Frank Ocean Pens Emotional Tribute To Prince
“I’m not even gonna say rest in peace because it’s bigger than death.”
Frank Ocean, who has been relatively reclusive over the course of his career, wrote an emotional, honest tribute to Prince following the news of the artist’s death at his Minneapolis recording studio on Thursday (April 21).
“My assessment is that he learned early on how little value to assign to someone else’s opinion of you,” Ocean wrote on his Tumblr. “An infectious sentiment that seemed soaked into his clothes, his hair, his walk, his guitar, and his primal scream.”
The young R&B star continued to detail how Prince led him to a space of being comfortable in his artistry and opening up about his sexuality, although he never had a chance to meet the musician or see him perform live.
“He was a straight black man who played his first televised set in bikini bottoms and knee high heeled boots, epic,” he begins. “He made me feel more comfortable with how I identify sexually simply by his display of freedom from and irreverence for obviously archaic ideas like gender conformity etc.”
As he strings fans along with the follow-up to his Grammy winning 2012 album Channel Orange, Frank Ocean breaks his disconnect to talk about the icon’s legacy in moving prose.
Read the complete note below:
“I’m not even gonna say rest in peace because it’s bigger than death. I never met the man (I was too nervous the one time I saw him) and I never saw him play live, regrettably. I only know the legends I’ve heard from folks and what I’ve heard and seen from his deep catalog of propellant, fearless, virtuosic work.
My assessment is that he learned early on how little value to assign to someone else’s opinion of you…an infectious sentiment that seemed soaked into his clothes, his hair, his walk, his guitar and his primal scream. He wrote my favorite song of all time, “When You Were Mine.” It’s a simple song with a simple melody that makes you wish you thought of it first, even though you never would have — a flirtatious brand of genius that feels approachable.
He was a straight black man who played his first televised set in bikini bottoms and knee high heeled boots, epic. He made me feel more comfortable with how I identify sexually simply by his display of freedom from and irreverence for obviously archaic ideas like gender conformity etc. He moved me to be more daring and intuitive with my own work by his demonstration — his denial of the prevailing model … His fight for his intellectual property — “SLAVE” written across the forehead, name changed to a symbol…An all out rebellion against exploitation.
A vanguard and genius by every metric I know of who affected many in a way that will outrun oblivion for a long while. I’m proud to be a Prince fan(stan) for life.“