Weird Rap -- Frank Ocean's "Swim Good"

I'm a proponent of weird fiction [neat list of recent examples] and I wish there was more weird rap. By stepping outside of verse / chorus / verse and focusing on bars and hooks, there's a whole lot more room for spoken word style narratives and tonal shifts that communicate atmosphere. Yet it's slim pickings. (The reason I listen to rap is the electronics. A lot of my favorite techniques that were originated in industrial music live on in the beats and synths of rap.)

I'm not a fan of Odd Future because of the homophobia, but their crooner, Frank Ocean, took that head on with his widely public pro gay marriage stance, so I can't blame him for who he associates with, since it's clear he's trying to educate. (He's also ardently pro-choice, with women's rights being another common stumbling block in rap, especially in the lunatic fringes.) The gay marriage thing is a big deal in hip hop culture. Google just cranked out 395,000 hits for "Frank Ocean" and "gay marriage," demonstrating how Ocean's better known in some circles for expressing a pro-gay message than he is for singing.

Wealthy and successful rappers (Jay-Z, Eminem [post-amends]) are often in favor of gay marriage, but somebody like Frank Ocean sticking their neck out with a line like, "I believe that marriage isn't between a man and woman, but between love and love," is rare.

So I was psyched by Ocean's "Novacane" [swears and has a brief VEVOad] because there aren't enough rap / urban songs about not being able to feel your face because a student of dentistry slips you drugs that make you feel like you're Stanley Kubrick.

Then I heard "Swim Good."  Which is, at least for me, one of the new highwater marks of weird rap.

The narrator's driving around in his Lincoln towncar. Broken hearts bleed out of his trunk but police officers cannot see them. He's dressed in black funereal attire and feels like a ghost being haunted by something far greater than he is. So he drives to the ocean, kicks off his shoes, and swims until he drowns, figuring he will die but escape.

Thinking about it, "Frank Ocean," is too cheesy a name for a character who swims out into the ocean because he can't face deep and cosmic truths...but I hope he does more weird rap and doesn't get gobbled up by the industry the way he probably will.