On the eve of the 59th Grammy Awards, Frank Ocean took to tumblr to publish a heated statement. The post was a response to an interview Grammy producers Ken Ehrlich and writer David Wild gave, regarding Ocean’s decision not to attend or take part in the ceremony. And no, it wasn’t because of his “faulty” performance at the 2013 Awards, as the producers had suggested.
Instead, Ocean’s statements seemed to echo his previous ones made last fall. The Grammys have no handle on the pulse of the music and culture that inspires the world today. They’ve proven time and time again to look over some of the most acclaimed, ambitious, and inspiring works of our time, the “people who come from where [he] comes from.” However, this conversation was quickly silenced, as social media caught on and began to do what it has always done best, which is to derail the point completely.
“1989 getting Album of the Year over To Pimp a Butterfly. Hands down one of the most “faulty” TV moments I’ve seen,” Ocean declared. This recent example of the show awarding less acclaimed, more marketable white artists over bold, daring black artists (a trend that continued even this year) triggered a variety of social media posts and headlines, as fans accused Ocean of “shading” Taylor Swift, and mentioning her name in order to get attention.
This reaction is unnecessary, and completely overlooks the larger conversation that we should be having, on art, race, and what it means to be an artist of color in America.
“Winning a TV award doesn’t christen me successful. I took me some time to learn that,” Ocean admits. “I am young, black, gifted and independent.” And that, he believes, is his greatest tribute to Prince, and to all the great black artists and innovators that came before him. Not a shining gramophone. Not an arena full of applause. Not a TV appearance. Only his success, free from the metrics of society. His success, in his own terms.
Frank Ocean knows that he is a black man in a white world. But that doesn’t confine him, those ideal don’t limit his creative integrity or autonomy. Frank Ocean doesn’t want your awards. He doesn’t want to prove himself to a white audience, a white panel, a white frame of mind. He doesn’t need to, anymore.
This statement is a message to not only the Grammy nominees, but to all artists of color. Stop trying to fight against a system that has been rigged against you. Stop trying to win those token trophies. That fight is long, slow, and often fruitless. Don’t try to succeed within a metric that has been made to favor someone else. Instead, create your own metric. Define your own success. Define it beyond those small, insignificant things that society once told you was important. Find your voice, not the one you’re told to have. Be brave in your stories and in your skin, the things that make you who you are. Don’t temper them to appeal to what wins awards. Trade that filter for freedom.
And in due time, you will be awarded. And accepted and applauded and respected. Maybe even by those silly award shows, if they ever catch up. But it doesn’t matter, you’re above that anyway.
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