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Originally Posted by Rob Instigator
Is he Billy Ocean's son?
For real. I don;t know this FRank Ocean. Perhaps they don;t play him here in HTown radio?
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He was a member of Odd Future. He kinda made history for the world of hip-hop when he came out of the closet. He's a singer, but has done a bit of rapping here and there, and was definitely one of the boys on early Odd Future tapes.
Cut out on his own in 2011 with the *excellent* nostalgia, ULTRA. mixtape where he covered Coldplay and it actually was badass.
In 2012 he dropped his official debut album Channel Orange, and it's not an exaggeration to say that it's one of the best and most groundbreaking popular music records of the era. It was nominated for Album of the year at the Grammys. My favorite songs are "Crack Rock" and "Pyramids." He's been a highly coveted guest spot since, appearing on tracks by Kanye, Jay Z, Kanye & Jay Z and maybe some others
If you know Odd Future, and have opinions about them, set them aside before checking out Frank. He's by far the most talented and sophisticated member ever associated with the group, and his solo career made pretty much every OF release look infantile by comparison. He's indebted to D'Angelo, Maxwell, Prince... but he's really his own thing. I've heard people compare Channel Orange to OK Computer on multiple occasions (kind of a shit comparison for people who only understand music in the context of super popular music... the albums are nothing alike, except perhaps in scope.)
He's been famously elusive since the hype around Orange faded, turning up for a couple guest spots a year at most. People have been eagerly awaiting his follow-up for four years, and it almost seemed like it wasn't going to happen at some points.
So yeah, kind of a big deal. Louder's a fan. I'm a fan. NR's a fan. Everyone should be really. Again, I don't think it's quite up your alley, but Frank Ocean is motherfucking amazing.