CW: Homophobic Slurs
With Frank Ocean’s Blond/e recently being released on Spotify I finally had an opportunity to listen to the album. As it stands right now, Blond/e is probably one of the best albums of the year and Billboard doesn’t disagree, with blonde being the number one album during the week of September 10th.
The album itself is undercut with a significant amount of storytelling and much like Frank Ocean’s last album, and the more recent Lemonade Blonde tells a multitude of stories about Frank’s life weaving pop culture, sexuality and drug use throughout the album to give us a glimpse into his life. Although this seems unimportant, it may start to be a more popular trend as more and more artists are starting to create concept albums. I think that this is a great direction for music to go because it still allows us to pick out our favorite songs while ensuring that an album makes sense and isn’t just a jumble of songs.
Although I love the honesty behind the storytelling from blond/e and channel orange, there are quite a few people on twitter who aren’t too fond of Frank Ocean’s openness, specifically about his sexuality.
As if I didn't hate that frank ocean fag piece of shit enough already ugh
— Lab Of Monsters (@LabOfMonsters) August 26, 2016
Frank ocean just a fag why everyone be waitin on his shit like this
— Chance Miglino (@ChanceMiglinno) August 25, 2016
Do some of y'all remember Frank Ocean is an open bisexual bc you're hype for the album but I've heard you call someone a fag so
— jada (@notafloozy) August 6, 2016
This makes blond/e especially important within the realm of hip-hop not only because of the assumptions about masculinity and heterosexuality within hip-hop shown above but also because representation within popular culture is crucial, it shows people struggling to come to terms with their identity that there is hope and that a future for them exists. Especially with Frank Ocean’s successful role in a traditionally heterosexual industry. Blond/e also works to redefine traditional notions of queerness within modern media by making it a non-focal point for the album while still having queer undertones and leaving room for queer interpretations.
Finally, Blond/e is important because it’s just a great album. My personal favorite song is self-control which tells the story of falling in love with someone although I think the whole album is amazing. Taking everything into account, I believe that this album will take a similar spot in history as Channel Orange.
