Who Is Frank Ocean?

Some of you may have heard of him.  Some may be reading his name for the first time, but very shortly, I'm predicting he will be a household name.  Frank Ocean is originally from New Orleans, Louisiana, but later moved to LA once Katrina hit in 2005.  While in LA, Frank pursued music and joined the Los Angeles based hip hop collective OFWGKTA.  He is a writer and R&B artist that has worked with big names like Pharrell, Jay-Z, Kanye and Beyoncé, just to name a few and is also signed to Def Jam.  He has collaborated with Odd Future's Tyler the Creator, who recently won the 2011 MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist and is also a member of OFWGKTA.

You might have also heard of the drama that ensued when Chris Brown mentioned Ocean on Twitter saying "I fucks with @Frank_Ocean.  He reminds me of a young James Fauntleroy."  While I'm not really sure if Breezy meant it as a diss, Ocean replied by saying "I fucks with @chrisbrown.  He reminds me of a young Ike Turner. *side eye* I watched online as the drama ensued, and even spilled into the real world as both artists' camps began to engage in street beef.  All has since calmed down and both men met and agreed to squash it, but I'm sure it helped Ocean's twitter following *wink*

Beef aside, Frank Ocean dropped his first single on iTunes, Novacane, on Def Jam Records on May 31, 2011, which was greeted with critical acclaim.  On the surface, the song chronicles his journey after meeting a smart chick at Coachella, who is starring in porn movies to pay for school and has also turned him onto a new drug.  Once the drug is in his system, his face becomes numb and he likes the feeling it gives him.  I would venture to say that on the flip side, Ocean is speaking of the affects of drugs on music, entertainment and relationships.  The facade of Hollywood and the inability to make real connections due to drugs, partying and bullshit.  But don't take my word for it, check the lyrics yourself and watch the video below:

I think I started something
I got what I wanted
Did-didn't I
Can't feel nothing
Superhuman
Even when I'm fucking
Viagra popping
Every single record
Auto tuning
Zero emotion
Muted emotion
Pitch corrected
Computed emotion
I blame it on the
Model broad with the Hollywood smile
Stripper booty and a rack like wow
Brain like Berkeley
Met her at Coachella
I went to see Jigga
She went to see Z-trip
Perfect
I took a seat on the ice cold lawn
She handed me a ice blue bong
Whatever
She said she wanna be a dentist really badly
She's in school paying
For tuition doing porn in the valley
At least you working
But girl I can't feel my face
What are we smoking anyway
She said don't let the high go to waste
But can you taste a little taste of

Novacane
Baby baby
Novacane baby I want you
Fuck me good
Fuck me long
Fuck me numb
Love me now when I'm gone love me none
Love me none love me none
Numb numb numb numb

Sink full of dishes
Pacing in the kitchen
Cocaine for breakfast
Yikes
Bed full of women
Flip on a tripod
Little red light on shooting
I'm feeling like
Stanley kubrick
This is some visionary shit
Been tryna film pleasure with my eyes wide shut
But it keeps on moving
I blame it on the
Model broad with the Hollywood smile
Stripper booty with the rack like wow
I'll never forget ya
You put me on a feeling I never had
Never had never had
And ever since
I've been tryna get it back and pick it up and put it back
Now I'm something like the chemist on campus
But there's no drug around

I like what I found in you

I still can't feel my face
What am I smoking anyway
She said don't let the high go to waste
But can you taste a little taste of

Novacane
Baby baby
Novacane baby I want you
Fuck me good
Fuck me long
Fuck me numb
Love me now when I'm gone love me none
Love me none love me none
Numb numb numb numb
Novacane novacane novacane novacane novacane
For the pain for the pain for the pain for the pain for the pain
Novacane novacane novacane novacane novacane
For the pain for the pain
Novacane novacane

Pretty girls involved with me
Making pretty love to me pretty
Pity pity
All the pretty girls involved with me
Making pretty love to me pretty
Pity pity
I can't feel a thing
I can't feel
Can't feel a thing
I can't feel a thing

Can't feel feel feel feel her
I can't feel feel her
Novacane novacane novacane
I can't feel feel her
For the pain
For the pain
For the pain
I can't feel feel her
Feel her feel her oh
Novacane novacane-cane

Now, on to the new single entitled Swim Good.  My sister put me on to this song and like Novacane, I fell in love instantly with the lyrics and the sound, which is different from anything I've ever heard.  I appreciate Ocean's unique style and his ability to mash up genres and influences to make a sound all his own.  Swim Good is another deep, multi-dimensional song that will probably elicit many interpretations from the listener.  What I think all can agree on is the song is fresh and new and DOPE!

Here are some of my favorite lyrics from the song:

That's a pretty big trunk on my Lincoln Town Car Aint It?

Big enough to take these broken hearts and put 'em in it

Now I'm driving round on the boulevard trunk bleeding

And every time the cops pull me over

The don't ever see them

They never see them

I'm about to drive in the ocean

Imma try to swim from something bigger than me

Kick off my shoes

And swim good

And swim good

Take off this suit

And swim good

And swim good

Got some pretty good beats on this 808CC beatin'

Memory seats I'm sitting on stay heated

I would've put tints on my windows

But what's the difference

When I feel like a ghost, no Swayze

Ever since I lost my baby

Frank Ocean is speaking of broken hearts and swimming away from something bigger than he.  Again, MY interpretation of the lyrics is he is speaking of swimming away from a broken heart and a love lost.  He is wearing all black like he's going to a funeral because he is depressed, or the love is dead.  Needless to say, you might want to think critically when trying to figure out what he is speaking of exactly, but that's the fun part, right?  HipHopDX just posted the video to their site and I would love for you all to watch it and let me know what you think.  Both of his videos are very artistic and leave much to the imagination, so take a look with your critical/artistic eye and enjoy!

Frank Ocean - Swim Good

I am excited to see what his new project will bring and how it will change the face of Hip Hop.  His contribution to Jay-Z and Kanye's Watch The Throne album is ever present on Made In America and No Church In The Wild (I love both), as well as Beyoncé's track on 4 called I Miss You. 

A few more pics: