Frank Ocean

About

Frank Ocean, born Christopher Edwin Breaux, is an American singer, songwriter and rapper, best known for his critically acclaimed 2012 R&B album Channel Orange, and his ties with the hip-hop collective Odd Future.

History

In 2005, Ocean moved to Los Angeles, California, where he began ghostwriting songs for several prominent artists, including Justin Bieber, John Legend, Brandy and Beyoncé. In 2009, Ocean joined the hip hop collective Odd Future. On February 18th, 2011, Ocean released his debut mixtape Nostalgia, Ultra. On July 28th, Ocean leaked a demo version of his song "Thinking Bout You" on his Tumblr blog, before promptly removing the track. On April 10th, 2012, the song was officially released as the lead single for his debut studio album Channel Orange (shown below).

On July 10th, Channel Orange was released, which debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling upwards of 130,000 copies within one week.

Endless and Boys Don't Cry/Blonde

In February 2013, Ocean announced that he was working with Tyler the Creator, Pharrell Williams and Danger Mouse on a new record, claiming it was largely influence by the classic rock bands The Beach Boys and The Beatles. In March 2014, the song "Hero" on the upcoming album was released on SoundCloud (shown below).

In November, Ocean released the track Memrise off the upcoming album on his official Tumblr page.^[1] In April 2015, Ocean announced that his new album would be released in July, but was subsequently postponed. In July 2016, Ocean posted a photograph of a library card labeled "Boys Don't Cry" with a final due date stamp of "July 2016" on his official website (shown below).^[2]

On August 1st, a stream of Ocean playing various instruments and woodworking on a loop was featured on his official website. This would later be revealed after around 140 hours of streaming as promotion for Ocean's first visual album Endless, which would be released on August 19th exclusively on Apple Music. That day, The New York Times^[3] reported that the album was "due" the coming Friday.

Meanwhile, Twitter user @notjefe^[6] posted an Arthur's fist photoshopped image with the caption "When you've been listening to the same album for 4 years" (shown below). Over the next eight days, the tweet gained over 28,600 likes and 23,000 retweets.

On August 4th, Twitter user Jay Versace uploaded a video demanding Ocean release his new album immediately (shown below). Within five days, the tweet garnered upwards of 132,000 likes and 100,000 retweets.

The following day, the @hiphopmindset^[4] Instagram feed posted a mock track list for Ocean's upcoming album (shown below, left). On August 6th, MTV News^[7] published an article about the online reactions to the album delay. On August 8th, Redditor Roujj posted a "troll poster": of Frank Ocean to /r/FrankOcean^[5] (shown below, right).

On August 20th, a day after the release of Endless, Ocean put up an advertisement (shown below) on his website announcing the opening of 4 pop-up shops in New York City, London, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Within these stores were free magazines advertised as the first issue of "Boys Don't Cry", containing contributions from artists such as Kanye West, Tyler, The Creator, and A$AP Rocky, with one issue given out per person, along with his second studio album, now titled Blonde (sometimes stylized as blond).

Online Presence

In September 2010, Ocean launched his official Tumblr blog.^[9] On April 22nd, 2012, the /r/FrankOcean^[8] subreddit was launched for discussions about the artist. As of August 2016, Ocean does not maintain a Twitter feed or Facebook page.

Related Memes

A Potato Flew Around My Room

"A Potato Flew Around My Room" is a misheard lyric from Frank Ocean’s 2012 R&B song “Thinkin’ Bout You” that became a popular subject of online mockeries on Vine after it was first said by Viner pg bree in a video clip he uploaded in October 2014.

No Church in the Wild

No Church in the Wild is a music video by artists Kanye West and Jay-Z. Online, several lines uttered by Ocean in the song are often quoted ironically on various image macros.

How To Make a Frank Ocean Song

On November 13th, 2018, Twitter user @LeftAtLondon, aka singer-songwriter Nat Puff, posted a satirical video in which she outlines how to create a Frank Ocean song. She jokes that you only need one or two background instruments, no drums, and lyrics referencing, "nature, nostalgia, loneliness, and different names for weed that you didn’t know existed before." For the chorus, she says one needs only rip off a random 60s or 70s song, pitch shift it, and add lots of harmonies. To demonstrate this, she chooses "Take Me Home, Country Roads". Her tweet gained 11,000 retweets and 41,000 likes (shown below).

The tweet grew popular as people were impressed at the accuracy of her parody and the quality of the song she produced. User @classiciloveit tweeted the Worried Jay-Z GIF expressing that the song was surprisingly high-quality, gaining over 70 retweets and 1,100 likes (shown below, left). User @tiddiez posted a GIF of producer Timbaland dancing representing the moment "Take Me Home Country Roads" started, gaining over 130 retweets and 1,500 likes (shown below, left). The video and its reactions were covered by Daily Dot.^[11]

Personal Life

Ocean was born Christopher Edwin Breaux on October 28th, 1987. In 2010, his named was legally changed to Christopher Francis Ocean. On July 4th, 2012, Ocean released an open letter on his Tumblr blog^[10] revealing that he experienced unrequited romantic feelings for another man when he was 19-years-old.

"I don't know what happens now, and that's alrite. I don't have any secrets I need kept anymore…I feel like a free man."

Search Interest

External References