Without a doubt, Frank Ocean‘s ‘Channel Orange’ is set to be one of 2012’s highest selling LPs.
Already selling over 100,000 units via digital outlets, the LP is on course to dominate the Billboard Hot 100 for two consecutive weeks- following the release of its physical copies this coming week
Now world renown producer Jermaine Dupri has lent his support to the ‘Novacane‘ singer.
His interesting take on the situation below…
By way of an open letter, Dupri declared:
When I saw the # that Frank Ocean is suppose to hit next week, I got extremely Happy,I said I need to get in my car and and listen to this album,by the time I got to “Sweet Life” I was even more happy,finally!! a RnB album that’s hip,with out having the same 5 rappers on every song,I actually hope he hits 200k,for the sake of RnB,it’s in the worst position it’s ever been since I started making music,The Record company’s don’t believe in it,Radio won’t play it if it don’t have a rapper,and a majority of the artist that arelabeled RnB,are confused and lost,so I repeat,I hope Ocean sells more than the 125k that he’s on pace for,maybe these executives u’llwake the fuck up,or at least try to copy what he’s doing,like they always do, by the way,the end of “Pyramids” jammin like a mufucka.
Though the Trey Songz and Lloyd’s of the world may take this as a slight to their cause, Dupri makes a valid point- R&B is in trouble.
Perhaps down to the vacant message behind its sound ( “we in the club/tippin’ strippers/watchin’ that a** bounce’), casual audiences have become all the way turned off with the genre- opting for music which is just as generic but far more progressive in its approach.
For, while we’re not saying ‘Channel Orange‘ is anybody’s ‘Thriller’, it is groundbreaking in what it represents- a classic sound forward thinking enough to woo contemporary audiences, without ever sounding dated or desperate to fit the mold.
Here’s hoping the success of Kelly Rowland‘s ‘Motivation’, Usher‘s ‘Climax‘ and Ocean‘s ‘Sweet Life‘ will encourage more R&B acts to broaden their creative horizons.
Because at it stands, while the genre may be shown love in the club, the number of R&B performers picking up Grammys, VMAs and the like is all too indicative of its dire situation.