Everyone thought Frank Ocean’s wait to drop Endless and Blonde was simply for artistic and anticipation reasons. And while that may be partly true, it isn’t the full story.

A source close to Frank Ocean’s relationship with Def Jam and Universal Records told Pitchfork that not only was Blonde not dropped on Def Jam, but Ocean isn’t even on the label anymore.

Frank played this perfectly. According to the source, the Endless visual album “fulfills Frank’s obligations to Def Jam and Universal,” while Blonde was self-released as it credits “Boys Don’t Cry” in the metadata. BDC is also the title of the former Odd Future member’s magazine.

Frank Ocean released Endless on August 19 and followed up with Blonde to much fanfare on August 20. Billboard is projecting Blonde to capture the top spot on their charts this week giving Frank his first ever #1 album.