Happy birthday to Frank Ocean, who turned 37 on Oct. 28. We first heard about Ocean as part of Tyler, The Creator’s collective, Odd Future. It is now safe to say Ocean is easily the biggest alum from OF — and depending on who’s talking to — that includes Tyler. In celebration of Ocean’s 37th, we will countdown his top five songs.
5. “Super Rich Kids” ft. Earl Sweatshirt
“Super Rich Kids” is one of the standout tracks from Ocean’s debut album Channel ORANGE. The song is about Ocean’s day, which he starts on the roof, but something about him seems off. He has everything he could want: money, women, drugs, yet he is still sad. That’s probably because everything and everyone around him isn’t real. They are there because of his wealth, and deep down it kills him that he might never know who is real anymore because of his fame.
Top lyric: “Too many white lies and white lines / Super rich kids with nothing but loose ends / Super rich kids with nothing but fake friends … “
4. “We All Try”
“We All Try” is probably one of the first two songs you heard by Ocean. It was one of the lead singles from his debut mixtape, nostalgia/ultra, and this track shows his smooth vocal range. In the song, he sings about his beliefs: what he believes in the first verse and what he doesn’t believe in in the second verse.
Top lyric: “I don’t believe our nation’s flag is on the moon / I don’t believe our lives are simple / And I don’t believe they’re short, this is interlude …”
3. “Novacane”
“Novacane” is Ocean’s biggest song — and the song that made everyone a fan. “Novacane” is about sex on drugs, and the impending crash from it. Ironically, the girl he’s talking about is in school for dentistry, and the song title is a play on the numbing drug novocain.
Top lyric: “She handed me a ice-blue bong, whatever / She said she wanna be a dentist really badly / She’s in school paying / For tuition, doing porn in the Valley …”
2. “White”
One of the greatest Frank Ocean songs ever is hidden on an Odd Future album. In 2012, Odd Future released The OF Tape, Vol. 2, which featured members of the collective all over it. The best song on the entire album is “White” where Ocean sings over some guitar chords; the song feels and sounds like an interlude. Even though it is as short as one, two minutes was really all that Ocean needed to flex his chops here.
Top lyric: “I woke, you were there, tracing planets on my forehead / But I’ll forget 23 like I forget 17 / And I forget my first love like you forget a daydream …”
1.”Slide” ft. Quavo and Offset
The greatest song Ocean has made isn’t even on one of his albums. “Slide” is on Calvin Harris’ Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1, but this is without a doubt an Ocean song. Harris produced the beat, and Ocean floated all over it perfectly with his monotone voice. The song features two fire verses from Migos’ members Quavo and Offset. A must-listen if you’ve never heard.
Top lyric: “Do you slide on all your nights like this? / Do you try on all your nights like this? (I might) / Put some spotlight on the slide …”
