S. Samuel
Odd Future affiliate Frank Ocean delves into his rise in the music game and what it means to have co-signs courtesy of hip-hop icons like Diddy and Jay-Z in an upcoming RESPECT magazine feature excerpt exclusively given to SOHH.
Speaking to renowned journalist Elliott Wilson and photographed by Nabil Elderkin, Ocean reflects on his elevated status in the music biz.
“That meant a lot to me. For someone like Jay-Z to say, “Oh, I really like your sh*t.” Beyoncé or Puff or Lil Wayne, who is one of my favorite MCs, these are people who I really respect. It’s not about the money I’ll make this year. It’s not about as soon as I got offers for five, ten, fifteen thousand to go do shows. It’s about getting a show ready and really doin’ a show right, and doin’ your best to just give your best. I’m not about to go and do every feature that comes forward. I think people in the urban music scene place too much of a premium on collaborations to begin with. That’s the first thing. And second, I think that people shouldn’t be on magazines that they wouldn’t read and shouldn’t really feature on songs that they wouldn’t listen to if they weren’t on it.” (RESPECT)
Recently, Mobb Deep’s Prodigy called Ocean one of his favorite musicians.
“I wanna give a shout to Frank Ocean too,” Prodigy told Sway Calloway during Wednesday’s (July 11) “RapFix Live.” “He’s one of my favorite artists. He’s dope.” The Mobb Deep lyricist focuses more on Ocean’s music than his personal relationships, so for him, Frank’s sexuality is a non-factor. “To tell you the truth, I didn’t really think too much of it, because I don’t care what he does behind the doors in his personal life,” P said. “I like his lyrics, the production he uses and all of that. I’m a fan of him.” (MTV)
Last year, rap veteran Nas gave props to Ocean bringing new life to the entertainment business.
“Frank Ocean is just a new gust of wind to move things out the way and give us something new,” the “Nasty” MC previously told Billboard of the Odd Future crooner, who’s worked with Jay-Z, Kanye West, and Beyoncé. During a recent interview with Toronto’s Flow 93.5, he elaborated on who he was referring to, saying, “Just the garbage, the garbage pail kids out there that’s everywhere.” The discerning Nas bestowed praise on the “Novacane” singer. “Everybody just don’t have it, so somebody that comes out like Frank Ocean and does it his way and sings his way, it’s fresh, it’s good for the game,” he explained. (Rap-Up)
The singer recently talked about his music bringing out emotion from Beyonce Knowles-Carter.
Soon Mr. Ocean was wanted on his own terms. He contributed two hooks to “Watch the Throne”(Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam/Roc Nation), last year’s collaborative album by Jay-Z and Kanye West, and was invited to work with Beyoncé in the studio for a week, resulting in “I Miss You,” which appeared on her latest album, “4” (Columbia). “She came in and heard the song, and she shed a tear and recorded it,” he recalled, “and I wanted to shed a tear.” (New York Times)
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Check out a recent Frank Ocean interview below:
