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" Some people had already been anticipating Frank Ocean&amp;#039;s debut album, Channel Orange (released this week ahead of schedule, and which you can stream here), for several years now. But a certain recent announcement has given it a whole lot more attention. The record represents a startlingly complex, dark, and emotional journey that could easily fit into any number of &amp;quot;Best of&amp;quot; lists, even in July. It&amp;#039;s also likely to please fans of Ocean&amp;#039;s mixtape, Nostalgia, Ultra, while appealing more broadly to hip-hop, R&amp;amp;amp;B, and pop audiences. And since you&amp;#039;re probably going to be hearing more about it, anyway, Rap Genius, the Internet&amp;#039;s most intelligent repository of hip-hop lyrical analysis, has provided us with some track-by-track liner notes on the meanings contained therein. \u2014The Editors &amp;quot;Start&amp;quot; The tuning of the titular &amp;quot;channel,&amp;quot; with sounds of the city, a television, and a video game framing what&amp;#039;s to come. Ocean&amp;#039;s life is a lot like a video game: He tries to steer the outcome, but he&amp;#039;s limited to a certain set of controls. &amp;quot;Thinkin &amp;#039;Bout You&amp;quot;* A classic R&amp;amp;amp;B love song and direct descendent of Nostalgia, Ultra. He leaves a girl, then hopes she&amp;#039;s thinking of him. It was originally a reference song for Bridget Kelly, but Ocean&amp;#039;s version proves more than good enough for its own mastering. &amp;quot;Fertilizer&amp;quot; A short interlude that opens up the darker themes on the album. Over what sounds like a 1950s radio program and matching static, Ocean begs his love not to treat him like the titular bullshit. But the sorrow in his voice and the painful laugh track tell us he&amp;#039;s not having much luck. &amp;quot;Sierra Leone&amp;quot; Ocean finds a woman and compares their relationship to the beauty and pain of Sierra Leone, home to diamonds and a civil war. He looks forward to a &amp;quot;new day that will bring about the dawn.&amp;quot; Not unlike on Kanye West&amp;#039;s own Sierra Leon track, personal relationships prove more important than wealth. &amp;quot;Sweet Life&amp;quot; A Marvin Gaye-inspired story about a privileged uptown girl. In a play on his own name, Ocean asks why she needs the world when she already &amp;quot;has the beach.&amp;quot; Though he lives the &amp;quot;sweet life,&amp;quot; Ocean&amp;#039;s money can&amp;#039;t replace the happiness of being close to someone. &amp;quot;Not Just Money&amp;quot; Another interlude, this one about Ocean&amp;#039;s feeling toward his newfound green: More than a ticket to a luxurious lifestyle, it&amp;#039;s a comfort from the hassle of living paycheck-to-paycheck. Ocean knows his good fortune but not exactly how to spend it \u2014 a perfect transition to &amp;quot;Super Rich Kids.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Super Rich Kids&amp;quot; (Featuring Earl Sweatshirt)* Another juxtaposition of luxury and love. Ocean fights the urge to enjoy the life of a rich kid in order to get outside his comfort zone, &amp;quot;searching for a real love.&amp;quot; He wants to leap off a roof, into something new. Earl Sweatshirt, the prodigal son of the Odd Future hip-hop group, adds a lazy verse that links wealth to boredom and dreams. &amp;quot;Pilot Jones&amp;quot; Ms. Jones is Ocean&amp;#039;s addiction: a woman constantly in need of his attention but viciously so, like a drug. This &amp;quot;grown woman&amp;quot; comes into his home every night, dragging him back into the throes of their panicked, passionate relationship. &amp;quot;Crack Rock&amp;quot; This is Ocean&amp;#039;s PSA against crack cocaine. He relates a clearly personal story about the drug&amp;#039;s effect on a friend, warning against &amp;quot;hitting stones in glass homes.&amp;quot; And, once again, love reduces everyone to a junkie. &amp;quot;Pyramids&amp;quot; A genre-bending, ten-minute narration about a modern-day &amp;quot;Cleopatra,&amp;quot; who finds herself trapped in the roles of stripper, worker, and slave. Ocean calls for the release of this representative of the &amp;quot;black ideal.&amp;quot; Thought he may often find himself on the side of the pimp, especially in his work with Odd Future, here he&amp;#039;s all about women&amp;#039;s inner strength. &amp;quot;Lost&amp;quot;* One of the more obvious radio singles, about a girl&amp;#039;s worldwide travels alongside Ocean. Rather the &amp;quot;family of four&amp;quot; promised to her, Ocean can only provide small moments of stability and comfort before setting off again. She&amp;#039;s left wishing for more but too attached to leave him. &amp;quot;White&amp;quot; (Featuring John Mayer) John Mayer&amp;#039;s guitar work here is fleeting but undeniably soulful. Though Ocean is absent, Mayer&amp;#039;s riffs complement the album&amp;#039;s whole. &amp;quot;Monks&amp;quot; In a dream during a show, Ocean wanders off to a place with monks, the Dalai Lama, and hippies. He prays for a chance at enlightenment and steals a girl away from her father. The spiritual imagery makes for a fitting transition to &amp;quot;Bad Religion.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Bad Religion&amp;quot; Ocean is taking a cab and not feeling so good. He&amp;#039;s searching for a safe thought, but instead he spends a lot of time thinking about unrequited love. He seeks salvation but knows he&amp;#039;s too alone to find it. &amp;quot;Pink Matter&amp;quot; (Featuring Andre 3000)* Ocean dips into some heady consciousness stuff here. His fantasy desires clash with 3 Stacks&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;gray matter&amp;quot; verse. Also look for Andre 3000 to clearly assert his talent with some reverb-washed Southern rap. Outkast fans will not be disappointed. &amp;quot;Forrest Gump&amp;quot; With the recent revelation about his relationship with a man, many people expected Ocean to share more personal details about his life on his new album. Here&amp;#039;s a little of that: Ocean puts himself in the role of Jenny in Forrest Gump, looking on at a lover&amp;#039;s accomplishments. Though not directed at anyone in particular, the track seems to confirm Ocean&amp;#039;s own statements about how love has resonated with him. &amp;quot;End&amp;quot; Sampling his own previous track &amp;quot;Voodoo,&amp;quot; Ocean puts some distance between reality and his own dreams of love and sex. Finally, he turns off his car and walks off into silence. It&amp;#039;s a fitting close for an album that&amp;#039;s full and passionate but leaves you drained. *Denotes a Rap Genius-recommended track. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/music/a14816/frank-ocean-channel-orange-10520455/>