Frank Ocean tends to keep to himself, thriving in the air of mystery he has carefully constructed around his career and character. However, when the Grammy Award-winning artist does choose to break his silence, the result is usually worth the wait.
During a feature for the summer 2019 issue of Dazed magazine, the luminary is asked as series of questions by his friends and peers in the entertainment and music industries, including Rosalía, John Waters, Arca, Billy Porter, Janet Mock, JPEGMAFIA, Big Freedia and Rex Orange County, among others.
One interesting standout of the Q+A surrounds his debut studio album, Channel Orange. When asked by Nile Rodgers regarding if his 2012 masterpiece will ever see a vinyl release. Much to the surprise of fans, Frank answered that the long-overdue vinyl drop is coming “ASAP.”
Elsewhere during the conversation, JPEGMAFIA asks the 31-year-old to open up about his decision to release Blonde promptly after fulfilling his contractual obligation to Def Jam with the drop of Endless, an expert chess move that many praised.
“How did it feel f–king over a label like that,” the Baltimore rapper asked his friend, adding, “Old white n—-s do that to us all the time, but how did it feel giving them a taste of their own elixir? And what did you build in the video for Endless? Can I live in it?”
After Frank acknowledged that he couldn’t really tell anyone about his plans at the time, in retrospect he notes how the release of both projects resulted in an euphoric feeling.
“Eyy, Peggy! You know, it’s funny talking about it these days because I couldn’t really tell anybody anything for a couple of years. Couldn’t tell anyone at the label, obviously. But I also couldn’t talk with anyone at Apple because the industry is too small and it would’ve gotten back to the label for sure. So I kept it to myself and a few in my circle,” Frank explained.
“I carried my hard drives around with me when I travelled because I used to not store anything online,” he continued. “Those drives became a physical representation of the stakes. If the files had leaked, everything would have worked out very differently for me. When August came around and both projects were uploaded I felt the euphoria, yeah, but mostly I just needed to sleep. I probably slept something like 15 hours. To answer your second question, I built a 12-foot staircase with my f–king bare hands some days before! It’s in my storage, you want it??”
Elsewhere during the profile, Frank touches on his urge to build a family, freezing cold showers, the latest movie he enjoyed and more. Check out the feature in full via Dazed.