As Frank Ocean continues to rack up one stamp-of-approval after another, he can now add Jermaine Dupri to his list of fans. The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind for the New Orleans singer who came out of the closet in a letter posted to his Tumblr page, then released his Channel Orange album to iTunes ahead of schedule. As it stands, the move paid off because Ocean is set to debut atop the charts and is projected to sell upwards of 100,000 copies of the release in its first week.
Perhaps it was Ocean’s courageous admission, or his phenomenal music, but either way, Dupri stands behind him, and hopes that the singer’s success will save R&B music. In in a statement posted on his website Friday (July 13), Dupri couldn’t contain his excitement for all things Frank Ocean:
“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 listen to this album,by the time I got to ‘Sweet Life’ I was even more happy,finally!! a RnB album that’s hip, without 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 are labeled 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 f-ck 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 muf-cka.”
While it remains to be seen whether or not he will (or should have to) save R&B music, one thing he will be doing is touring. Ocean just kicked off his Channel Orange trek in Seattle, and is set to hit stages across the country through August.
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Photo: The Line of Best Fit/Great Finds
