channel ORANGE rocked the world as one of the most artistic, lyrically advanced, and exciting albums of the first half of the 21st century when it was released in 2012. Frank Ocean went from being every sad, tumblr boy's favorite member of Odd Future to being hailed as one of the greatest artists of our generation. Frank Ocean became a cultural phenomenon with everyone quoting his incredible lyrics in Instagram captions, praising his courage for being genuinely himself, and even inspiring the most iconic Vine of our time. However, the album is incredible for reasons beyond its musical content and effect on Frank Ocean's life.
For the first time in hip-hop history, a dog produced a Grammy award winning album.
In a tweet posted on Ocean's now defunct Twitter on July 11, 2012 he said "everest is my dog. and the executive producer of channel orange". The Bernese Mountain Dog, who Ocean adopted in 2011, is pictured several times in what appear to be studio settings alongside Ocean which gives his claim that Everest was the executive producer of the album even more legitimacy.
Imagining Everest posted up in the studio until the wee hours of the morning to make sure the album turned out flawlessly is maybe one of my favorite mental images. Although Everest passed away in 2017, his legacy will live on forever. Thank you for sniffing out talent and executive producing one of the most influential albums of the century and congrats on being probably one of the only Grammy award winning dogs that will ever exist.
