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The Free Black Artist: Frank Ocean Through a Decolonial Lens

ABSTRACT This paper examines the historical degradation of Black artists in the music industry as a form of neocolonialism wrought by largely White-owned parent companies. Using Frank Ocean’s 2016 rebellion against Def Jam Recordings and the GRAMMYs, this paper uplifts Ocean as a model for the liberation of other Black artists. This paper employs a decolonial approach that reads Negritude thinkers Aimé Césaire and Frantz Fanon and theologian Kelly Brown Douglas through the lens of Ocean’s actions and artistry as a means to envision new possibilities for the disruption and destruction of neocolonial structures and the affirmation of Black lives as sacred.