Crack Rock Lyrics

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About

Genius Annotation

On the 9th track off channel ORANGE, Ocean speaks about a man overcome by an addiction to crack cocaine, and comments on the issues of the so-called “War on Drugs” in America. In an interview with The Guardian Ocean stated how his grandfather influenced the record:

For a song like Crack Rock, my grandfather, who had struggled to be a father for my mum and my uncle … his second chance at fatherhood was me. In his early-20s, he had a host of problems with addiction and substance abuse. When I knew him, he was a mentor for the NA and the AA groups. I used to go to the meetings and hear these stories from the addicts – heroin and crack and alcohol. So stories like that influence a song like that.

In an interview with the New York Times Ocean also said those meetings:

It totally ingrained this fear of addiction and of anything that could cause me to be addicted.

Fun Fact: In the same interview, Ocean stated the reason it’s sung with a little bit of “fractured breathiness” is because “that’s how a smoker would sing it.”

“Crack Rock” of course can literally mean what the man is a user of, but also the word “crack” can be like a cracked rock, which can be interpreted into the split of this man with his life. He has lost everything, and is now alone. The “crack” has come between him and his family, and just his life in general.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

Translations
Genius Answer
Frank also samples Jimi Hendrixs little miss lover.
Genius Answer

Thanks for the intel! Did you know this gospel singer sampled the same breakbeat 6 years before Frank did?

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