The Weeknd finished out 2011 with their 3rd free mixtape. Echos Of Silence ends the trilogy in an extremely dark place, where partying leads to despair. It's more Trainspotting than R. Kelly, even if it can be just as freaky as Kels. The tape isn't as fresh as House Of Balloons released at the beginning of 2011, but it would be hard to top that introduction. He tries off the bar with the amazing MJ Dirty Diana cover.
Frank Ocean hasn't been quite as ambitious as The Weeknd, but two guest roles on Kanye an Jigga's Watch The Thrown were nice exclamation points on his backpack-style crooning in 2011. Novacane off his free mixtape Nostalgia Ultra is better than any coke rap anthem in strange storytelling, and Songs For Women is probably a missing Kanye track from his first album if he had auto tune at that point.
Both these artist are leading the way to revitalize a genre that needed to be turned upside down. Looking forward to seeing where these guys go this year.
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