Frank Ocean first revealed himself as a generational songwriting talent on his 2011 debut nostalgia, ULTRA, then emerged as a full-blown star on the strength of the 2012's Channel Orange, which amounted to a series of vignettes about wealth, drugs, friendship, and love.
On his new album Blonde, Ocean revisits his formative years and explores many of these same themes. The album is filled with exquisite turns of phrase overlaid atop sublime melodies. It is both dense and lucid, perhaps a reflection of Ocean's synesthesia.
In any case, Blonde has the feeling of another classic. Click through the gallery to explore a few of its finest lyrical moments.
"Nikes"
“Said she needs a ring like Carmelo / Must be on that white like Othello”
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“Pour up for A$AP
RIP Pimp C
RIP Trayvon
That nigga looked just like me”
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“We'll let you guys prophesy / We gon' see the future first
Living so the last night, feels like a past life”
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“You got a roommate, he’ll hear what we do / It’s only awkward if you’re fucking him too”
"Ivy"
"I thought that I was dreaming when you said you loved me"
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If I could see through walls, I could see you're faking
If you could see my thoughts you would see our faces"
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"We'll never be those kids again"
"Pink + White"
"In the wake of a hurricane / dark skin of a summer shade
Nose dive in the flood lines / tall tower, milk crate"
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"You kneel down to the dry land / kiss the Earth that birthed you
Gave you tools just to stay alive / and make it up when the sun is ruined"
"Solo"
"Hand me a towel, I’m dirty dancing by myself / Gone off tabs, off that acid"
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"I got that act right in the Windy city that night
No trees to blow through
But blow me and I owe you
Two grams when the sun rise"
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It's hell on Earth and the city's on fire
Inhale, in hell there's heaven
There's a bull and a matador dueling in the sky
Inhale, in hell there's heaven
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I wanted that act right in Colorado that night
I brought trees to blow through, but it's just me and no you
Stayed up 'til my phone died, smoking big, rolling solo
"Skyline To"
"That's a pretty fucking fast year flew by
That's a pretty long third gear in this car
Glidin' on the five
The deer run across, kill the headlights"
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"It begins to blur, we get older
Summer's not as long as it used to be
Everyday counts like crazy"
"Self Control"
"I'll be the boyfriend in your wet dreams tonight
Noses on a rare, little virgin wears the white"
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"Keep a place for me, for me / I’ll sleep between you, it’s nothing”
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"Now and then you miss it, sounds make you cry
Some nights you dance with tears in your eyes"
"Good Guy"
"Here's to our good guy, he hooked it up
Said if I was in NY I should look you up
First time I done saw you
You text nothing like you look"
"Nights"
"Why your eyes well up
Did you call me from a seance
You are from a past life
Hope you're doing well, bruh"
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"I been out here head-first, always like the head first"
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"This feel like a quaalude"
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"Want to see nirvana, don't want to die yeah
Wanna feel that nah nah though"
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"Shut the fuck up, I don’t want your conversation
Rolling marijuana, that's a cheap vacation"
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"Your apartment out in Houston's where I waited
Staying with you when I didn't have a address
Fuckin on you when I didn't own a mattress
Working on a way to make it out of Texas"
"Solo (Reprise)" [Andre 3000]
"So-lo that I can see under the skirt of an ant
So-lo that I don't get high no more when I "Geronimo!" I just go hit
So-lo my cup is a rojo, my cholo, my friend
So-lo that I can admit
When I hear that another kid is shot by the po-po it ain't an event
No more"
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"How fitting
So-lo that I can give a fuck about what is trending
Tryna cut down on my spending
Regardless of winning, instead of pretending"
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"So-lo my halo, stay way low, it feels like it's bent
So-lo that when they throw pussy on pesos I pay no attention to it
So-lo that I am no rookie but feel like a kid
Lookin' at the other kids
With astonishment while I'm on punishment, watching the summer come close to an end"
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"After 20 years in,
I'm so naive I was under the im/pression that everyone wrote they own verses
It's comin' back different and yea that shit hurts me
I'm humming and whistling to those not deserving
I've stumbled and lived every word, was I working just way too hard?"
"Pretty Sweet"
"To the edge I'll race you
To the end I'll make it
All the risk, I'll take it"
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"This is the blood, the body, the life right now
The hype right now
Might be what I need"
"Close To You"
"I run my hands through what's left
But we're getting older, baby"
"White Ferrari"
"Bad luck to talk on these rides
Mind on the road
Your dilated eyes watch the clouds float
White Ferrari"
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"I'm sure we're taller in another dimension
You say we're smaller and not worth the mention
You’re tired of moving, your body’s aching"
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"I'm up and naked
You dream of walls that hold us in prison
It's just a scar, at least that's what they call it
And we're free to fall"
"Seigfried"
"I couldn't gauge your fears
I can't relate to my peers"
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"Maybe I'm a fool
Maybe I should move
And settle, two kids and a swimming pool"
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"Dreaming a thought that could dream about a thought
That could think of the dreamer that thought
That could think of dreaming and getting a glimmer of God
I be dreaming a dream in a thought
That could dream about a thought
That could think about dreaming a dream where I can not, where I can not"
"Godspeed"
"This love will keep people blinded of the eyes
Silence in the ears, darkness of the mind"
"Futura Free"
"Now I'm making 400, 600, 800k momma
To stand on my feet momma
Play these songs, it's therapy momma
They paying me momma"
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"Poonani fade the stress / Bugatti left some stretch marks on that freeway"
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"Tyler slept on my sofa yeah / Niggas go back that far"