Frank Ocean Page 4

Solange Knowles is set to perform at this year's Lovebox festival.

The 30-year-old musician has been confirmed as one of the artists who will take to the stage at the music extravaganza, which will take place at London's Victoria Park, on July 14 and 15.

And the brunette beauty - who is the sister of Beyoncé Knowles - will be joined by Jamie xx, Chase and Status, Jess Glynne and Rag n Bone Man at the hotly anticipated event this summer.

Continue reading: Solange Knowles Will Perform At This Year's Lovebox Festival

Frank Ocean has responded to the Grammy Awards telecast producers who had criticised him for his performance four years ago, calling them “old” and responsible for “faulty TV” in a new Tumblr post.

Writing on Sunday (February 12th), the 29 year old singer went in with both feet on Grammy producer Ken Ehrlich and writer David Wild, saying “We all die one day and you're old so f*** it,” and citing the moment Taylor Swift won the 2016 Grammy for Album of the Year as an example of how The Recording Academy was behind the times.

Frank Ocean hit back at Grammy producers Ken Ehrlich and David Wild

Continue reading: Frank Ocean Hits Back At Grammy Producers In Tumblr Post

Frank Ocean is being sued by his father, Calvin Cooksey, for defamation over a comment the R&B superstar made about him on Tumblr.

Cooksey, who has been estranged from his son for several decades, is reported to be seeking $14.5 million in damages, claiming Ocean falsely accused him in a blog post of having used the word “faggot” in front of him as a young child, according to TMZ.

Frank Ocean said in a Tumblr post that his father had used a homophobic slur in front of him as a child

Continue reading: Frank Ocean Being Sued For $14.5 Million By His Father For Defamation

Following the huge success of his long-awaited new album Blonde earlier in 2016, the enigmatic star Frank Ocean has announced his first live dates in more than three years next summer, including a show at British festival Lovebox.

In what has been described as a “London exclusive” by Lovebox’s organisers, the 29 year old singer will perform his first British gig since 2013 on July 14th in the capital’s Victoria Park, in what will also be Ocean’s first ever British festival appearance.

Furthermore, Lovebox describes the performance as “one of his only two UK festivals this year” – hinting at an appearance elsewhere in the summer.

Continue reading: Frank Ocean Announces First Live Dates In Support Of 'Blonde'

Frank Ocean has explained why he did not submit his latest album Blonde for consideration at the 2017 Grammy Awards.

In a interview with the New York Times, Ocean said he felt the Grammys were not doing a good job at representing black artists, and decided to have his ‘Colin Kaepernick moment’ and not submit the album.

Frank Ocean's Blonde will not win any Grammys next year

Continue reading: Frank Ocean Not Submitting 'Blonde' For Grammys Consideration Is His "Colin Kaepernick" Moment

Kanye West has threatened to boycott the 2017 Grammys if Frank Ocean doesn't receive any nominations.

Ocean’s recent albums Blonde and Endless have both been deemed ineligible to be nominated at the awards, because they weren't submitted in time for the September 30 deadline.

But West says the Grammys need to bend the rules for Ocean, like they once did for Lady GaGa in the past.

Continue reading: Kanye West Threatens To Boycott Grammys Over Frank Ocean's Eligibility

Frank Ocean won't win a Grammy in February.

The 28-year-old singer released two records visual album 'Endless' and his second studio LP 'Blonde' in August but he will not be named among the nominees for the prestigious ceremony, which are announced on December 8, 2016, because he didn't submit the paperwork before the cut off-point of September 30, 2016.

A source confirmed to Billboard that neither of his records were submitted for consideration by his management, record labels or other representations.

Continue reading: Frank Ocean Won't Win Grammy

Frank Ocean fans could have even more music coming their way, as the R&B star reportedly has hours of unreleased music left over from his Endless and Blonde recording sessions. Speaking to Pitchfork, guitarist Billy "Spaceman" Patterson says was in the studio with Ocean for up to 16 hours at a time during the recording of the albums, and there’s many finished tracks he hasn't heard yet.

Could Frank Ocean soon drop some more new music?

“There’s a lot of stuff that we recorded that I still haven’t heard yet,” he said. “So the whole thing was, ‘What’s going to show up on the record?’ I was talking to Om’Mas and I was saying, ‘Do we know?’ And he said, ‘We’ll know when it comes out.’”

Continue reading: Frank Ocean Has "Hours Of Unreleased Material" According To Guitarist

Frank Ocean’s long-awaited second album Blonde has debuted at the top of the Billboard charts, selling over a quarter of a million copies in its first week.

One of two albums that Ocean dropped last weekend, Blonde is the eventual follow-up to 2012’s Channel Orange and has earned its creator his first chart-topping record. Shifting 276,000 equivalent album units in the week ending August 25th), it represents the third-highest debut week sales figures in 2016, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Only Drake’s fifth album Views (1.04 million) and Beyonce’s Lemonade (653,000) registered higher sales totals in their first weeks this year.

Continue reading: Frank Ocean's 'Blonde' Debuts At Number 1 In US Albums Chart

Following the release of two albums in the space of a few days, Frank Ocean has reportedly left himself open to the possibility of getting sued by his former record label Universal.

Immediately before he dropped his well-received second LP Blonde – his first in four years after 2012’s Channel Orange – the singer released a visual album entitled Endless. While both were made exclusively available by Apple Music, the first was released in conjunction with Def Jam, part of the Universal Music Group (UMG).

Frank Ocean's 'Blonde' was released just days after visual album 'Endless'

Continue reading: Is Universal Considering Suing Frank Ocean Over 'Blonde' Release?

Kanye West has taken to Twitter to plead with radio stations to play tracks from Frank Ocean’s long-awaited second album Blonde. Ocean released Blonde without warning last Saturday and the album has received praise from fans and critics for its complexities and innovative songwriting.

Kanye West wants to hear more Frank Ocean on radio stations' playlists

“If anyone at radio really loves music ... Come together and pick your favorite Frank Ocean song and play it at least 10 times a day,” West tweeted. “Every station across the globe. I Heart. Clear Channel local stations. Satellite. Every station.”

Continue reading: Kanye West Tweets Plea To Radio Stations To Play Frank Ocean's 'Blonde'

The wait is finally over for Frank Ocean fans as he’s just dropped his second album Blonde. The album was initially thought to be called ‘Boys Don’t Cry’, but that turned out to be the name of an oversized, glossy magazine, released to accompany the album.

Frank Ocean’s second album is finally here

On Thursday Ocean had released visual album Endless exclusively on Apple Music. He followed up the release of Endless on Saturday afternoon by dropping the promo for ‘Nikes’, his first music video in three years.

Continue reading: Frank Ocean Finally Releases Second Album 'Blonde'

Frank Ocean fans have been eagerly awaiting his new album Boys Don’t Cry for what feels like a lifetime now and earlier this month a false alarm left them wondering if the record would ever drop. But one fan has found a way to help fans who are sick of refreshing their social media feeds to find out if the album is finally here.

A Frank Ocean fan has created an app to let you know when Boys Don’t Cry is released

Fan Shahzeb Khan has created a special app that will text users as soon as Boys Don’t Cry arrives. The 20 year-old computer science and engineering junior at UC Davis says his (650)82OCEAN, Web-based app "automatically looks at Spotify, iTunes, and Twitter for the latest in Frank Ocean news.”

Continue reading: There's An App That Will Tell You When Frank Ocean's New Album Drops

Yesterday Frank Ocean fans thought they were finally going to get to hear his long awaited second album Boys Don’t Cry, but August 5th came and went and there’s still no new release from the rapper. Now some are thinking that we may be waiting until November before Ocean finally decides to drop the record.

Yes, Boys Don’t Cry still isn't here

Earlier this week The New York Times reported that the album would be released on Friday through an exclusive deal with Apple Music, according to a person with knowledge of the release plans.

Continue reading: Frank Ocean Still Hasn't Dropped 'Boys Don't Cry' And Fans Aren't Happy

Frank Ocean’s much-anticipated second album Boys Don’t Cry could finally be released on Friday. The follow-up to 2012’s Channel Orange has been teased for months, but reports now suggest that the wait could finally be over.

Frank Ocean is reportedly set to release Boys Don’t Cry on Friday.

The New York Times reports that the album will drop on Friday through an exclusive deal with Apple Music, according to a person with knowledge of the release plans. The release is also expected to include a major video and a printed publication, also called Boys Don’t Cry, that will be for sale at Apple stores.

Continue reading: Is Frank Ocean Finally Releasing 'Boys Don't Cry' This Friday?

The very long-awaited return of Frank Ocean has taken another tantalising and frustrating turn, with the singer hosting a mysterious live stream on the day after he missed his self-imposed July deadline for the release of his new album Boys Don’t Cry.

Hosted on a specially designed site boysdontcry.co that only seems to work on Safari browsers or on mobiles, a stream appeared at about 8:30am (GMT) on Monday (August 1st) showing an empty warehouse in black and white with desks and equipment lined up against the back wall.

Frank Ocean's 'Boys Don't Cry' album might finally be imminent

Continue reading: Mysterious Stream Suggests Frank Ocean's New Album 'Boys Don't Cry' Might Finally Be Here

The rumour mill has been put into steady motion by talk of an impending new album from New Orleans rapper Frank Ocean, as reports reveal that he held a very exclusive listening party in New York over the weekend (February 28th 2016). Videos were put online, but officials have been very quick to remove all traces of the leak.

Is Frank Ocean hiding some new music from us?

Reports have come in claiming that Ocean debuted some new music at a secret location, with short snippets of two apparently new songs being shared online. There's no evidence that they are from Ocean, but they allegedly sound very much like him singing. If circumstances surrounding this VIP gathering are true, we could be expecting the long overdue follow-up to his critically acclaimed 2012 album 'Channel Orange' very soon.

Continue reading: Did Frank Ocean Just Hold A Secret Album Party?

Rihanna

RiRi’s been holding back her eighth album Anti, despite revealing the high concept artwork with a full-on unveiling ceremony at a small gallery in Los Angeles a few months back and having already released a host of hit singles from it. Possibly waiting for the tremors from Adele’s 25 to wear off before dropping it, the Barbadian singer’s new effort has no official release date as yet but will definitely be arriving in 2016.

Rihanna's 'Anti' is certain to drop in 2016

Continue reading: Kanye West, Rihanna, And 4 Other Albums We're Looking Forward To Hearing In 2016

Frank Ocean’s career has certainly been on the rise in the past few years since releasing his debut album ‘Channel Orange’ in 2012, to much critical acclaim and recognition. Since then he’s been attempting to break down barriers of homophobia in hip hop as well as having spats with Chris Brown and more recently Chipotle. So what have the past few years been like for the rising hip hop star?

Grammy award winner, Frank Ocean

Frank Ocean was born Christopher Breaux and grew up in New Orleans Louisiana, he started his recording career early before being derailed in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina hit the city and destroyed his studio. In order to continue with his musical ambitions, Frank moved to Los Angeles and began to forge a career in the hip hop scene. Originally he was signed as a songwriter, working with artists such as Beyonce and Justin Bieber. Then in 2009 he joined Tyler the Creator’s hip hop collective Odd Future and was eventually signed as a solo artist to Def Jam recordings.

Continue reading: Chris Brown, Sexuality And Chipotle: The Rise Of Frank Ocean

It’s difficult not to like Frank Ocean. He tells big corporations to “f*ck off” when giving back huge advance cheques; he makes good music and he’s helping to break down the barriers of homophobia in R&B and Rap in his songs by addressing the issue.

Look how much Frank Ocean cares. Look at him.

Let’s start from the beginning. Chipotle – the fast food Mexican chain - wanted Ocean to sing a remake of the Willy Wonka song, Pure Imagination. All was well; the advert would promote responsible framing (as it sort of still does, as you can see below) and Ocean would lend his mellifluous tones to it.

Continue reading: Frank Ocean Gives Profane Cheque To Chipotle. What Did He Expect Though?

Pharrell Williams has appeared on two of the biggest hits of 2013; Daft Punk's 'Get Lucky' and Robin Thicke's 'Blurred Lines,' and is currently enjoying one of the most successful periods of his already illustrious career. Not one to forget his roots, Pharrell is also working on a new N.E.R.D. album, but told the BBC recently that he has no plans on rush finishing it to cash in on his current wave of success.

Pharrell is in no rush to bring out the next N.E.R.D. album

"N.E.R.D. is the special thing. You don't just throw that [new music] out there. You take your time and you get it right," he told BBC Radio 1's Newsbeat. The group, whose hits include 'Rockstar' and 'She Wants To Move,' last released an album in 2010, when they brought out the mixed received Nothing. Since then Pharrell has focused on his solo and production duties for artists such as Daft Punk, Thicke, Kanye West, Frank Ocean and Justin Timberlake. Now the producer extraordinaire is taking his time to make a quality record with bandmates Sheldon Haley and Chad Hugo.

Continue reading: Pharrell Williams "Won't Rush" New N.E.R.D. Album

Chris Brown is being sued by Frank Ocean's cousin who claims the Hip Hop star's bodyguard attacked him during a brawl on 27th January of this year.

Chris Brown at the ESPY All Star Kick-Off party at the Playboy Mansion.

The incident occurred when Brown, Ocean and their respective entourages were fighting, according to TMZ, outside an L.A. recording studio. The fight, according to USA Today, broke out after Brown had parked in Ocean's spot at the L.A. studio.

Continue reading: Chris Brown Facing Lawsuit, Filed By Frank Ocean's Cousin, Over Entourage Fight

Frank Ocean’s Australian tour, which was scheduled to go on through to the end of July, has now been cancelled.

The singer was scheduled to play three more dates, with the main one being his gig at Splendour on the Grass this Sunday. Unfortunately, that show, along with the two remaining Australian gigs – at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion on Monday and Tuesday – have also been cancelled, due to a tear in the singer’s vocal cord.

The singer apologised to fans for the sub-par performance.

Continue reading: Torn Vocal Cord Forces Frank Ocean To Cancel Australian Tour

Frank Ocean played two new songs to a sold out gig at London's O2 Academy in Brixton. He performed on Tuesday (July 9th) and opened his set with 'Feel California', a new song which he wanted to test out with the crowd whilst he was on tour. According to NME, the singer asked the crowd to "bear with me" before playing yet another new song, thought to be called 'Anything For You'.

Frank Ocean at the TIME 100 Gala: TIME'S 100 Most Influential People In The World Of Jazz event at the Lincoln Center, New York.

This is not the first time Ocean has performed 'Feel California' and 'Anything For You', he debuted the song in Munich last month. The London crowd received the songs enthusiastically, especially after some well-aimed flattery with the singer saying "I don't say this everywhere but this is one of my favourite cites in the whole world."

Continue reading: Frank Ocean Performs New Songs At O2 Academy Brixton To Favourable Reviews

Chris Brown certainly met his match at the Grammys on Sunday evening after making the rather ill-thought-out decision to remain firmly in his seat during a standing ovation for Frank Ocean, who won the award for Best Urban Contemporary Album. Adele, 24, looked on as Chris failed to rise from his seat, shaking her head and appearing to give Brown, 23, a piece of her mind.

In fairness, Brown was always going to look silly (especially wearing a white suit) - he fought Ocean in a Los Angeles parking lot around three weeks ago, leaving the Odd Future singer with an injured hand. Though Rihanna's boyfriend applauded the Channel Orange singer, he remained in his seat, much to Adele's chagrin. Once Ocean's acceptance speech was compete, new mother Adele made her way over to Brown to discuss his behaviour, with the R&B star looking rather sheepish and attempting to explain himself. According to the Daily Mail, the pair were later seen hugging and posing - albeit stiffly - for a photograph. The Rolling In The Deep singer did manage to get a picture with two time Grammy award-winner Frank, who rounded off his successful night by making the first televised performance of his track Forrest Gump. 

Other winners at the biggest event on the music calendar included The Black Keys, Kelly Clarkson, Jay-Z and Kanye West.

Continue reading: Chris Brown Gets Almighty Telling Off From Adele Over Frank Ocean Snub

Faith Hill's Braces Were A Huge Talking Point At The Grammy Awards

Faith Hill's braces became the subject of intense discussion and debate during the Grammy Awards on Sunday (February 10, 2013), with the country songstress debuting her new mouth gear. The singer looked stunning in a black J. Mendel gown though confused fans by wearing braces, despite her usually flawless smile.

Hill told country station KNIX that she had braces as a kid, but forgot to wear her retainer. When explaining the need for a second round of dental gear, Faith advised. "Kids, wear your retainer!" Her two eldest daughters with husband Tim Mcgraw - Gracie and Maggie - both wear braces, too. The couple presented an award at Sunday night's 55th annual Grammy Awards and were photographed hanging out with their close friends Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban. Five-times winner Grammy winner Faith Hill teamed her lavish gown with Lorraine Schwartz jewellery, Tom Ford shoes and a pretty impressive looking Bottega Veneta clutch. 

Continue reading: Faith Hill Braces' Become Unlikely Talking Point Of Grammy Awards 2013 (Pictures)

Rihanna and Chris Brown attended the Grammys like nothing ever happened last night. If only we could say the same for Frank Ocean and Chris Brown. The controversial singer refused to participate in the standing ovation for Ocean when Channel Orange beat out Fortune in the Best Urban Contemporary Album category.

While everyone else was showing their appreciation for the talented Odd Future youngster, Brown remained on his behind. Last month, Ocean accused Brown of punching him after a spat in the car park of a West Hollywood recording studio; they were reportedly fighting over a parking space. Ocean tweeted that he got "jumped by Chris and a couple of guys" and it was reported that he wanted to take things further and get Brown charged (he still might) but as of yet, no formal action has been taken. Singer Adele appeared unimpressed as she clocked Brown refusing to stand. 

That moment of one-upmanship for Frank Ocean will have been short-lived; he was expected to clean up with the critically acclaimed Channel Orange this year yet only managed a solitary nod - Urban Contemporary Album. Beaten to Best Album by Mumford & Sons, Best New Artist by Fun and Record of The Year by Gotye, it turned out to be a rather forgettable night for Frank. Still, it was his first ever Grammy, and we’re sure there’ll be more where that came from.

Frank Ocean appeared at the pre-Grammy party in Los Angeles on Friday, where he admitted to being incredibly nervous about the coming awards themselves, Billboard reports.

Performing a 6 song set at the Ace Museum in Los Angeles, Frank Ocean told the audience: "So it's officially Grammy weekend, which is probably not a big deal for everyone... But it makes me nervous as f**k." With 6 nominations including for Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Best New Artist Ocean's got nothing to be nervous about. Especially with Channel Orange being such a strong contender. 

Esteemed guests to the show included Busy Phillipps, Alan Cummings, Ashley Benson and Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda, and were all equal to the average joes in the audience, as they were treated to renditions of  "Crack Rock," "Monks", "American Wedding", "Sierra Leone," "Thinkin' Bout You," and "Pyramids."

Continue reading: Biting His Nails? Frank Ocean Admits To Being Very Nervous Ahead Of Grammy Awards

Annually, the Grammys is one of the biggest events for music across America and in Europe. In fact, it has dubbed itself 'music's biggest night'. Celebrating the best in pop, hiphop, soul, R&B and much of what comes in between, it never fails to be a veritable who's who from the Spotify playlists of the masses. And this year will be no different. Not only are the nominees ones to look out for, absences are worthy of note, as are this year's presenters and some very special performances.

As Yahoo report, this year's presenters include Grammy royalty, Prince, Beyonce, and Jennifer Lopez, all of whom have been nominated or won Grammys before.  

In terms of performances to look forward to, this year we have some unusual and largely unexpected pair ups. Elton John and Ed Sheeran will take to the stage together. An unusual pairing, they're both Brits with unusual song writing talent. While John is a true showman and is well known for his intereSting outfits and outrageous glasses, Sheeran is distinctly more low key. We're not sure how this is going to work, but we're guessing it'll be great. Bruno Mars, Sting and Rihanna will all also perform together, as will Alicia Keys and Maroon 5, and Dierks Bentley and Miranda Lambert. 

Continue reading: 55th Grammys Preview: 'Music's Biggest Night' Wont Fail To Impress

An Adele-less Grammy Awards makes for a wide open field in 2013, with many pondering whose going to step up and fill the void that the all-conquering British singer filled last year. From considered opinions to manipulation of statistics, the consensus isn’t easy to gauge, though there seems to be a few trends emerging, namely that some think Fun. could make a surprise sweep, whilst others think Frank Ocean’s also likely to be among the headline makers come Sunday evening (February 10, 2013).

Fun. , lest we forget, are the only artists who have a chance of pulling off a sweep, given that they’re the only ones nominated in all four of the considered ‘big’ categories: record of the year, song of the year, album of the year and artist of the year, and with no other artist making a substantially better claim for pop dominance than their huge hit ‘We Are Young’ and subsequent album Some Nights, they could well be quids in.

Check out Fun's 'All The Pretty Girls' video

Continue reading: Grammy 2013 Winners Predictions: Frank Ocean And The Black Keys Set To Ruin Fun?

Despite not pressing charges, Frank Ocean has accused Chris Brown of threatening to shoot him during their parking lot brawl in Los Angeles last week. According to the official police report - obtained by TMZ.com - Ocean also accuses someone in Brown's entourage of calling him a "fagg*t".

Ocean - who came out last year before the release of his hugely impressive debut Channel Orange - told police that Brown punched him in the face after a disagreement about a parking space. Brown reportedly tried to shake his hand, but when Ocean refused, Brown punched him in the face. According to the report, Ocean said two of Brown's team then jumped in, pushing him into a corner and trying to kick him. That's when he heard someone yell the homophobic slur. 

Cops say Ocean told them that Brown threatened to short him, saying, "We can bust on you too!" The Odd Future singer suffered cuts and bruises in the fight, which lasted about 3 minutes in total, but refused medical treatment at the scene. He later said in his blog that he didn't want to press charges, but reportedly told police that he wanted to see Brown locked up!

Continue reading: Frank Ocean Accuses Chris Brown Of Threatening To Shoot Him (Plus Homophobia)

Frank Ocean has issued a statement, in which he says he will not be seeking any criminal damages from everybody's favourite hate figure, Chris Brown, after he was assaulted by Brown in a car park in Los Angeles last month.

In the statement, posted on his official website, Frank had this to say: "As a child I thought if someone jumped me it would result in me murdering or mutilating a man. But as a man I am not a killer. I'm an artist and a modern person. I'll choose sanity. No criminal charges. No civil lawsuit. Forgiveness, albeit difficult, is wisdom. Peace, albeit trite, is what I want in my short life. Peace."

Forgiveness and wisdom, these are words that could have only come from Ocean's mouth, as something tells us that Brown - who currently ranks amongst the Westboro Baptist Church and the Taliban in terms of opinion polls - is lacking in the two, but at least Ocean knows how to set a good example.

Continue reading: Frank Ocean Drops All Charges Against Chris Brown Following Car Park Assault

Chris Brown doesn’t seem to be able to last very long without getting himself into trouble. Though, this time, reports seem to suggest that it may not have been entirely Brown’s fault. TMZ revealed that Chris Brown and Frank Ocean – along with their various entourages - got themselves into a fight at a recording studio. A bad case of R&B territorialism, by the sounds of it. It was bad enough that the police were called, though an update from TMZ suggests that only Frank was left on the scene when they arrived.

So what was this bust-up all about? Apparently Frank Ocean objected to Chris Brown being at Westlake Studio in LA, where he was recording. Chris was reportedly at the studio to listen to one of the artists that he represents and as he tried to leave, Ocean blocked his path, along with his crew. Sources told TMZ that Frank said “This is my studio, this is my parking spot.” Chris apparently tried to shake Frank’s hand (ever the gentleman, that Chris Brown), but one of Ocean’s people took the opportunity to attack Chris Brown. One of Chris Brown’s friends then jumped in and attacked Frank’s buddy. Frank then reportedly made a move to hit Chris Brown, Chris pushed him away and the pair started fighting.

When the police arrived on the scene, it appears that Chris Brown had already left. No one wants to press charges, so it looks as though this incident may be swept under the carpet. Except everyone will now be wanting to know why Frank seems to have beef with Chris. What’s up, Frank? 

Continue reading: What's With The Beef? Frank Ocean And Chris Brown Brawl At Recording Studio

"The NME Awards is the highlight of the music calendar and the most Rock'n'roll party of the year," says NME editor Mike Williams. He's not wrong, and this year's nominations, which have just been released, prove to make this year's party even better.

The bands to be most proud of their nominations this year are new-comers Haim and Tame Impala, both of which have never been nominated in the awards before. Haim's nominations are for 'Best New Band', 'Best Track', 'Best Music Video' and 'Best Twitter' for Alana Haim (@babyhaim). We're not entirely sure what makes a good Twitter, but we're sure she deserves it, mostly because she posted a photo of her kissing a trout. Tame Impala's nominations are for 'Best International Band', 'Best Album', 'Best Track' and 'Best Music Video'. Also with four nominations each are veterans The Rolling Stones, and controversial act, M.I.A. 

This year's heroes and villains are an interesting bunch with Harry Styles and David Cameron undoubtedly leading the troupe for the villains, while Frank Ocean, Barack Obama and Pussy Riot are all up for the Hero award. 

Continue reading: NME Award Nominations Announced: HAIM And Tame Impala Four Nominations Each

On New Years Eve Frank Ocean was driving in Mono County, CA with a friend when he was pulled over by cops for speeding. Smelling marijuana in the car the police searched the singer and found a bag of weed on him, subsequently meaning that he lost his license. 

As TMZ reported, he was also 'cited' for having tinted windows, which isn't allowed for the windows of either the driver's window, front passenger windows or front window screen, plus his license is already suspended so the cops took his drivers license away meaning that his friend had to drive them both home.

Ocean's second solo album Channel Orange has enjoyed incredible critical and commercial success this year with many publications citing it as the year's best album, including Billboard, the Guardian and HMV's poll of polls. The singer has also pushed the boundaries of hip hop this year when he confessed to falling in love with a man, which largely goes against the male bravado that defines a lot of the genre's popular lyricism. His 'coming out' was met with enormous support and congratulations from his peers and fans alike.

Continue reading: Frank Ocean Finished 2012 On A High, NYE Marijuana Possession Police Run-In

Frank Ocean has treated fans to a brand new track just out of the blue... well, not really. In fact, Frank has actually released a track that was supposed to be in the upcoming film Django Unchained, but didn't quite make the cut.

Quentin Tarantino, the film's writer/director/producer, found that the song didn't quite fit in with any scene in his film and as such didn't see fit to put it in just to make sure he didn't hurt Ocean's feelings. Luckily for them both though, Ocean doesn't seem too bothered about the snub and he has uploaded the track to his Tumblr so his fans can listen to it still.

Speaking to Fuse, Tarantino said that he wanted to include the song but unfortunately there was no part of the film that it would fit in to. He said, "Frank Ocean wrote a fantastic ballad that was truly lovely and poetic in every way, there just wasn't a scene for it. I could have thrown it in quickly just to have it, but that's not why he wrote it and not his intention. So I didn't want to cheapen his effort. But, the song is fantastic, and when Frank decides to unleash it on the public, they'll realize it then."

Continue reading: Frank Ocean Released 'Wise Man': A Track Axed From The Django Unchained Soundtrack

A mixed week for US albums releases; old classics given an airing, a major movie soundtrack launched and hip-hop arTIsts new and old having a stab at chart success. Currently, the top of the US album chart is dominated by Taylor Swift, who’s back at the top with Red, Wiz Khalifa, riding high at number two with O.N.F.C. and Rod Stewart’s festive compilation album, Merry Christmas, Baby.

Eric Clapton’s Slowhand gets a 35th anniversary reissue, having been remastered from the original “1/4 tape. There are four album session outtakes, entitled ‘Looking at the Rain,’ ‘Alberta,’ ‘Greyhound Bus,’ and ‘Stars, Strays and Ashtrays.’ A second disc contains a live performance at London’s Hammersmith Odeon, from April 27, 1977.

One for the completists, then – and more a case of Clapton’s record label rubbing their hands in glee at a cash in, than any real significant moment in his career. The re-release of Slowhand has hardly set the music press alight and we probably don’t need to fetch any fire blankets for the albums chart, either.

Continue reading: Out Now: US Album Releases, Django Unchained OST Features Rick Ross, Chief Keef Banks On Hip-Hop Heavyweight Support, Eric Clapton's Slowhand Revisited

Performing alongside the larger than life, beard-faced, tattoo-drenched Rick Ross, Omarion made waves with his performance at the BET Hip Hop Awards.

Male R&B is enjoying a renaissance, with the mercurial talents of Frank Ocean and the re-emergence of Usher of late, and Omarion’s performance has well and truly proved that he’s another one to be taken seriously. Bounding on stage, dressed solely in white, he accompanied Maybach Music boss, Rick Ross, who had just spat out a topless rendition of Hold Me Back. The pair sang Ice Cold together to a rapturous response from the audience, who were all mouthing proudly along to the frenetic show. Omarion, aka Maybach O, is working on his MMG debut. It has been a busy 24 hours for Ross as last night (October, 9) he dropped his most recent mixtape The Black Bar Mitzvah, followed by the official video for Diced Pineapples.

All this talk of performances, brawls and trouble backstage, and one might be forgiven for forgetting that the BET Hip Hop Awards are exactly that: an awards show. And in that vein, it’s pertinent to mention Kanye West, who cleaned up. He grabbed Producer of the Year, the Made You Look Award (Best Hip Hop Style) and the Perfect Combo Award for "Mercy," along with his G.O.O.D. Music crew. The multiplatinum hit maker took home another three awards for his work with Jay Z as part of the Throne, bringing his total to six.