Highsnobiety music reviewer, Jake Boyer, shared a write-up on Frank’s newest track, Chanel and I considered it worth sharing.
Boyer attributes Chanel to being Frank Ocean’s most “transgressive track to date” by addressing the duality of his bisexuality and conflicts of the confines of gender roles within these relationships.
My guy pretty like a girl.
And he got fight stories to tell.
Most people know that Frank addresses these issues in his music; however, more often than not these underlying messages are overshadowed by the hoopla surrounding the mere presence of a Frank track. The same goes for Chanel. Rather than diving deeper into the intricacies of Frank’s life that he so clearly wants to talk about, we’re mostly focused on any mention of product placement.
One topic Boyer fails to mention that I considered relevant was Frank Ocean’s lyric about police-civilian relations.
Police think I’m of the underworld.
12 treat a nigga like he 12.
How you lookin’ up at me and talking down?
Can’t you see I am the big man? God level I am the I am.
Ironically, these lyrics don’t seem to be a play on police brutality in the sense of current African-American relations; instead, addressing Frank’s immunity from trouble due to his esteemed celebrity, or lack thereof. This theme may be the very purpose of naming the track after such a high-luxury product. Or maybe the “duality,” as Boyer calls it, of the Chanel C logo was just too relatable to be ignored.
Listen to Frank’s track below.
Read Boyer’s article in its entirety here.
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