Italian Vogue declares Frank Ocean to be 'the best r&b lyricist since Prince.' Do you agree or is the argument premature/unfounded?? I personally enjoy Frank Ocean's music and connect to his songwriting... I see the potential there but think that is a very bold statement considering the quantity of material he has written so far is practically insignificant compared to Prince's body of work throughout his career. Nonetheless, I'm not doubting his talent and I look forward to hearing what he's got in store for us next.Vogue Italia:
Prince once sang about Dorothy Parker, a waitress who worked the night shift, dishwater blonde, tall and fine and how they took a bubble bath, with his pants on as Joni Mitchell played in the background.
The midtempo ballad proved that r&b, like hip hop, is capable of telling a story with a novel’s attention to structure, plot and detail. Well, Frank Ocean is the best r&b lyricist since Prince. Except don’t call what he does r&b. And don’t call it "urban". «I’ll usually cringe at the r&b label, says Ocean, the 24-year-old who writes songs for everyone from John Legend to Justin Bieber and makes music with the wildly eclectic «Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All», collective in Los Angeles. «Because it’s like calling it urban… and what the fuck is urban music?». When it was time to categorize Nostalgia, Life, the EP he released for free online this summer, he went the smart-ass route and called it “bluegrass.” Ocean’s attempt to show how ludicrous it is to have to categorize music was lost on those who downloaded and raved about his lyrically complex metaphors, vibrant images, sardonic humor and keen observations on love, sex, politics and the world.
On Novacane, Ocean gives a brutal and complicit takedown of the dangerous desensitization that happens from our culture’s aggressive pursuit of immediate, excessive indulgence, singing: «I feel like Stanley Kubrick/this is some visionary shit/I’ve been trying to feel pleasure with my eyes wide shut, but it keeps moving… Fuck me good, fuck me long, fuck me numb/Love me now, when I’m gone, love me none”. And though he’s written songs in support of a woman’s right to choose and gay marriage, Ocean’s most profound lyrics deal with the minutiae of being in love and the fear that it could destroy you. «Do you not think so far ahead? Cuz I’ve been thinkin’ bout forever» he sings hesitatingly, like a young boy who finds first love, on his newest release, Thinking About You, and from the mixtape Nostalgia, Ultra, there’s American Wedding, sung to the tune of Hotel California, with its lines "My pretty woman in a ball gown, I’m Richard Gere in a tux/Getting married in a courthouse, writing our vows in a rush/We had an American wedding, now what is mine is yours… that’s American love».
Even Ocean’s videos are trippy, non-sequiturs featuring Native American shamans, exploding cars and panda ghosts that he admits are «dirt cheap little opportunities to do the random shit I have in my mind». And these meandering thoughts and kaleidoscopic images continually lead to comparisons that what Ocean does is more hip hop than r&b—as does the fact that, like many rappers, he releases music under a made-up name.
In 2010, Ocean decided that the reign of Christopher "Lonny" Breaux, the New Orleans-born Hurricane Katrina evacuee who planned to spend six weeks in California recording music until the storm was cleaned up, was over. In his place would be Christopher Frank Ocean, a transplanted Los Angelino and member of the brash, proudly offensive Odd Future Crew who he jokingly says are “like the Illuminati”.
Ocean calls going to the website LegalZoom on his 23rd birthday and changing his birth name the most empowering thing he did last year. «It was like a middle finger to my slave name». This year things have changed considerably. Ocean is considering spending his upcoming birthday skydiving in his Halloween costume of Richie Tenenbaum «Luke Wilson’s head-band wearing tennis playing character from The Royal Tenenbaums». And he claims the most empowering thing he did was «buying a car in cash and getting rid of the ol’ car note». Yet, if that is true, it is because he has taken a decidedly modest assessment of 2011.
Listen to Watch the Throne, the collaboration by Kanye West and Jay-Z that was the most anticipated album of recent musical history. The voice that opens the CD is not either of these hip hop luminaries, but Ocean’s, on No Church in the Wild. He appears twice on the album, including the historically haunting track Made in America, singing the names of African-American martyrs heroes and the hook Sweet Baby Jesus, we made it in America.
Of the time he spent recording with Kanye and Jay, as well as writing music for Beyoncé and releasing Nostalgia to wildly positive reviews, Ocean says, «Career-wise, this year feels like a montage scene in a movie». As he continues to work on new music to be released by Island/Def Jam, the label that signed Ocean in 2006 and then let his career languish with no support, the singer has turned his attention to political involvement beyond writing lyrics with messages.
He is planning a trip to Zuccotti Park, ground zero of New York’s Occupy Wall Street, the ongoing movement to condemn wealth disparity that has sparked hundreds of similar demonstrations globally. «My generation just doesn’t have the best taste in leadership. And weak leadership means little to no cohesion. If there’s no cohesion, there’s no real chance for effective protest or politics. Obviously, looking at Occupy Wall Street, there are a few in our bunch who still give a damn enough to rally and shout», says Ocean, before offering a sarcastic solution: «This will change once I’m elected President». Until then, he’s going to continue to make it in America in the renegade fashion of some of his most infamous countryman—shunning labels and brilliantly making it up step-by-step as he goes. Here’s to being along for the ride.
hit the jump to view photos by Nabil
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