Frank Ocean Channel ORANGE Review

Well, after doing two rock albums, it is time to switch things up a bit. Time to talk about one of my favorite albums of last year. An album that has been getting a lot of praise, including a nomination for best album of the year at the 2013 Grammy’s. That album is Frank Ocean’s Channel ORANGE. In a year where rap, hip-hop, and R&B was lackluster to say the least, Channel ORANGE came in and blew everyone away. It was something unique. It mixed many forms of R&B, rap, and soul that nobody knew what to technically classify it as. Here are some of the genre’s Channel ORANGE uses. R&B is the obvious one, neo-soul, psychedelic funk, pop-soul, jazz-funk, and electro-funk. A lot to mix into one album, right? Mix in an unconventional method of treating each song like a channel on the good old tv and you have one of the most creative, unique, and most importantly, well executed album musically in years.
   
Channel ORANGE was one of my most anticipated of last year. Being an Odd Future fan, I was excited to see the soulful member of the group get his chance to show his talent. Plus, his spot on Jay-Z and Kanye West’s song “No Church In The Wild” was fantastic, so my expectations were high. Gladly, Ocean did not disappoint with ORANGE. From the first song, (Thinkin Bout You) you realize what you are in for. Each “channel” on ORANGE is a different type of genre. With “Thinkin Bout You” being some quality R&B to “Sweet Life” taking some amazing influence of Jazz-Funk, each song is something different and widely creative.
   
What also helps the album is Ocean has the voice and lyricism to back up his ambitious ideas. Ocean can hit the low notes to rap, and he can hit the high notes to sing. At no point in the album does it sound like he messed up his vocals. They are damn near perfect. Ocean also covers some interesting topics with his lyricism. I always have this rule about rap or R&B:  don’t rap about partying or having sex. That has been done to death. Just rap about life, your experiences, or something your listener can relate too. Ocean does this as songs like “Super Rich Kids” have Ocean questioning why kids are spoiled, or “Pilot Jones”, which has Ocean talking about how dependent people addicted to drugs are to other addicts.
   
There is not much bad to say about the album. I actually tried really hard to find something. The only thing I guess I could say is that I do wish some songs would have been longer or fleshed out instead of being intermissions. Take the 40 seconds “Fertilizer”. I feel like that could have been an incredible song about heartbreak. Instead, it was just a 40 second intermission. My only real complain is songs like that were full, but that is only a minuscule problem.
   
The final verdict:  In a year where good R&B and rap was few and far, Frank Ocean came in and wiped the floor with Channel ORANGE. ORANGE is creative, ambitious, but most importantly, true and well crafted. It is rare that you listen to an album and every time, you find something new to love. I’m on the bandwagon of saying Ocean deserves album of the year at the Grammy’s. Will he get it? God I hope so.

FINAL GRADE: A

CHOICE CUT: Sweet Life

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZaWY2ROxrc