The thing is that light is actually not consisting of particles, nor of waves. One should really think of light as consisting of "wave packages". It is sometimes best described as particles and sometimes as waves, but it is neither in general.
Looking then at the photoelectric effect: If light was a wave, then electrons would come of the metal plate at any frequency as long as the intensity of the light is high enough, but that does not happen! In reality, there is what is called a threshold frequency. Furthermore, if light was consisting of waves, it would take time for electrons to escape (in order to build up energy), but what is found is that there is no delay. The idea then of Einstein is that light comes in "pieces" (= wave packages). These packages are called photons and have a certain energy $E = h\nu$. This would explain the phenomena in the sense that if your light has a frequency that is too low, no electrons will escape. This is simply because the photon energy is too low and will thus not be absorbed, no matter how many photons there are (= no matter how high the intensity).
To summarize an answer to your question, frequency is is a property of the "wave package", which is called a photon.