Frank Ocean is yet another member of the now infamous hip-hop collective OFWGKTA (Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All), but what sets him apart from the other members is that he actually doesn't even rap. Frank Ocean, here, is their R&B singer. Where as the other members talk about subjects in their songs about explicit things they find funny, Frank sings about love, sex, and relationships with such elegance and style that he sounds like he can out-do any male R&B vocalist on the radio.
Frank is gaining some fame from being on the chorus of the recent Tyler, The Creator song 'She' where he sings to warn a girl that a rapist (Tyler) is stalking her, and it's pretty great that he's gaining this exposure, because people who hate OFWGKTA may still love Frank Ocean. Some people are even wishing he'd quit OFWGKTA, or at least distance himself away from Tyler. People are rushing to be at his feet, with artists such as Beyonce and Justin Bieber wanting him to write them songs, and Jay-Z and Kanye West wanting him not just to be on one song on their upcoming album 'Watch The Throne', but two.
And boy, can this guy sing.
Frank is here on this mixtape with a whopping 60 tracks of songs he did under the name 'Lonny Breaux' back in the day, mainly singles, collaborations, and the such, that never got major radio-play for some reason that is beyond me.So the question is, are all 60 tracks worth hearing? The answer is, honestly, no, but you'll find that if you're an R&B lover, which I might add I am not, you'll love the majority of these tracks. I normally don't care at all for R&B, but this guy is amazing. He has a certain creative genius behind him that I can't place my finger on, that a lot of others in the genre, including the current leading artists, just simply do not have, and this guy hardly has any fame or years under his belt.
During the course of the album, he throws many more than just several catchy melodies at you, with quite a selection of producers, from Soundz, to Syience, to Midi Mafia, and more. Frank is inventive in the way that while his voice is soothing, yes, he knows when to play it to his advantage to help the actual music, as seen in 'One Look' where his voice practically becomes part of the beat during the chorus.
The problem is, while some of the songs are absolutely wonderful, there are a few tracks that could be considered throw-aways, or blend in with the other songs. And another thing, it appears that since the songs were all recorded during a time period of a year, to a few years, it seems like at times his voice is different, like his voice used to be higher, which can kind of break the flow of things a little bit, but let's face it, with an artist of one genre releasing a free mixtape of 60 songs, who could really blame him for accidentally making a song sound similar to another, or who could even complain? It's free.
This guy is going places, and will bring OFWGKTA to a whole new audience.
7/10
Recommended Track(s): One Look, Old Terror
