The massive R&B Hip-Hop album from Frank Ocean was released and became an instant classic, with songs like Lost and Thinkin' Bout You becoming massively successful singles. The album has gone on to be certified multi-platinum in several countries and peaked at #2 on the top 200 albums on Billboard.
1. Start
2. Thinin Bout You
3. Fertilizer
4. Sierra Leone
5. Sweet Life
6. Not Just Money
7. Super Rich Kids(Ft. Earl Sweatshirt)
8. Pilot Jones
9. Crack Rock
10. Pyramids
11. Lost
12. White(Ft. John Mayer)
13. Monks
14. Bad Religion
15. Pink Matter(Ft. André 3000)
16. Forrest Gump
17. End
Tone Deaf Metric
Pyramids
And what makes it so good
As the longer songs go on, some may feel like a song starts to go on and on. When you think of older bands with longer songs, they usually cut them down to parts because no one wants to sit through a 20-minute song. The song Pyramids is an exception to me; being almost 10 minutes in length, the song doesn’t feel like it’s that long. In the song, the vocals provided by Frank Ocean are part of the album as a whole. The song's usage of metaphors for its storytelling is superb and helps drive the song's narrative. Even though the lyrics are not really that deep, with them being about a pimp that fell in love with one of his workers. Whether a complex story about the state of modern love or truly as the lyrics describe and previously talked about, the song overcomes that with its mastery of mixing and sound design to help sell the song as the best on an album packed with classic hits like Lost and Thinkin' Bout You.
Crack Rock
And why it’s the worst
On an album that’s a staple of the genre from a time the genre was seemingly in its renaissance, it can be hard to find a song that is the worst. While I could give it to a track that isn’t exactly a song and used for more additions to help the album as a listen-through, I don’t want to give it to one of them, so I’ll only choose a vocal track. With this clause in use, the believed track on the album has to go to the song Crack Rock. The song is nowhere near bad as all of the tracks are classic for a reason and all well made. The reason Crack Rock finds itself here isn’t for vocal reasons either, as Ocean gives spectacular vocals once again; the song just simply isn’t as relatable to most of the audience as most of the other songs on the album. With songs on the album like Forrest Gump talking about Ocean’s personal homosexuality and Bad Religion about unrequited love, Crack Rock being about doing drugs doesn’t have a wide enough target demographic to hit as the previous topics do. Overall, though, the song is a good track, but it is just the worst on a great album.
Final Rating
Released as the studio debut album of Frank Ocean’s good discography, the album has gone to be within the upper echelon of R&B hip-hop albums. The album peaked at #2 on Billboard’s Top 200 and became a cult classic in the US that made Frank Ocean a massive artist. This album predeceased the amazing album Blonde, and I’m glad he got an album to grow his fans before he released his magnum opus; overall, this is a phenomenal album that helped further the genre for a modern audience.
Credits
Vocals: Frank Ocean
Vocal Features: Earl Sweatshirt, John Mayer, André 3000
Producer: Malay, Frank Ocean, Shea Taylor, Om'Mas Keith, Jonathan Ikpeazu, Tyler, The Creator
Writers: James Ho, Lonnie Breaux, Shea Taylor, James Fauntleroy, R. Perry, Pharrell Williams, Rosie Watson, Kirk Robinson, Mark Morales, Mark Rooney, Nathaniel Robinson Jr, R. Hammond, Thebe Kgositsile, Taylor Johnson, Micah Otano, Paul Shelton, T. Okonma, Charlie Gambetta, Kevin Risto, Waynne Nugent, André Benjamin
Distributed by: Red Zone Entertainment / IDJ, Universal Music Publishing, Sony Music Publishing