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 10^th.

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.