Frank Ocean
Sep 5, 2011
Frank Ocean joined Los Angeles based collective OFWGKTA, who he met through his connections, at the end of 2009. He also met Tricky Stewart, who helped Ocean sign a contract with Def Jam Recordings as an artist; however, he was initially unable to build a relationship with the company. In 2010, he changed his name from Christopher Breaux to Christopher Francis Ocean via a legal website. Ocean has written songs for Justin Bieber, John Legend, Brandy, and Beyoncé Knowles, Ocean has also worked with Nas (on whose 10th studio album Ocean is expected to feature, along with fellow Odd Future members Tyler, the Creator and Hodgy Beats) and Pharrell Williams.
On February 18, 2011, Ocean released his first mixtape, nostalgia,ULTRA., to critical acclaim. His music mostly focuses on interpersonal relationships, personal reflection and social commentary. Ocean appeared in Tyler, the Creator's music video for the single "She", from Tyler's 2011 studio album Goblin. Ocean joined his OFWGKTA bandmates for the first time on tour from May 12 to May 19, 2011. They toured the eastern seaboard of the United States.
On May 19, 2011 Ocean's record label Def Jam announced its plans to re-release Nostalgia, Ultra as an EP. The single "Novacane" was released to iTunes on May 31, 2011, and the EP originally was set to be released on July 26, 2011, but through his blog on July 24th, he stated that it would not be released on that date. In June 2011, Ocean revealed on his Tumblr that he would be working on the upcoming Kanye West and Jay-Z collaborative album, Watch The Throne. Ocean was ultimately a writer and featured artist on the Watch The Throne tracks "No Church in the Wild" and "Made in America".
Frank has most recently covered Fader Magazine, noting that it was his first cover- to what we believe is the first of many in a collection of covers to come. Though Frank takes after one of his idols Kanye West somewhat, in the sense that he doesn't do a whole lot of press (at all), he still doesn't try and hold back his laid back persona from those around him. Ocean recently released his newest single off the EP titled "Swim Good" on August 16th.
