Shout Out to Frank Ocean

I woke up this morning to one my favorite Frank Ocean songs, There Will Be Tears. I love this song because it speaks to certain experiences that I’ve had in my life. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, know ‘em or don’t, I personally believe that we need more people like Frank Ocean in the music industry.  This semester we have talked about how homophobic and misogynistic hip hop and R&B music and artist and can be, and Frank Ocean knows firsthand, just how much so. For those of you that don’t know, Frank is a Grammy award winning R&B singer, that in 2012 admitted that his first love was a man (There’s a link to link to the letter that he wrote at the bottom. It is beautifully written, in case you are interested). He was promptly labeled as being gay and subsequently labeled as the “first openly gay rapper”.  There was a lot of backlash from the hip hop community and his career has suffered a bit from the revelation. However, he still continues to make music that is meaningful not only to him, but to countless others. I wouldn’t call him a lyrical genius but I do applaud the fact that he tries to remain to true to himself and shares it as authentically as he possibly can. In my very humble opinion, his songs tend to reflect the exact opposite of how men are socialized to express heir emotions. He is open and honest about his feelings of sadness and pain. He sings about the triumphs and struggles of personal and romantic relationships. Some of his songs do include, homoerotic lyrics and others include the typical mundane lyrics that we are used to from current day pop music. So, I can understand how some people are uncomfortable with listening to him, but I think that at the very least he offers a  different representation of what manhood can look like.  I have attached are lyrics to the song I referenced earlier below. Also there’s a link ta really great article about the importance of his letter.

https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2012/07/04/156261612/a-close-look-at-frank-oceans-coming-out-letter

http://frankocean.tumblr.com/image/26473798723

"There Will Be Tears"

there will be tears
i've no doubt
there may be smiles
but a few
and when those tears
have run out
you will be numb and blue

i can't be there with you
but i can dream (7x’s)

my grandaddy was a player
pretty boy in a pair of gators
see i met him later on
think it was 1991
the only dad i'd ever know
but pretty soon he'd be gone too
hide my face hide my face
can't let em see me crying
cause these boys didn't have no fathers neither
and they weren't crying
my friend said it wasn't so bad
you can't miss what you ain't had
well i can
i'm sad and there will be tears
i've no doubt
there may be smiles
but a few
and when those tears
have run out
you will be numb
and blue

i can't be there
that's all you had to say to me was
you couldn't be there
why couldn't you say to me
you won't be there
you could've warned me
you wouldn't be here
right here
you wouldn't be here for me