TL;DR
Dude got paid, got out of his contract with a bullshyt album, got control of all of his music, streaming deal and all on an indie lable that he owns
The story began with a cryptic post on his Tumblr page in April 2015: “I got two versions. I got twooo versions.” Fresh off a successful rollout with his first studio album channel.ORANGE and a Grammy win, he vanished from the spotlight. Another concrete update wouldn’t emerge until over a year later until the “White Ferrari” singer posted a mysterious live stream.
Unexpectedly, the livestream would begin to play snippets of new music and led to the release of his Endless visual album on August 19th. The visuals depicted Frank building and walking up a staircase into apparent nothingness. What listeners didn’t realize was that the staircase would hold more symbolic meaning than they perceived. The details that make up the rest of this story would later become the stuff of legend.
The Big Payback.
Before fans could get a chance to digest the project, Frank dropped a brand new album. On August 20th, his last masterpiece Blonde was released as a streaming exclusive under not Def Jam, but his own independent label Blonded. That was because it was another album that the label had no idea about until its release.
Following his debut album, Def Jam gave Ocean a $2 Million advance to record the third and final project of his contract. He paid back his advance prior to releasing any more music in order to maintain control of additional recordings. Once Def Jam released Endless, Frank Ocean was completely free from the legal obligations of his contract. With Blonde, Frank Ocean brought home one of the biggest upfront payouts for an indie album that we’ve ever seen. It’s rumored that music powerhouse UMG paid Frank Ocean over 8 figures before leaving the roster. Additionally, the singer received a reported $20 Million payout for Apple to exclusively stream his album. Forbes also reported that Ocean made $1 Million in the first-week release alone.
The visual album’s pointless staircase turned out to be smoke and mirrors deterring attention for as long as needed.
A tale of two versions: The elaborate heist inspired by Frank Ocean's moniker | KAZI. MAGAZINE
