Most importantly, it was met with enough acclaim to give him leverage with Def Jam. It drummed up enough critical acclaim to distinguish Ocean as more than a mysterious figure vaguely connected to Odd Future enough to inspire awe from Beyoncé, who enlisted him to write for her upcoming album, '4' (she also went on to collaborate with him for her self-titled masterpiece) enough to convince Kanye West and Jay-Z to fly him out to work on 'Watch The Throne' (Ocean reportedly wrote the hook for 'No Church in the Wild' in minutes and recorded his piece in one take). It was hardly the sensational drop that it would be today, but it became an underground hit. He released it online for free in early 2011.

Ocean said it quickly became clear that his label had no intentions of providing the resources a new artist needs to create a studio debut, let alone find an audience for it.īut instead of shrinking or waiting or negotiating, Ocean quietly self-funded and recorded his debut mixtape 'Nostalgia, Ultra' (so quietly, in fact, that his label didn't realize it had been made by the same Lonny Breaux they'd already signed). Frank Ocean in the music video for 'Novacane,' which Def Jam released as a single after it became a standout favorite from 'Nostalgia, Ultra.'

Frank ocean albums ranked