Looking For Frank
By: Storm Simpson
Tags: Music Journalism, Pop Culture, Frank Ocean, Music, Culture

I can’t remember how exactly I discovered the music of Frank Ocean, however, I remember quite clearly how I came to the realisation that he was a special talent, or a genius if you will. In my teenage years towards the start of the decade, I revelled in the anarchic music of Odd Future, the Los Angeles based music collective which Frank joined in 2010 after moving to L.A. from New Orleans. I started listening to the leader of the pack, Tyler, the Creator and I’m pretty sure I heard Frank’s voice on one of his tracks for the first time. Over time I made my way through the collective’s entire discography before moving on to their individual works. I downloaded Frank’s debut, a mixtape titled ‘Nostalgia, ULTRA’, which was led by the hit song ‘Novacane’.

The tape was the catalyst for Frank Ocean’s rise to superstardom. The mixtape was self-released even though he had signed with Def Jam Recordings as a solo artist in late 2009. Frank felt unappreciated and frustrated with the situation he found himself in at Def Jam and decided to take matters into his own hands. Weeks later — after the mixtape had generated a significant amount of buzz in the music industry — Frank posted the following message on his (now defunct) Twitter account:

“I woke up today feeling like all my followers should know that . . . my record label slept on me . . . i. did. this. not ISLAND DEF JAM. that’s why you see no label logo on the artwork that I DID. guess its my fault for trusting my dumbass lawyer and signing my career over to a failing company. F**k Def Jam & any company that goes the length of signing a kid with dreams & talent w/no intention of following through . . . now back to my day. I want some oatmeal and toast.”

Nostalgia, ULTRA was indicative of things to come. It showcased Frank’s supreme songwriting ability as well as the fractious relationship between himself and his label, a relationship which would end acrimoniously several years later.

After the success of the mixtape things changed for Frank, he caught the attention and would go on to collaborate with Beyoncé, Jay-Z and Kanye West. More importantly, he finally had the attention of his record label, it’s been reported that Def Jam was not even aware that Frank Ocean and Christopher ‘Lonny’ Breaux (his birth name) was the same person. Frank had the proverbial ‘juice’ now and he demanded a recording budget for his follow-up project, something he was not afforded before. It is rumoured that he asked for $1 million. The label acquiesced to his demands without even hearing any music because they ‘believed so much in this guy that we actually wrote the check.’ According to Barry Weiss, the CEO of Def Jam at the time. Weiss refused to confirm or deny the amount of money the label contributed to the project when he spoke to Jeff Himmelman of the New York Times in 2013.

Frank would repay his label’s faith by producing one of the greatest albums of the past decade, ‘Channel Orange’ released in July 2012. It was his debut studio album and would win two GRAMMY awards but more importantly, it would go on to change the face of the RnB and Hip-Hop music scene. After hearing the tracks at listening parties prior to release, music journalists picked up on certain lyrics and began speculating about Frank’s sexuality.

Frank took to his tumblr account and posted a poignant open letter prior to the album release. He originally intended to include it in the liner notes of Channel Orange. He had previously mentioned to fans that the colour orange reminded him of the summer he first fell in love, hence the name of the album Channel: Orange. The letter confirmed the suspicions of many, in it, Frank recounted the first time he fell in love: “4 summers ago, I met somebody. I was 19 years old. He was too… By the time I realized I was in love, it was malignant. It was hopeless. There was no escaping, no negotiating with the feeling. No choice. It was my first love, it changed my life.” Although he was not the first musician to profess his love for someone of the same gender it was a seminal moment in 2012. After his revelation, Frank received support from luminaries in the RnB and Hip-Hop community and the music industry as a whole. Critics have argued that the subsequent acclaim attached to Frank’s work is a result of not only his talent but also a change towards progressive thinking amongst fans and in the music industry. Michael Arceneaux of the Fader questions whether the criticism of his music ‘reflects a fair impact’ or if it is merely ‘overcompensation for the lack of artists like Ocean in the mainstream’. Frank essentially became the poster boy for the LGBTQ+ community after his GRAMMY wins even though the artist has never expressly defined his sexuality. The assumption is that he is bisexual.

Then Frank went missing. Not in the face on a milk carton sense but to his fans it felt the same way. It took four years before the long-awaited follow-up(s) to Channel Orange were released. Frank is an enigma and in the digital age, he has managed to create ‘hype’ second to none by simply remaining silent. During this self-imposed ‘exile’ there were hardly any public appearances and only the occasional tumblr post (his only social media account, he deleted the rest in 2013).

I should mention that I listened to Nostalgia, Ultra and Channel Orange years later- towards the end of 2014. It is safe to say I heard these records in a space far removed from the hype which surrounded their release. It was all fresh to me and I enjoyed it thoroughly. The only song I had heard before was ‘Thinkin Bout You’ the hit single from Channel Orange but it did not mean much to me at the time even though it was the quintessential anthem of everyone who had feelings in 2013. I was hooked even though I had jumped on Ocean’s wave much later than most of his fans. I too was in dire need of a new album. This need was exacerbated by the artist, there were numerous delays and at times he was just outright teasing fans by posting cryptic clues and images all over the internet.

Endless, a 45-minute visual album was released on 19 August 2016. It was an Apple Music exclusive release and was only available via streaming, which significantly affected the profit margins for both the artist and his label. The album fulfilled Frank’s contractual obligations to Def Jam Records. He was now a free man, a free man who had bought the rights to all his master recordings from Def Jam with his own money.

One day later (20 August 2016) Frank released another album. His second studio album Blonde, the follow up to Channel Orange the world had been clamouring for. It turned out to be a masterpiece, in my opinion at least, admittedly this time around I was definitely swept up by the hype surrounding the release.