Tbh probably no

Maybe 10 or 20 year anniversary

I think you just underestimate how stupid Rocky actually is, including with his words

He likely meant it in a business sense.

Seigfried

I would still like to know how Frank managed to have this one fulfill his Def Jam obligations and keep Blonde to himself. I am assuming Blonde was made in studio sessions that DJ paid for so I can’t imagine them taking that sitting down.

Furthermore, how did this get a vinyl pressing but not channel ORANGE if it belongs to Def Jam?

Blonde re issue vinyl likely out of pocket/ out of his distribution deal

And frank just finessed the contract because Apple Music exclusives were so new. He took advantage of the grey area of what can be exclusive by planning ahead of everyone. He must’ve had someone he knew at Apple that told him about the streaming service and the exclusives b4 launch. Just guessing tho so idk

My question is how he convinced Def Jam to roll with that whole thing. They had to have known that that would not be the “marquee” Frank Ocean album and that Endless was nowhere near as profitable as the other stuff he was fixing to put out

Record label contracts obviously very pro-label so for Frank to wiggle out of that with ownership of Blonde is still insane to think about. Even if he paid for all of Blonde himself (very unlikely) there’s so much ambiguous wording in those contracts that could’ve given Def Jam a case for ownership of that if they wanted.

My guess is that he did some amoral s*** like just flat out lie. As asap Rocky Said in that interview, people got fired and/or reprimanded because of it and it made the whole industry re look at the contracts to make sure that s*** doesn't happen again.

So they prob thought the deal wasn't what it really was. We have to remember that blonde was hidden even from the people who were making it, solely for that reason. Not just so it won't leak to fans.

Les we forget as well his shady release of nostalgia ultra. Was supposed to be an album but def jam shelved it. Frank finessed and released it as a mixtape. The only reason why he didn't get dropped was because he was wildly successful and it would've been stupid to drop him at that point. The strained relationship with def jam started when he wanted to be a solo artist, so I'm sure he had no qualms playing them

And yeah he essentially stole money from def jam to make blonde quasi-independently. Thus taking all the profit for himself. I bet the label didn't even know about his blonded llc or thought it was for merch. Idk but the only thing I know for sure was that it wasn't a cut and dry deal. Frank most def did some shady s*** in order to pull that off

Les we forget as well his shady release of nostalgia ultra. Was supposed to be an album but def jam shelved it. Frank finessed and released it as a mixtape.

I thought you of all people would know the story of NU. It was never an album, Frank was practically ghosted by the label and thus released it himself because he was tired of waiting. It was then thought to be re-released as an album (Nostalgia, Lite) but he didn’t think there was much artistic integrity to release a body of work a year later with half the songs missing (due to the heavy samples).

U are correct in the terminology for sure. But the affect still stands

Def jam still shelved/ didnt release the project and frank still had to release it himself. Thus straining the relationship between them

Def Jam didn’t even know he was on the roster. They saw the response to NU, went to sign him and were told he’s already on the roster. They were never on normal terms it seems.

See now, that is a detail that I forgot.

I'd be even more pissed if they ghosted me, seen the success of my work, then tried to sign me not knowing that I'm already signed to them that's a slight of the highest order

ESSAYS itt

This will never get old. I can never just listen to one song. it's gotta be the whole thing

sike UNITY is the whip song

What if we decide, to live by choice

wonder what will make the coachella setlist

Amazing 12/10 perfect album classic

ty

nvm this is gonna break me down

Prolly Higgs

Slide on me remains a chune of the life

Masterpiece

Wither