In February 2011, as Odd Future were making waves, Ocean broke out on his own with the Nostalgia, Ultra mixtape, issued through his Tumblr blog. It was also around this time that Ocean met Odd Future and began writing for the crew while making guest appearances on their mixtapes. Some of this writing was done beside Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, a fellow songwriter and producer who convinced Ocean to sign a solo artist deal with Def Jam in late 2009. He cut some demos at a friend's home studio, shopped them around town, and eventually landed a songwriting deal that led to work for Justin Bieber, John Legend, and Brandy. With his future under water, Ocean immediately left the academic life behind and moved to Los Angeles to give music a shot.
The aspiring songwriter and singer had just moved into his dorm at the University of New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit. His recordings since then amount to a short album's worth of singles including the platinum "Chanel" (2017) and the simultaneously-issued "Dear April" and "Cayendo" (2020).īorn Christopher Edwin Breaux in Long Beach, California, Ocean moved with his family to New Orleans, Louisiana at the age of five. When Ocean left the major-label system, his commercial clout was greater than ever, as demonstrated by the chart-topping success of Blonde (2016).
Despite further strained relations with music industry machinations, Channel Orange (2012), his first proper album, nearly crowned the Billboard 200 and made him a Grammy winner. Known first as a writer and Odd Future affiliate, Ocean made his solo debut with "Novacane" (2011), a single regarding a fling that could be read, in part, as a criticism of commercial radio, yet it found a home on mainstream urban playlists and went platinum.
A singer and songwriter whose artful output has defied rigid classification as R&B, he has nonetheless pushed that genre forward with seemingly offhanded yet imaginatively detailed narratives in which he has alternated between yearning romantic and easygoing braggart. Frank Ocean has been one of the more fascinating figures in contemporary music since his early-2010s arrival.
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