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On August second, my phone lit up with a Twitter notification from the account @teamfrankdaily reading: \u201cour hearts are shattered for Frank and his Family. Rest in peace @rryanbreaux\u201d. Frank Ocean\u2019s brother Ryan Breaux, along with Ryan\u2019s friend Ezekial Bishop, had died in a car crash. Scanning the text on my phone, the words \u201cFrank\u201d, \u201chearts are shattered\u201d and \u201crest in peace\u201d, froze my world for the longest millisecond I\u2019ve ever known. After carefully rereading, and discovering that it was Ryan who had passed, I sat in shock for a different reason. Although I do not know Frank or his brother, (and will not pretend to), I know pain. I owe Frank Ocean my current state as an artist and it\u2019s time I personally give him his flowers. I am not an award show or an acclaimed music critic, I am just a fan whose life has changed with incredible music from a brilliant artist. An Introduction to Meaningful Music from Frank Ocean It wasn\u2019t until eighth grade that I opened Apple Music on my new iPhone 6 and started my free trial. After 13 years I was finally beginning to take control of my music consumption, finding out what type of music I actually liked, instead of just listening to whatever the radio introduced me to. When I discovered Frank Ocean a year later, he revolutionized my music taste, and thus who I was as a person. At every major occurrence of my life since ninth grade, I have listened to Frank Ocean. I listened to him on just about every plane ride, every long road trip, and just to pass time. Frank Ocean\u2019s music gives me an appreciation for beautiful things; as an artist, Frank Ocean taught me how to be an artist. Listening to his music taught me how to tune into the art around me, to see it, and hear it too. In just about every moment of stillness, I listen to Frank Ocean and open my eyes to the gorgeousness around me.\t

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