I knew he would come back for us!

http://www.boysdontcry.co/

Coming this month!

Hope he does....

but LOL at the only two entries being a year apart

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/02/arts/music/frank-ocean-boys-dont-cry-apple-release-date.html

I'll believe it when I effing hear it. Ha.

but i respect your opinion. *salute*

It wasn't a horrible album but it was definitely a letdown from "Nostalgia Ultra" which was a much better listen, IMO. I don't care if it falls into that mixtape category. It was just flat out better than "Channel Orange."

Particularly Novacine. Only thing that impressed me about that 'mixtape' is how fully formed+self assured it was for a dude that came basically out of nowhere...it's a well put together album.

Just a boring one.

One of my favorite things about "Nostalgia Ultra" was the songwriting. Just about every song had a theme or a focus and didn't deviate from it. There weren't any generic, stereotypical R&B songs on it.

and I feel the same way about CO. 3 or 4 good cuts but half the album felt like the songs weren't really finished.

It was flames and critically acclaimed. Only flaw is that the motherfucker was long as shit and could have been cut, but you had 10 classics on that joint easy.

the gay hype was real, it worked and he delivered a decent album but 10 classics?

there were like 4 really good songs...

01 Start
02 Thinkin Bout You -Classic
03 Fertilizer
04 Sierra Leone -Classic
05 Sweet Life
06 Not Just Money
07 Super Rich Kids (f. Earl Sweatshirt)
08 Pilot Jones
09 Crack Rock - Classic
10 Pyramids - Classic
11 Lost - Classic
12 White (f. John Mayer)
13 Monks
14 Bad Religion - Classic
15 Pink Matter (f. André 3000) - Classic
16 Forrest Gump - Classic
17 End

It's not like he was the first gay R&B dude to have a big album (RIP LUTHER) but to act like that shit wasn't played everywhere/critically acclaimed is revisionist.

>01 Start
>02 Thinkin Bout You -Classic
>03 Fertilizer
>04 Sierra Leone - no
>05 Sweet Life
>06 Not Just Money
>07 Super Rich Kids (f. Earl Sweatshirt)
>08 Pilot Jones
>09 Crack Rock - no.. good but not classic
>10 Pyramids - no.. good but not classic
>11 Lost - Classic - my shit... shoulda had a dope vid for this
>12 White (f. John Mayer)
>13 Monks
>14 Bad Religion - Classic
>15 Pink Matter (f. André 3000) - hell no
>16 Forrest Gump - hell no
>17 End
>
>It's not like he was the first gay R&B dude to have a big
>album (RIP LUTHER) but to act like that shit wasn't played
>everywhere/critically acclaimed is revisionist.
>

He was the first to openly come out right before his debut album dropped and a lot of the hype was due to this admission
>

it was a decent album but it wasnt classic shit.

Possibly the most epic song in modern R&B, in the true sense of the word.

In time, it will be classic.

Anti-gentrification, cheap alcohol & trying to look pretty in our twilight posting years (c) Big Reg


Get 25% off www.karmaloop.com w/ rep code JR9103 |
Nike, G-Star, Herschel, Adidas (Men's & Women's clothing)

and as far as modern r&b, top 10 of the last 5 years. A lot of folks would argue top 3 or even #1.


Which reminds me I've been meaning to make a Channel Orange vs. Malibu or a Channel Orange vs. Ology post.

I WILL NOT TAKE BACK RICH KIDS. I love Earl Sweatshirt but he kinda hurt that song.

even if i think classic might be stretching it

Too much of that album was good to great for anyone to be grading it under B

when I see it.....






which is the same treatment my family and friends give me whenever my art comes up.

---------------------------------------


---------------------------------------

that was normal when we was growing up

He knows people are way too thirsty for this album. Everything from the library card, the status updates, and the livestream just comes off weird.

Also, I really hate how all of the artists with relatively less talent and potential can seemingly drop projects at will while musicians who are bonafide great at what they do take forever. I wonder how different the landscape of black music would be if D'Angelo, Maxwell, and Lauryn had more albums to their credit. How would southern rap be if Andre actually dropped an official solo album. I feel like a lot of artists who had something important to say just stopped saying those things through their music. And now all we have is a bunch of trash with some decent stuff sporadically scattered within it all.

but once you reach icon levels (and Ocean aint there yet) AND most of these artist had superteams around them the first time they dropped gems.

following up a classic with another gem is hard as shit...

i think these artist are too scared to lose that cred they built up over the years by dropping subpar shit.

i really wish these fools would drop singles tho... instead of instagram messages and twitter hints.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell_(musician)#Discography

pretty consistent.

cookin'.

Not at all..

people have been waiting for the album for 3/4 years... they are gonna cop. The think pieces will pop up before the whole thing is downloaded

and fans are funny, what was hot 4 years ago can easily slup under the radar. Fans also mature and move on to other things.

i dont know if he is D'Angelo, Maxwell status where fans have been waiting for it like those other artist.

i might be wrong tho...

Anti-gentrification, cheap alcohol & trying to look pretty in our twilight posting years (c) Big Reg


Get 25% off www.karmaloop.com w/ rep code JR9103 |
Nike, G-Star, Herschel, Adidas (Men's & Women's clothing)

cant get it anywhere else so itunes sales should be off the charts.

help me out if I'm wrong

so it can't be number one there. They're different platforms. Itunes is sales, Apple Music is streaming.

I opened itunes a while back and was totally confused by the new set up.

that shit sounds like a bad idea on apples part

Not sure if "Endless" is the album actually.. Guess we'll see

There is no other Frank Ocean... he doesn't have a bootleg/alt version that has filled in the space... people are waiting it has become a "thing" to say you are waiting and people will cop..

It will be one of the bigger musical moments of the year and people will want to be involved...

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/entertainthis/2016/08/01/frank-ocean-boys-dont-cry-live-stream-video/87906842/

http://time.com/4432730/frank-ocean-new-album-boys-dont-cry/

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/02/arts/music/frank-ocean-boys-dont-cry-apple-release-date.html?_r=0

The first couple of days its going to be a frenzy for everyone just wanting to be first. If it's got honest to good singles also, he might own the end of the summer.

Dude told me sooooo much about him, and why it was such a huge delay with this album. Shit like how Frank's own dad sued him...all type of family and business issues beyond the music itself.

And/or any info on what happened to OF in general??

Tyler switched up and probably felt he did enough for everyone else, not wanting to deal with freeloaders

Hodgy Beats went off about it on stage at the OF carnival last year then they had a fake reconciliation to do damage control a few days later, that bridge is burned forever

Domo Genesis dropped a good album this year

Earl will eat forever because he has a loyal fan base

He was in town on some FEMA business, had a random convo about floods and Frank...

I can believe he sued him lol.

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/the-juice/6251468/frank-oceans-dad-sues-russell-simmons-for-142-million-report

Frank Ocean's father is suing hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons for calling him a deadbeat dad, requesting $142 million in damages.

Ocean's dad, Calvin Cooksey, has been absent from his son's life since the R&B crooner was five years old, TMZ reports, and now he's claiming Simmons unfairly portrayed him as a bad dad on his website Global Grind.

Cooksey's libel claim, he says, will cause a loss of future income for the self-described singer, writer and inventor. As well, he has taken offense that Simmons' website did not use his actual name.

Cooksey blames Ocean's mother for his absence, calling her "money grubbing" and saying he wasn't allowed to be a father to his son.

In December 2012, Ocean tweeted his father wanted to sue him for $1 million. In a post, later deleted, he wrote, "Father wanna sue me for a million. Like I owe him back child support. Weak individual bought me a swiss knife at 6yrs old then dipped on me."

As of publishing, representatives for Simmons and Ocean had not responded to requests for comment.

> As
>well, he has taken offense that Simmons' website did not use
>his actual name.

What a piece of shit human being.

Why sue and make yourself known? NO ONE knew who he was and Frank hasn't seen him in years.

Complete douche.

...and I guess it was his stepfather then because dude name definitely wasn't Calvin.

Sucks to see that pettiness.

I got the same info from Bossip.

Something tells me he doesn't mess with too much family outside of his mom and sister.

But he talked for a good 30 min about things in depth, definitely nothing from the blog sites. His name is Sylvester, he's a singer and writer as well

*sheesh*

just wasn't feeling more than 3-4 songs. I've gone back to it a few times in case I missed something, but it never worked for me.

not really waiting on this next joint either.

I disagree with the 8-11 good tracks assessment. I would also say there were about 4 that I really liked so it gets a C+ from me.

I will give him another chance though. I'll check for this new album when it drops.

Thinkin Bout You
Pyramids
Lost
Bad Religion

There are other songs that I think are OK. But to me, these 4 are the standout tracks.

but overall I DID NOT LIKE Nostalgia ULTRA and was lukewarm on Orange.

the songs of his I love I really, really love, but most of it just doesn't hit for me. Strong melodically but just annoying word choice or repetitive songwriting.

~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

I cant believe folks are pushing the 'gay agenda' bullshit. I can understand if youre not feeling it or think it was overhyped, but damn. Album coulda been trimmed but the money songs are EPIC. In fact, I'm almost afraid the new album is gonna let me down. I'd rather it not come out then it be mediocre. I am that invested and i feel idiotic for that lol.

So a few voices are able to seem louder than they would have before.
Channel Orange is not polarizing like that and wasn't when it came out here either.

wasnt a marketing ploy.

not saying it was the only reason or biggest but it definitely was timed to help hype up the release.

the album still gets as much praise as it did initially

not to mention...that may have helped pull in part of his audience but it also preemptively pushed certain audiences further away

it may have been mostly marketing but even so...people still love that album and i don't think its done much for its lasting impression

I'm not sure what it has to do with my original statement about using it for marketing purposes...

its a good album but IMO that shit is no where close to a classic.

critically acclaimed is a better description.

Thinkin' About You and Pyramids are stellar songs, Sweet Life and Forrest Gump stuck with my cultural memory of the album...but the rest of it always felt a little half-baked to me. I was never enamored with Frank's songwriting style, though, most of his songs rub me that way. Aside from the money cuts Frank songs often give me the feeling of looking at a photograph that was intentionally taken while the camera was moving just a little bit. He doesn't have that 'effortless' feeling to me, but the sense of 'effort' I get from him isn't all that appetizing either.

(Scanning the album as I wrote this, I also recall digging Crack Rock a lot.)

I'll be happy to hear this album but I was right in the middle of my music critic side gig and I felt a little baffled by how universal the praise for Channel Orange was from all my peers. It was one of the only albums where I felt the consensus opinion on an album was a little overwhelming and undue; reading the think pieces now, I still find it VERY odd how many people find him to be some kind of luminary voice in R&B. He has a unique voice and in that genre that definitely counts for something but The Weeknd's first and third mixtapes were better full projects. In 2012 alone I preferred Jeremih's Late Nights mixtape that year, it didn't have a tentpole, decade-defining song like "Pyramids" but I felt it was more thorough front to back.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

smh... I like the song and all but decade defining? Classic?

yall niggas really trying to take it there?

you got 100 songs right now that you're putting on that list before you do Pyramids? I don't. granted there's a whole back third of the decade left to go but I'm pretty confident that song remains in that conversation.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

It's not even the best song on the album

I agree that Thinkin' Bout You is catchier, more relatable, more general, etc., but there's just something about Pyramids that captures the times for me.


Both songs would hit my 100 list, I'm not trying to argue either/or. My issue is with the idea there might be Thinkin' Bout You and 99 other songs that all take precedence over Pyramids.


Also think I made it clear that I find Frank Ocean pretty underwhelming as an overall artist, but wanted to reiterate that. I'm definitely not in the camp that expects him to repeat either of those two songs again on whatever this new album is; I'm not even expecting a Crack Rock or Forrest Gump. I'll definitely listen but I'm not on the side of the tracks that expects anything more than an album with some songs on it.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

that you or I are not on the pulse of things popular or alt-pop (Frank falls into the latter imo). I personally love only the second half of that song, BUT for the gen half a decade under me (im half a decade under you), seeing that song in public, it for sure is a decade defining son

it's a great song but it isn't THAT song.

Personally I dig pyramids more, but I see what u sayin

Thinkin About You is the song that stuck with absolutely everyone. That song's the bonafide classic that everyone will remember if they don't remember any other track.


---------------------------------------


---------------------------------------

making me think the album is about to come out or something

Wish he actually put this on Channel Orange

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phQ02mUCECc

and not just the snippet

Im just waiting for the official version of Summer Remains.. cuz >>>>>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KB_VSwJEXSE

https://twitter.com/KennyKnox97/status/761461824558604289

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CpF3S0VVMAEvPGz.jpg

Dude is trying way too hard to be some sort of an enigma for no reason.

This the most lamest & unnecessary bs that I've ever seen from an artist.

My sources are Russian tho so niggas prolly won't fuck with it.

How is it that artists could drop classics consistently years prior but these artists now take forever?

Prince dropped every year.
MJ dropped seven in his first fifteen years.....while touring.
Miles....almost 50 studio albums.

Frank? Massive hype. Dropped 1.5 albums.
---------------------------------------


---------------------------------------

.

*some* people today take a long time. *some* people today don't. just like some people back then took a long time, and some were more prolific.

the way we consume music, and he media industry that surrounds it, makes that hype so much worse though. it's a gift and a curse for someone like frank ocean, and for his fan base.

but there are plenty of people today who are basically dropping an album a year and touring.

I want to see someone who's bonafide brilliant pull off a run like Prince or Miles now. Imagine how shit would change if someone on Kendrick Lamar's level put out songs and features at the speed of Future.

chance has been on something new every week. kanye has respectable output. jay z got like 15 albums in 20 years even though he got rich and put on the breaks halfway through that. wayne was prolific and a genius before the label and the lifestyle addled him. lupe apparently has that work ethic, though other people are bigger fans than i am. then you got all the producers and pharrell types. and the drakes and trey songz types.

hell we're on a roots message board. them and common have large catalogs and style keep putting out music despite making it in the larger entertainment world.

ain't none of them prince but no one is or will be, but fetishizing an era ain't really paying proper respect either. i'm more than comfortable putting a few of them on the same level as bowie or bob dylan, even if changes in the industry mean they would have a hard time hitting the same numbers.

If Frank Ocean did that, he too could take as long as he wants to release another project. hell, even dangelo released two classics or near classics before his break, and then released his third classic. Frank hasn't even released a widely highly acclaimed album yet.

And he was still very productive afterwards.

In R&B, D'Angelo and even Maxwell got passes on the strength of their music. They put out great material.

The best example of this is Sade. If you're putting out albums of that caliber, the public gives you more leeway. She could go another two or three years without an album and get a pass because she's given her audience classics and toured behind them.

The argument I've had about Frank Ocean is that he's a truly great songwriter who isn't totally invested in the other aspects of being a great artist. He doesn't tour heavy and he doesn't seem to want to put out new material at a constant pace. That's fine. But don't troll people who you know are supporters of your work.

The livestream is a troll move. I'm surprised he didn't paint something just so we'd have to literally watch paint dry while waiting for his album. His label only lets him do this because he was validated when he leaked his own material to acclaim.

Then she started taking breaks. Frank Ocean is cool but nothing special. I don't miss the kid.

bowie's recent spurt pretty much came out of nowhere after focusing on his family and other interests for a good bit

i'm right with you on all the time he put in decades ago...when he was putting out lots of material, touring, *and* finding time to do shit like produce "transformer" in between.

It's this whole "I'm going to do this mysterious will I release it or will I not and play it all off as art" shit I don't like.

Just keep your fans updated, don't play with us. If it ain't coming out just say so and I can respect that.

I honestly miss when shit just came out on Tuesdays and you knew it was coming lol.

>How is it that artists could drop classics consistently years
>prior but these artists now take forever?
>
>Prince dropped every year.
>MJ dropped seven in his first fifteen years.....while
>touring.
>Miles....almost 50 studio albums.
>
>Frank? Massive hype. Dropped 1.5 albums.
>---------------------------------------
>
>
>---------------------------------------

they have 20 people ghost writing on the cheap, everyone is collabing for the love of it, everyones hungry...

once the album sells a few mill everyone starts arguing over money and those same producerd, writers, etc are now in demand to make the next frank ocean.

its hard to get lightening in a bottle and its almost impossible to get the same people in the room for a follow up album.


and Frank Ocean aint no where close to those legends. He's a youhg dude who had a few good songs and a great marketing team in OF. Real talk, the nigga was pretty bad when it came to live performances.

Word is he and James Blake cooked with each other for a while during Bkake's album recording and I hope that bleed into Frank'stop lp cause only the goodness can emerge

James Blake is a real musician tho...

And has released 2 albums since Channel Orange. Frank is just a bum. I still remember his performance on one of them award shows. Shit was bad. Had me like "this the ninja y'all hyping?!"

>and Frank Ocean aint no where close to those legends. He's a
>youhg dude who had a few good songs and a great marketing team
>in OF. Real talk, the nigga was pretty bad when it came to
>live performances.

it was obvious he wasn't what we thought he was...

dude is a decent writer but it's not like we were going to see him jumping on stage and rock out..

he is a studio artist.

lessons.

Him and Beyonce both. I can see the talent, but neither one of them has a good handle on how to manipulate music to build tension, and then release it in the way that makes something "good". Every now and then each of them lucks up on it, but not consistently.

Some basic music composition classes would help both of them out tremendously.

Back in the day, there was a ton fo competition on all the various music scenes: jazz, R&B, Blues, Rock. People would learn subconsciously from listening to all the other great music being made how great songs were built. That's been lost because so few people are able to make music in that way anymore.

The talent is out there. It's just not being cultivated the right way anymore.

Edited to add: Ironically, it's the guy who officially is a rapper who has the best handle on melody, at least, Drake. He pops better melodies out of the zits on his chin than any other big name in Black music right now. And even he would benefit a ton from more knowledge of music composition.

I know he doesn't have Twitter or Instagram but he could have released some sort of statement denying it was actually coming out.

I don't care that he himself never officially said it as coming out, as soon as the NYT report hit he could have done something to stop fans from believing the obviously incorrect report.

And his stupid "livestream" was dumb too. Only way it could have been awesome was if at the end he walked toward the camera saying the album was now available or something.

Anything less and it looked like what it was: playing fans for fools.

I'm to the point where I don't even give a fuck about his new music anymore. I wanna be like 'nigga your shit aint all that to be playing these kinda games" LOL

Is it safe to assume it sucked?

Song sucked

Video sucked

0/2 in my book, as Endless as a whole sucked too.

That's the only thing 'wrong' with the song, but it's a big thing.

If he used normal vocals, it would be a dope song.

it's on Apple Music now

https://cdn.meme.am/instances/28194545.jpg

No matter how great the songwriting or melodies are, I feel like there's something missing when I find myself impatiently waiting for the beat drop that never comes.

Maybe I'll revisit this on a rainy melancholy day and feel different. But for now, this album will be filed under snooze fest indefinitely.

That said... Pink & White is that groove.

On it. From the mix, to the swing of them, to the slap

I know the drums are there but half the time it doesnt feel like it.

Otherwise this some bullshit outside of
"Pink + White", "Self Control" and the
last part of "Nights." Dre's interlude
was the most emotionally evoking part of
the whole thing.
This just sounds like Frank was throwing out
every random musical idea he had.

in its entirety.. total let-down.

all dat shit talkin bout how he aint release nuttin

then he finally do and yall still complainin

digital age done made errybody n they mama a record exec damn




ya asked for it, well here it is! STFU n eat ya damn peas yo

aint even been a day lol

creative people have the right to (not) release whatever they want to the world
we really dont have the right to complain about how long it's taking
but we certainly have the right to speak up if we feel the final product is shitty


>digital age done made errybody n they mama a record exec damn

this is wildly unrelated to whatever point you think you were making.

thats the problem when an artist takes long as hell to release an album.

Endless and Blonde are both dope....Blonde more so. Frank Ocean's really on to something that's really not r&b or pop as we currently know it so I'm down.

I still want to see the magazine. Hopefully he follows through and mass produces that.

good, that means it's probably flames. about to listen now.

I really wanna know if you thought OKP was wrong
on this one.

Dammit, i'm not creating ANOTHER email address so I can get another Apple Music Trial to listen to yet another exclusive. This shit is getting out of control....


"Get ready....for your blessing....."

>Dammit, i'm not creating ANOTHER email address so I can get
>another Apple Music Trial to listen to yet another exclusive.
>This shit is getting out of control....
>
>
>"Get ready....for your blessing....."

that could have been about plenty of rappers

Andre 3K is the type of rapper that needed to say something about it...

it independently

http://pitchfork.com/news/67748-frank-ocean-no-longer-on-def-jam-blonde-was-self-released/

best thing you can do is blow up and then go indie

he can sell 1/4 of the albums to make the same money or more

because Endless is a real album that Frank submitted to Def Jam as the album. If they took it and released it, that's their fault. Def Jam should've known karma would come around....especially when their negligence on releasing Frank's first album is what started everything.
---------------------------------------


---------------------------------------

Really interested to see how true the story is. I mean Def Jam may still be getting points on BLOND but it would be crazy if he delivered an album to them that they aren't selling and then dropped one for sale a day or so later..

Might be why the credits aren't done yet..

and why

"UMG DROPS THE HAMMER ON EXCLUSIVES"

http://hitsdailydouble.com/news&id=302621

At some point he may cut it up into tracks and put it on Apple music / itunes, but not too soon or that might cannibalize some of the sales of the album he's really making money on himself.

Nah.. ENDLESS IS the Def Jam album....

Like he pulled the okey doke (if true) He gave them an album/visual they could go get a check cut from Apple

THEN did a separate deal for an Indie album that was the ACTUAL album

The Def Jam album is in a format that makes it harder/more inconvenient to listen to (video not audio, one long track instead of split up into separate tracks). He did that so that ALL the audio streams and itunes downloads would be of the album he's personally making more $ off of. Maybe at some point he'll also split Endless up into separate audio tracks once Blonde's sales have cooled down a bit (personally i hope so), but either way he avoid having sales/listens of the Def Jam album cutting into sales/listens of the indie release.

up the songs?

Ok.. well there is no itunes download so I dont even know if Endless is charting. It was delivered in video format (for stream) so It is just a long video

I dont think that tracking out Endless would change whether people listened or not. I mean anyone waiting for the album wouldve listened to Endless that first day... then when Blonde dropped listened to that as well. I didnt skip through it on first listen to it being tracked out would not have mattered.

this minimalist treatment only magnifies how weak his voice is

his voice can't carry a project like this

FTR, I didn't make it through the whole album

and I don't plan on trying

dude's voice reminds me of a younger sibling in that tweener stage who's vocals haven't fully developed but that won't stop them from belting out any and every tune under the sun hoping to be the next american idol and they mama posts vids of baby in the back seat bout to blow up...

cringeworthy.

the production and lyrics kinda made up for it.

haven't heard the new stuff yet, hope there are a few joints on it

Given the expectations following Channel Orange, it was bold of him to follow it up with this. I am actually digging the album a lot thus far. I don't care for some of the vocal effects, don't care for the interludes, and I'm pretty iffy about White Ferrari and Futura Free. Other than those somewhat minor gripes, I'm really digging it. Pink + White, Nights, Close To You, and Godspeed are early favorites. I really wish Close To You was longer. I'm also really digging fan of Solo, Self Control, and Ivy.
Definitely an album to be enjoyed by oneself in introspective moments more than an album to party with. There's no Sweet Life, no Thinking Bout You, no Pyramids, no Crack Rock not much 'fun' on this album, but there's definitely a lot of depth. A lot of emotion. A lot of beauty. A lot of quality. A good album worth diving into.

after Blond im not sure i want to.
Nikes was hot tho.

she's a HUGE fan. he's not really my thing, but i don't hate it.

So they are saying Ocean could sell up to 250 K his first week....And that's the album THAT'S FOR SALE and not connected with Def Jam...Which leads to this point.....


"With Ocean almost certainly set to hit No. 1 this week via his digital-only release (in addition to streaming on Apple Music, it's for sale in the iTunes Store), it raises the question of how important a record label is at all in 2016, as services offer marketing and advance money that a label would otherwise provide. And if terrestrial radio remains the final frontier that separates successful artists from superstars, well, a company like Apple has a digital version of that, too, with its Beats 1 Radio stations....."

The boy playing chess....

link: http://www.billboard.com/articles/business/7487032/frank-ocean-endless-album-straw-broke-universal-music-back-may-get-sued

said the best thing an artist can do is sign to a major, get mass appeal then go indie...


but now with youtube and the internets we see dudes like Whiz and Mac Miller doing it out the gate.

only issue is how long it took for Frank to drop. If a label plays hardball you can be stuck in limbo for a long ass time

Wiz HAD a major deal before he went indie and blew up and essentially resigned to Warner again...

Mac had Wiz's team, blueprint and $$$

on EVERY streaming service...his money would be even more major.

He gonna hit that peak only until the bootleggers get him...


"Get ready....for your blessing....."

unless Apple put down several Ms upfront for it.

I'd think that album would've gone automatically gold if it were released everywhere similar to how Life of Pablo's sales boosted once Apple and Spotify got a hold of it.
---------------------------------------


---------------------------------------

Just release it in all formats so that everyone that wants it can get it

http://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/frank-oceans-blonde-has-been-illegally-downloaded-750000-times-in-less-than-a-week/

Frank Ocean’s Blonde has hit industry headlines this week – for more than its status as the comeback album from one of this generation’s most acclaimed talents.

For one thing, the record was self-released by Ocean after a visual album – Endless – was issued a day earlier, fulfilling his contractual obligations to Universal Music Group.

Amid the hoopla over this release strategy, another defining feature of Blonde has been somewhat underplayed: the fact it’s currently a complete Apple exclusive, and therefore unavailable on services such as Spotify.

That detail provides interest context to the following news.

At midday UK time today (that’s 7am EDT), Frank Ocean’s Blonde had been illegally downloaded 753,849 times.

That’s according to data provided to MBW by leading content protection, data-analytics and ‘piracy audience reconnection’ specialist MUSO.

Blonde was released on August 20, so this huge number of illegal downloads has taken place in less than six days.

According to MUSO, the figure only reflects piracy of the entire album, and does not included data for single track downloads.

It includes data from torrent and cyber-lockers / direct downloads. However, it also doesn’t cover illegal streams of Ocean’s album.

As MUSO revealed earlier this year in its comprehensive global piracy report, illegal streaming is now the most popular form of music piracy worldwide, claiming over 35% of all activity last year – so this is just a sample of illegal consumption of Blonde this week.

The Frank Ocean piracy number is reminiscent in its eye-opening size of torrenting data for Kanye West’s The Life Of Pablo, reported earlier this year.

TLOP, which was released by West as a complete TIDAL exclusive for six weeks, was torrented a whopping 500,000 times in its first 24 hours.

Blonde, released on Ocean’s own Boys Don’t Cry label, is looking like a dead cert to top the Billboard 200 chart tomorrow (August 25).

Billboard predicts that Blonde will also top its albums list forecasting a week-one sales figure of 225,000-250,000.Music Business Worldwide

it's good, but leaves so much to be desired; and I am not in the ChannelOrange is masterpiece clan, even though it def has left it's cultural mark.

i find the vocal effects to be one of the most interesting aspects of Blond. Because Frank's voice has always been weak, (yet endearingly vulnerable) the effects really add a dimension of futurity to his lovelorn, aloof, poet of songs, characterization.

his lyrics still convey great imagery and emotion, but they sit idle on so much of the songs because of the lack of low end and aimlessness

it feels his relationship with James Blake (and the unending influence of 3stacks: which has its good and bad) has gave Ocean the aura that going the "alt" route is somehow more arty and honest

yet it's the songs that are rooted in muddy mixes, sedated pop, Blackness, and his queerness that are the best:
"Nike"
"Self Control"
"Night" all of it, just greatness
"Close to You" my favorite, why the fuck is it so short!
"Futura Free"

and obvi "Solo", which theeraser rightly said above, for as dope as it is, doesn't really fit, BUT conceptually it does. it's just the rapping is the hypest thing on the whole record, and it kinda stand out like a sore thumb, lol

much of these "balllads"/song poems need the love of Kaytranda, FlyLo, Metro, Mono/Poly on the low end. the ingredients are there, they just need to be dropped in that fish fry

the critics who will applaud and celebrate it like the best shit since sliced bread gunna be OD annoying, but yeah, whatevs, word

Real question/s...

Do cats REALLY need drums like that? from EVERY artist?

is that a requirement? do you guys not listen to Joni, Bob Dylan? Bon Iver, Father John Misty?

this is a legit question too.. just interested in whether that is a hard fast requirement.. and is that only from black artists or across the board?

>Real question/s...
>
>Do cats REALLY need drums like that? from EVERY artist?


Of course not.
With these projects tho, it's more about a departure
from previous projects than not liking a certain sound.
He was accepted... as a guy who has drums in his music lol.
All of his previous projects had great drums. You
could *bump* them. People fell in love with that and
wanted more of it.
Sure sure, everyone has the right to change course
and be creative, blah blah blah... but such a sharp
departure from a previous sound won't always be well-
received.
That's what people are dealing with here.

but shit like Forest Gump is what people talked about critically ... sounds like he doubled down on that..

Even still, we're a group of listeners in here,
not critics (the kind you mean, anyway).
But yeah, FG had drums, so I dunno what you mean.



>but shit like Forest Gump is what people talked about
>critically ... sounds like he doubled down on that..

HOWEVER..... I can absolutely appreciate the beauty of an atmospheric tune that couples great songwriting and melodies with a percussionless musical arrangement.

Radiohead does this best. But on their albums, they weave in a healthy balance of songs that have rhythmic drums along with the atmospheric tracks. It's a easier to digest in one sitting and makes for a more well rounded body of work.

Because Blonde doesn't have that healthy mix, I have to be in "that" mood to throw it on.

That's why she could pull it off, on top of the song writing

For as good as Ocean is with pen he ain't as strong as Dylan either or as distinct in sound

As I said in my reply above yours, his weak voice (which doesn't mean I don't like it) can't carry these type of vibes. And this also stinks of that "this is real music/artistry"... nah that dope ass black ass r&b-rap hybrid you was doing was / is art too

And nah I don't listen to Bon Iver or FJ Misty

The long short I need drums

>That's why she could pull it off, on top of the song writing
>
>For as good as Ocean is with pen he ain't as strong as Dylan
>either or as distinct in sound
>
>As I said in my reply above yours, his weak voice (which
>doesn't mean I don't like it) can't carry these type of vibes.
>And this also stinks of that "this is real music/artistry"...
>nah that dope ass black ass r&b-rap hybrid you was doing was /
>is art too
>
>And nah I don't listen to Bon Iver or FJ Misty
>
>The long short I need drums

Alladat

All true... I think your argument is pretty on point that because his songwriting isn't as "tight" song wise he needs to have something sonically to anchor him..

Im sure Kaytranada or someone is remixing this as we speak.. !llmind already some versions with drums

>And this also stinks of that "this is real music/artistry"...
>nah that dope ass black ass r&b-rap hybrid you was doing was /
>is art too



It's mad frustrating to me how so many artists fall
into this idea that only a certain type of music is
"artsy"... such as rappers who think they can't take
their music to the next level while still rapping or
singers thinking no drums means you're on some other
level. Alotta times this is just an internalization
of white supremacist views anyway. As soon as we
stop doing it, they'll start doing it and calling it
the greatest thing some white artist has ever done.
That's pretty much American pop music history.