Frank Peters - 50 Shades of Frank
- Written by Julia Lamb
Hailed MTV’s ‘Artist to Watch’ in 2013, hip-hop extraordinaire Frank Peters is on the rise and proving he’s a force to be reckoned with. The South Carolina rapper has been likened to Kendrick Lamar and 2 Chainz, and has already opened for hip-hop big leaguers Lil Kim, Juicy J and Afroman.
Peters’ latest release is 50 Shades of Frank. The mammoth 21-track album sees him indulging in the hedonistic lifestyle of fast cars, money, women and drugs: a bible of excess. Brief interludes spoken in different languages are inserted every few tracks, piecing the record together with a worldly narrative. Album opener ‘Mr. Frank’ – a nod to 50 Shades of Grey – is a self-glorifying, arrantly sexual track that introduces Peters as a bravado-oozing womaniser, a proclamation that rides out the majority of the album. Peters’ beats are simple, but they’re built to accommodate his fast, wordy flow and guide your ears towards his lyrics. ‘Passive Aggressive’ and ‘Mercy’ are unhurried breaks from busy tracks like ‘Ambitionz’ and ‘Drive’, while ‘Cocaine Heart’s minimalistic soundscape is one of the strongest sounds on the record.
At track 19, ‘Clarity’, Peters lets his around-the-clock pleasure-seeking façade falter, if only momentarily. Hinting at a profound sadness that lies at the crux of this escapism, Peters lets on: “Life is so hard but I’m still feeling no pain”. The track’s infectious instrumentation feels reminiscent of Kanye West and Chris Martin’s 2007 ‘Homecoming’, which Peters coincidentally references: “’Cause I got that ice-cream flow, cold case/Now I’m coming home like Ye and Coldplay”. Final song ‘Mercy’ is a smooth close to the album, full of the witty wordplay that Peters does best: “Had to dumb down my dumb sound/Made it profound for the dumb-found”
50 Shades of Frank is a solid showcase of Peters’ quick-witticisms and clever rhythms – an album that takes careful listening to truly appreciate.