Ranking 10 Greatest Albums Made Out Of Contractual Obligation

Unlike the other examples on this list, Endless is a video album. Also unlike the others on this list, Frank Ocean made absolutely no bones about why he put the album out into the world. Just 24 hours after making good on the final piece of his record contract, Ocean released a proper album independently, leaving little debate that Endless was nothing more than a ploy -- albeit an exceptionally crafted one -- to get out of Def Jam's shadow.

Critics disregarded the video album almost immediately, instead focusing on the physical album that followed. But Endless deserves to be heralded for its conceptual magnificence. It's a littered, bombastic mixtape of half-songs blown up into their finest fragments and other songs overlapping with each other in ways that don't make sense until they've ended.

Endless isn't -- or shouldn't be -- a passive experience. It's not quite Dark Side of the Moon, but it does feel like Ocean crafted this album thinking about his listeners sprawled out on a couch, getting high and letting the whole thing wash over their minds.

Of all the words one can use to describe it -- surreal, nebulous, cryptic, quirky -- Endless never falls into the oldest contractual obligation category: boring.