Fans have been waiting on some sort of new update from Frank Ocean for months now, but instead of news about his music he took the time today to write a post on his Tumblr page as a tribute to Prince who died today at the age of 57. The Channel Orange singer described The Purple One as a vanguard and a genius, sharing how much he meant to him, despite never actually meeting the legend.
"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."
He goes on to discuss the attitude that Prince brought to his music, his style and his persona that took on a life of its own.
"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."
Coming out a few years ago, Frank Ocean sent shockwaves throughout the hip-hop and R&B communities to try and be a more accepting genre. He credits Prince as someone who allowed him to be more open with who he is.
"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."
