In case you don't know, Frank Ocean is the young, successful, up-and-coming hip hop singer-songwriter who made headlines when he included three songs about unrequited love for a man on his first studio album channel ORANGE and wrote a letter (on Independence Day, quite appropriately) on his tumblr blog about his first love, at age nineteen, for another man.
Well, the album is now out (at least on iTunes) and it is beyond amazing. It is some of the most beautiful music you will ever hear. It is haunting, hypnotic, send-chills-up-your- spine magic from beginning to end.
But don't take my word for it. This talented, brave young man has put up the entire album on his website frankocean.com where you can listen to it for free. It's also up on tumblr
Even if you are one of those people who says, "I don't like hip hop", you will love this album.
Ocean has received outpourings of support from all over, including Jay Z, Beyonce, and Russell Simmons for his courage in coming out about his love for another man (and I would add, for making beautiful art out it.)
Beyonce said:
Be fearless. Be honest. Be generous. Be brave. Be poetic. Be open. Be free. Be yourself. Be in love. Be happy. Be inspiration.
And on this album he is all of the above.
I would like to think that being out and open and honest help make this album the amazingly moving work it is.
And I can't help but wonder how much great art in the past "the closet" has killed.
The whole world is watching to see if a young man in hip hop can come out and maintain a career. So I urge you, if you can at all afford it, to support this album.
But the real story, the big story about channel ORANGE is not that it is the first time a male hip hop artist has written about love for another man, but that it is just such a breathtakingly beautiful work of art, written from the heart.
7:36 AM PT: To get the album to play you click on the sideways triangle underneath "Start" and then wait. There's some sound, then some silence for a while, and then Ocean's voice comes on. It's worth the short wait.