Quentin Tarantino Explains Why Frank Ocean’s Track Was Axed From ‘Django Unchained’ Soundtrack

The Django Unchained soundtrack is getting some major buzz as the first time Quentin Tarantino has ever commissioned new music for one of his projects — though music plays an integral part in all his films, usually it’s obscure, somewhat kitschy stuff he draws inspiration from and repurposes. Not so with Django — but at least one major artist who wrote and recorded a tune for the movie won’t get to see it in the finished film.

Tarantino wrote Fuse to explain why Frank Ocean won’t be found on the soundtrack or in the movie, and it’s not because the tune wasn’t up to snuff:

“Frank Ocean wrote a fantastic ballad that was truly lovely and poetic in every way, there just wasn’t a scene for it. I could have thrown it in quickly just to have it, but that’s not why he wrote it and not his intention. So I didn’t want to cheapen his effort. But, the song is fantastic, and when Frank decides to unleash it on the public, they’ll realize it then.”

While it probably sucks not to be included in the movie after all that work, at least it’s not because Tarantino didn’t dig the track. We look forward to hearing the non-Tarantino-slavery-epic version of Frank’s tune, whenever he decides to release it.