Ocean finds a woman and compares their relationship to the beauty and pain of Sierra Leone, home to diamonds and a civil war. But the sorrow in his voice and the painful laugh track tell us he's not having much luck. Over what sounds like a 1950s radio program and matching static, Ocean begs his love not to treat him like the titular bullshit. It was originally a reference song for Bridget Kelly, but Ocean's version proves more than good enough for its own mastering.Ī short interlude that opens up the darker themes on the album. He leaves a girl, then hopes she's thinking of him. Ocean's life is a lot like a video game: He tries to steer the outcome, but he's limited to a certain set of controls.Ī classic R&B love song and direct descendent of Nostalgia, Ultra. The tuning of the titular 'channel,' with sounds of the city, a television, and a video game framing what's to come. And since you're probably going to be hearing more about it, anyway, Rap Genius, the Internet's most intelligent repository of hip-hop lyrical analysis, has provided us with some track-by-track liner notes on the meanings contained therein. It's also likely to please fans of Ocean's mixtape, Nostalgia, Ultra, while appealing more broadly to hip-hop, R&B, and pop audiences.

The record represents a startlingly complex, dark, and emotional journey that could easily fit into any number of 'Best of' lists, even in July.

But a certain recent announcement has given it a whole lot more attention. The show has also faced very recent allegations that they have no black judges, a fact that cannot be confirmed because of their deeply secretive selection process.Some people had already been anticipating Frank Ocean's debut album, Channel Orange (released this week ahead of schedule, and which you can stream here), for several years now. Lizzo has faced a similar difficulty with the award show, being given hip hop and 'urban' nominations despite making pop music. That's just a politically correct way to say the n-word to me.' Tyler's frustration came because he objectively made a pop album with Igor and was placed in the rap and urban categories. Last year, upon receiving the 'Urban' award for his masterpiece Igor, Tyler the Creator said, 'They always put it in a rap or urban category. The hip hop portion of the show wasn't televised in 2015, despite hip hop being the number one genre in the entire US. Specifically, their treatment of the African American music community has come under intense criticism, and not without reason. They've faced a number of controversies, with more and more artists pulling out every year. The Grammys have not been without scrutiny this year, or in past years.

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