hiding stuff. I make music to survive…I came out through my music before I came out through myself, which was a big problem.” Abstract, who is in a happy relationship, discusses his fear of closeness, and the ‘programming’ he had to unlearn to accept himself. He laments the lack of queer, black, musical icons when he was growing up, but admits that he was taught to not relate to that. “I was programmed to believe I wasn’t that,” he says. “Living in Texas, my Mormon family…Also being black around a bunch of fucking white kids. They expect black people to be a specific way…I’ve had to reprogram myself to like people that look like me.”

Though still conflicted, and coming into his own, Abstract has found solace in a group of fellow LA-based creatives led by one of his personal heroes, Shia LaBeouf. “Every Friday at my house, we do this thing called Friday therapy. I invite a bunch of artists from LA and we sit in my kitchen. It could be 40 people. One by one, we go in a circle and say what our week looked like. It’s taught me a lot.” Actor Ryan Phillippe and controversial influencer YesJulz also attend the weekly sessions. “Shia guides the sessions. He’s 10 years older than me, so the advice he has is fucking crazy…He’s fucked up a lot. It’s really healthy to have someone like that in my life.”

Abstract is at a strange crossroads in his career, as he figures out who he is and what he wants to do next. He battles with feelings of spiraling. “I don’t feel in control of anything. I wake up every day and I wish shit was going faster. I wish I was bigger. I wish I was more important.”

Shoot was directed by Andrew B. Myers, with cinematography by Evan B. Trout