S3E8 - Nikes by Frank Ocean

From Spotify Studios, this is Dicect, long-form musical analysis broken into short digestible episodes. I'm your host, Cole Kushner. Today, we begin our season-long analysis of the album "Blawn" by Frank Ocean. On our last episode, we recapped the overarching themes and conceptual framework of Ocean's debut album "Channel Orange". We also reviewed the events that occurred during the four years between "Channel Orange" and his next project's "Endless and Blonde". As you're well aware by now, Frank Ocean grew increasingly reclusive over those four years. A mystique that continued even after "Endless and Blonde" were released. Frank avoided the normal press rounds at a company a typical album drop, choosing instead to travel casually around China, Japan, and France. Frank did give one interview to John Caramonica of "The New York Times", resulting in a piece that contains the only direct commentary Ocean has made publicly on the process of writing "Endless and Blonde". According to the Times piece, work on new music with slow-going post-Channel Orange. Quote, "I had writer's block for almost a year. I would go to the studio and stare at the monitors and come up with nothing, or nothing that I liked." Meanwhile, life in Los Angeles was growing increasingly troublesome for Ocean post-Channel Orange. Some people stole money from him. He was unsatisfied with his management team, and there were, quote, "physical sorts of things going on in the streets," unquote. Amidst it all, Ocean began feeling isolated, saying, quote, "Within my circle, there was a lot of places I thought I could turn that I felt like I couldn't turn to anymore," unquote. So Frank left LA for London, with a duffel bag of clothes, and a backpack containing hard drives of new music. He eventually moved into an apartment and began recording throughout London, including sessions at the historic Abbey Road studio. As for his writer's block, that seemed to be cured after speaking with a childhood friend from New Orleans who had fallen on tough times. The conversation made Frank feel that, quote, "I should talk about the way I grew up more," unquote. Indeed, in contrast to both nostalgia, ultra, and channel orange, projects both filled with fantasy and intricate fictional stories. Frank stated that, quote, "There's no fantasy on blonde. It's all for better or for worse, autobiographical. It's my experience, the foundation, what's made me who I am," unquote. This is an extremely important point, one that will help guide us through the remainder of our season on Frank Ocean. blonde is autobiographical. It's a kaleidoscopic expression of childhood, teenage thrill, drug-induced summer nights and early mornings, romantic loves one and lost. It's a chronicle of the fleeting memories of youth, an nostalgic look in the rear view of adolescence. And just as channel orange was prefaced with the open letter, blonde came with its own written prologue posted on Tumblr the day the album released. The letter closes with these lines, quote, "Boys do cry, but I don't think I shed a tear for a good chunk of my teenage years." It's surprisingly my favorite part of life so far. Surprising to me because the current phase is what I was asking the cosmos for when I was a kid. Maybe that part had its rough stretches too, but in my rear view mirror, it's getting small enough to convince myself it was all good. And really though, it's still all good. This is "Boys don't cry and blonde." First times, worldwide, unquote. And so with that, and without further ado, let's dissect. [Music] Blonde's opening track, "Nike's" was written by Frank Ocean with production by Ocean, Malay, and Amos Keith. The song is built upon a simple three-core progression, E-flat major, G-minor, and C-minor. [Music] These chords are played on a synth, sounding something like this. [Music] While the chord progression alone is rather straightforward, harmonic interest is added with the song's bass line. Traditional bass lines typically follow what's called the root note of a chord. So in an E-flat major chord, a bass would play the note E-flat. In a G-minor chord, a bass would play the note G. And that's precisely what we get in the first two chords of Nike's. The keyboard plays an E-flat major chord, followed by a G-minor. While the bass plays the root notes E-flat and G respectively. Now on the third chord, we get a C-minor played by the keys. Here we expect the bass to play a C. But instead, we get a D-flat. So what's the big deal? Well, here's what C and D-flat sound like when played at the same time. [Music] Pretty dissonant, right? D-flat is outside the key signature of the song, so it's appearance here in the bass is quite unusual. And in addition to the dissonance created by the C and the D-flat played simultaneously, we have a dissonant interval created by the previous bass note G and this D-flat. It's what's called a tritone, an interval nickname the devil in music for its biting dissonant quality. Both this tritone interval and the dissonance of the D-flat plating into the C-minor chord add extreme harmonic tension to the otherwise standard chord progression. All that tension is released with the progression's final chord, C-minor again. But this time the bass note being played is what we had originally expected, a C-natural. Let's hear the entire chord progression together with the bass. [Music] Tension, release. [Music] That harmonic interest created by the D-flat and the bass is really the reason this chord progression can sustain throughout the entire song without tiring. And just to drive this point home, I'm going to play for you the same progression, but this time I'll substitute that D-flat in the bass with the traditional C. [Music] Sounds kind of flavorless in comparison, right? We need that D-flat for harmonic interest, which again helps keep the chord progression interesting over the song's five minutes. The last main piece of Nike's composition is the drums, which begins with a simple kick drum and snare with faint bouncing sixteenth note echoes resounding after each hit. [Music] As the song progresses, a hi-hat is added, simply at first, but growing in complexity as the song continues. [Music] And now let's add that bass line. [Music] And finally the keys. [Music] And here we have the basic foundational elements for the majority of Nike's. After the song's instrumental introduction, ocean enters the track. [Music] [Music] Of course, ocean's voice here on the opening moments of blonde is modulated, that is, it's pitched up from his natural singing voice. From what I can tell, Frank's voice is pitched up five semitones, the equivalent of five keys up on the piano. I'm going to play the opening of Nike's again, but this time I'll pitch the entire track down five semitones, which will approximate where Frank might have sung the vocal track before its pitch was altered. [Music] They're looking for a check, they're telling me they didn't like me, since you need to ring like a man. You must be on a white light of color. All you want is Nike's, but thrilled. Just like you do. Just like me. [Music] In the interview with the New York Times cited earlier, ocean was directly asked about the use of altered voices on the album. Ocean stated that the manipulation of his voice was done to better capture the emotion of the time he was evoking. Quote, "Sometimes I felt you weren't hearing enough versions of me within a song," unquote. On the album's next song, Ivy, Frank's voice is also pitched up slightly, which according to the times was done to sound younger. We might then speculate the same is true here on the opening of Nike's. As Frank begins singing, these bitches want Nike's, they're looking for a check, tell them they ain't likely. Frank plays up the sneaker company Nike to represent materialism and the women that are after Frank for his money. They're looking for a check, cleverly references the Nike swoosh, which looks like a checkmark. Of course, looking for a check is also used monetarily, like the checks written from a bank account. The verse continues, "Said she need a ring like Carmelo, must be on that white like Othello." Carmelo here references the basketball player Carmelo Anthony, who despite being a star, hasn't won a championship ring. The materialistic woman is looking for a ring, looking to marry only to gain access to Frank's wealth. A Paul, Frank responds that the woman must be high on cocaine to think that he's going to fall for her trap. This is implied by the line must be on that white like Othello. Othello is a play by Shakespeare that centers around a dark-skinned man marrying a fair-skinned woman, hence on that white like Othello. And following this reference to Othello, we might also wonder if Frank's use of Nike's was an illusion to the Greek goddess Nike. Nike was a winged goddess of victory, and at the risk of a stretch, we might speculate the woman attempting to trap Frank for his money was posing like an angel, but looking for personal victory. Nike's continues with Frank shouting out a few fallen musicians before describing a memory of this cousin. I can't buy a thing, and my little cousin, he got a little train, he's well-keep-a-skilled, a little mermaid, we are by the pool, some little mermaid, being an angel that takes with the bed. Frank sings, I don't play, I don't make time, but if you need dick I got you, and I am from the line. Yam is slang for both sex and dunking a basketball, so saying I am from the line equates his skills and bed with a dunk from the free throw line. Given the high-pitched voice and Frank's boastful and seemingly juvenile mentality, we might begin to suspect he's portraying a younger version of himself here on Nike's. Playing off the Yam reference, Frank continues, pour up for ASAP. Here he's paying homage to ASAP Yam's, deceased founder of the ASAP mob collective. ASAP Yam's passed away in 2015 due to an overdose on promethazine and codine, two ingredients in the drink lean, which explains the pour up and pour up for ASAP line. Next Frank sings, RIP Pim Psi. Pim Psi was a co-founder of the hip-hop group UGK and died in 2007 by overdosing on coding based cough syrup. Frank follows with the line, RIP Trayvon, that N word looked just like me. Of course Trayvon Martin was the unarmed teenager shot dead by George Zimmerman in Florida. Trayvon's death and Zimmerman's acquittal led to outrage across the country, resulting in national protests in the formation of the Black Lives Matter movement. By saying that N word looked just like me, Frank is calling out the racial profiling that caused Trayvon's death and eludes to the ongoing potential threat that Black Americans face due to such profiling. Frank continues the verse, jumping to memories of his cousin, saying, "That my little cousin, he got a little trade. His girl keeps the scales a little mermaid." Here it seems Frank's cousin is running a cocaine business, cleverly calling his cousin's girlfriend a mermaid, as she keeps the scales or ways and organizes the drugs for him. Also, high-quality cocaine is known as fish scale due to its scale-like flaky texture. It's at this point in the verse where we start to get a sense of the stream of consciousness that it seems to be constructed on. Yam from the line leads to ASAP Yam's, a death that then reminds him of Trayvon Martin, which then sparks the memory of his little cousin, who he might assume is young and Black like Trayvon. Frank continues the verse around the mermaid analogy, singing, "We out by the pool some little mermaids. Me and them gel like twigs with them bangs. Now that's a real mermaid." Frank is hanging out by the pool with his cousin and girl, saying they gel like twigs with them bangs. This is a reference to FKA twigs, a female artist who often styles her hair and thin spirals that she gels down flat against her forehead and temples. As the verse comes to a close, Frank elaborates on his cousin's girl, eventually taking her perspective in first person. [Music] [Music] Frank sings, "You've been holding your breath, weighted down." This line is a continuation of the mermaid analogy about his cousin's girlfriend. She's not a real mermaid, as she's holding her breath under water, weighted down, we assume, by the drug dealing operation she finds herself involved in. The next line, punk-moderay, punk-papa, perhaps eludes to the girl's Mexican heritage, as well as an unstable upbringing. As the verse continues, Frank shifts to the perspective of his cousin's girlfriend, singing, "He don't care for me, but he cares for me, and that's good enough." The girl knows Frank's cousin doesn't actually have genuine or deep feelings for her, perhaps just using her as a pawn in his drug scheme, but he's providing for her, which seems to be enough at this point. Frank elaborates on this point in the next lines, "We don't talk much or nothing, but when we talk about something, we have a good discussion." The two don't really talk, which is an extension of their poor relationship, but when they do talk, she feels good, and again, that for her is enough right now. As the three-minute mark, the entire sonic landscape of Nike's transforms, making for a dramatic shift in musical mood. We'll deconstruct this shift, along with Nike's second half, right after the break. Welcome back to Disect. Before the break, we had just approached the three-minute mark of Nike's, which signals the abrupt transition between the songs two halves. This musical shift is marked by the removal of drums, combined with the unexpected entrance of an acoustic guitar, which takes over as a main harmonic accompaniment. We also have the addition of what sounds like a melatron, playing a choppy version of the chords we heard in the song's first half. Meanwhile, the bass from the first half continues, grounding and smoothing out the otherwise abrupt transition. Of course, the most dramatic moment of this transition is Frank's voice, which is no longer pitched up. He sings, "We'll let you guys prophesize. A line he'll repeat a few times before unleashing a tumbling, half-sung, half-wrapped chain of thought." Well, let you guys prophesize. Well, let you guys prophesize. We gon' see the future first. Living so the last night feels like a past light. Speaking of the donor, what got in the people? There will be possessor on this theme, it's try to body-jump. Why do you think a minute's pitch when a fucking Yamaha acid on me? Frank says, "We'll let you guys prophesize. Living so that last night feels like a past life." It's unclear who the you guys are and that we'll let you guys prophesize line. But given the rest of the verse and the drug-induced carefree events it describes, my best guess is that you guys is an older generation. Frank and his friends feel like they're at the cutting edge, living life to its fullest, living so fast that the future is their present. That last night feels like a past life. For me, these lines always remind me of my late teens in early 20s. There's a certain invincibility that comes with that age. You're experiencing real independence for the first time. You're beginning to have beliefs and opinions about the world, but you're not yet old enough to be jaded by responsibility and cynical to the world of settling adulthood. You're a young know-it-all, seeking to extract the fullest potential of life. Frank continues, "Speaking of the don't know what got into people, devils be possessing homies, demons try to body jump. Why do you think I'm in this bitch wearing a fucking yamika?" Frank seems puzzled by the people around him, metaphorically comparing their suspect actions to being possessed by devils and demons. Given what we know about Frank's life post-channel orange, we might speculate he's referring to those in his inner circle who lost his trust and even stole money from him. Hence, the Yamaka or Jewish cap, Frank metaphorically wears to fend off these bad spirits around him. As the second half continues, Frank describes a drug-induced experience in a rapid fire and prescientistic delivery. Frank vividly describes a drug-experience acid on me like the rain, weed crumbles into glitter. Aside from its beautiful imagery, these lines are cleverly composed, as acid rain is actually a real phenomenon used to describe the presence of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide in rain, fog, or other forms of precipitation, usually caused by burning coal. Of course, we know here that Frank is speaking of acid as an LSD. Also, when weed crumbles are small enough, they start to flake off resin-called "keyfe," which resembles glitter if there is enough of it, hence the line weed crumbles into glitter. After establishing this drug use, Frank adds to the scene, "We laid out on this wet floor, a way turf no astro, mesmerized how the strobes glow, look at all the people feet dance." Here we get an image of Frank and his friends, high on acid, weed, or both, laying on grass while they look up at the stars. He says, "Away turf no astro," referring to the synthetic grass astroturf used at some sports arenas. They're on real grass, which might be another illusion to weed, and/or the fact that they're "away" as in high, not in touch with reality. Saying "no astro" might be a nod to Houston, as in the baseball team the Houston Astros. Frank briefly stayed in Houston after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, and Frank might be referencing that time. Nike's continues with a line that seemingly comes out of nowhere. "I know that your n-word came with you, but he ain't with you." This line stands out among the rapid fire of lines that precede it, due to Frank's slow, spaced out delivery. Of course, it's not clear who he's talking about, but thematically the sentiment is akin to Frank's cousin and his girlfriend, as outlined in the song's first half. The cousin didn't have real feelings for her, despite them being together. This is in parallel with whomever Frank is subscribing now, as his person came with a significant other, but he's not here either physically and/or emotionally. The verse concludes with another rapid series of lines. "We only human and it's human in these ball mains. I mean, my balls stick into my jeans. We breathe in pheromones, amber rows, sipping pink gold lemonade." Ballmaine is a French fashion house, and their jeans are apparently making Frank hot, so they'll be suspect the line to be a clever come-on, as Frank would like to take his pants off with whomever he's speaking to. Next, Frank notes the pheromones in the air, specifically sex pheromones that are omitted to attract a mate. He follows his reference to pheromones with amber rows, an American model who famously dated Kanye West, Wiz Khalifa, and most recently 21 Savage. Frank's amber rows reference here is perhaps a nod to our attractiveness, but given the sweaty ball's line we just heard, it's also a nod to our somewhat viral 2016 tweet that stated her preference for quote "musty balls." Frank continues playing off the colors amber and rows, saying sipping pink gold lemonade, which we assume is an alcoholic drink. As Nike's works its way to its conclusion, Frank begins singing again. "I'm not here, but I mean something to you. I mean something to you." Frank sings a series of couplets in succession, all expressing a kind of sentimental ambivalence. He says, "I may be younger, but I'll look after you. We're not in love, but I'll make love to you. When you're not here, I'll save some for you. I'm not him, but I'll mean something to you." These lines reinforce the situation expressed earlier in the verse when Frank said, "I know that your n-word came with you, but he ain't with you." Though the person he's speaking to is in a relationship, it's not a great one in Frank's eyes, and he seeks to care and love this person despite their current circumstances. Again, the situation outlined here runs parallel to Frank's cousin's girlfriend, and while it's not clear, it's possible that she is the person Frank is speaking to. Either way, these closing lines succinctly express the kind of fleeting relationships and sexual encounters that are common in young adulthood. This is reinforced as a song comes to a close with its final two lines. Frank sings, "You've got a roommate, he'll hear what we do. It's only awkward if you're fucking him too." Remember, only moments ago we were on a wet grass field looking up at the stars. Now it seems we're inside an apartment or a shared house, as implied by a roommate being able to hear if they have sex. There's a kind of sexual fluidity implied in the scene, as Frank doesn't mind the roommate hearing unless they too are having sex. But even then, it's only awkward, not immoral or problematic. This scene only adds to the transient in-the-moment romanticism of the song, a song already filled with ambivalence, ephemeral affection, hallucinations, and sentimental settling. In the final moments of Nike's, the musical material from the song's first half returns, and a snapping 30-second note snare roll is unleashed before the song fades to black. [Music] Conclusions On our last six episodes, we discussed in detail many of the songs on Ocean's previous album, "Channel Orange." There we heard a number of tracks rooted in singer/songwriter tradition. The lyricism was hyper-focused and narrative-driven, and many of the song structures were in a traditional verse-chorus/verse-chorus form, which we typically expect from popular music. Of course, the album contains a number of innovations, but for me, Nike's represents a dramatic creative leap from the majority of Channel Orange. There's no hook on Nike's, rather than the song is divided in two large parts. Both parts contain a stream of consciousness-style verse, set in two different musical environments using two different voices. These shifting musical beds adds to the song's impressionistic storytelling, as Frank's lyrics more perspective ages, time periods, and environment with fluidity and ease. As he told the New York Times, quote, "How we experience memory sometimes, it's not linear. We're not telling the stories to ourselves. We know the story. We're just seeing it in flashes overlaid," unquote." Nike's contains a number of these flashes overlaid. We began with Frank youthfully speaking about gold diggers, shouting out fall and black men, moving then to his cousin's place where he speaks about a drunk circle and his cousin's girlfriend, ending the verse by abruptly shifting to the perspective of the woman. On part two, Frank's unaltered voice enters singing about devils, demons, and laying on the wet grass while hallucinating, ultimately shifting his attention to a love interest as the song concludes. When we take a step back and view Nike's as a whole, we experience what Frank refers to as his version of a brick collage. A brick collage is the construction of a piece of art from a diverse range of available things. And here on Nike's, those things are pieces of experience from different moments and times in Frank's life, a mosaic of memory and feeling and circumstance. Amidst it all, there's a through line of emotional ambivalence with the priority place most highly on experience. Be it drugs or sex, Frank is living so that last night it feels like a past life. Even as Frank expresses interest in someone toward the end of the song, he says, "I'm not him, but I'll mean something to you." What exactly that something is isn't known, nor does it seem like it needs definition. They are together now in the present moment, and the moment and the feelings within that moment take priority. Meaning comes after experience. Meaning is the result of experience. Meaning, for all intents and purposes, can wait. Blond continues this thread of impressionistic memory and emotional ambivalence on the album's next song Ivy. A track will thoroughly discuss. Next time on Dicek. Dicek is written and produced by me. Additional project support by Spotify's Michelle Santucci. Original theme music by Biro Cratic. Song recreations by Andrew Atwood. Remember, when you listen to Dicek on Spotify, you'll get new episodes a week before all other platforms, as well as access to exclusive bonus episodes only available on Spotify. Follow @dicekpodcast on Twitter and Instagram, and join our mailing list at dicekpodcast.com. Okay, thanks everyone. I'll talk to you next week.