Rapper/singer Syd from R&B group The Internet says while she stayed in the background at the start of her career she’s now happy to stand up and be an LGBTI role model.

In a new interview with Billboard Syd said when she first came to public attention as part of rap collective Odd Future she was happy to stay in the background.  Back then she was known as Syd the Kyd.

She says in retrospect she finds it hilarious that she was constantly being asked about the groups homophobic lyrics, noting that many people in the collective were gay.

“It’s hilarious,” she said. “I went through all of these interviews, and everybody was gay the whole time.”

While Syd’s sexuality became clear through some of the tracks on the first album from her new outfit The Internet, fellow Odd Future collaborator Frank Ocean went on to sing about “kissing boys”.

The Internet’s fourth album Hive Mind is about to be released and it comes after the individual members of the group went off and recorded solo records, including Syd who delivered a smooth collection of neo-soul flavoured hip hop.

Syd says now she’s happy to be seen as a role model and someone people take inspiration from.

“In the beginning of my career, I made it a point to avoid those topics of conversation and just normalize it. Being gay is normal,” she says. “These days I’m not shying away from these kinds of topics. I do want to inspire people — young girls who may like to wear boys’ clothes and who romanticize women and feel nothing wrong with it.”

Check out the full interview at Billboard.