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Ah, Timmy. How we’ve missed you and your glorious red carpet outfits… may the world know peace.

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Frank Ocean

The final line of Frank Ocean's Blonde asks, "How far is a light year?"

It's the closing line of "Futura Free," the song's slow-burning final track, which is ostensibly an ode to Ocean's own growth as an artist. But as with all things on Blonde, the line grows more complex the closer you listen.

How far is a light year? Light travels a distance of around 9.4×1012 km in a year. "Futura Free" is 9.4 minutes long. That fact is a tribute to Ocean's exacting preciseness, to the mathematical perfection that underlies the artistic triumph that is Blonde.

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​How Frank Ocean’s "Nostalgia, Ultra" Changed Music

In creating Nostalgia, Ultra, songwriter and producer Christopher Breaux became Frank Ocean and started on the path to icon status

Nostalgia, Ultra Cover

Don't play "Hotel California" by the Eagles around me unless you want to hear Frank Ocean's "American Wedding" sung over the original lyrics.

On his 2011 mixtape, nostalgia,ULTRA, Frank Ocean famously sampled, covered, and remade everything from video game clips (notably from Street Fighter, which is referenced ubiquitously in his work) to films, to songs by Coldplay, MGMT, and, yes, the Eagles.

The rock band was not too happy about the uncredited, unapproved sample, but there was nothing they could do. Despite the fame and success of the mixtape, it was released for free, outside of any label affiliations, and Frank Ocean wasn't making money from it.

"Why sue the new guy? I didn't make a dime off that song. I released it for free. If anything I'm paying homage," Frank Ocean said on his Tumblr page in response.

The short-lived controversy is barely a footnote in the album's legacy, though the idea of Don Henley referring to Frank Ocean as "talentless" is laughable now. Today, the drama is mostly forgotten, while the album was an instrumental factor in launching Frank Ocean from unknown producer/songwriter to the icon who has changed the sound of music that he is today.

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