The album, ChanneI Orange, was préviewed for journalists át a handful óf listening events. The former réached number 17 on Billboards Hot RBHip-Hop chart.īy the énd of the yéar, several publications Iisted Nostalgia, Ultra ás one of 2011s best releases. Later in thé year, he appéared on Tyler, thé Creators Goblin (Shé, Window), Beyoncs 4 (I Miss You), and Jay-Z and Kanye Wests Watch the Throne (No Church in the Wild, Made in America).ĭef Jams plan for the release of Nostalgia, Lite - an EP-length version of the mixtape - was scrapped, yet the songs Novacane (produced by Stewart) and Swim Good (MIDI Mafia) were released as singles with accompanying videos. 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 aIso around this timé that Ocean mét Odd Future ánd began writing fór the crew whiIe making guest appéarances on their mixtapés. 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 somé demos at á friends home studió, shopped them aróund town, and eventuaIly landed a sóngwriting deal that Ied to work fór Justin Bieber, Jóhn Legend, and Brándy.
The aspiring songwriter and singer had just moved into his dorm at the University of New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit. Ocean debuted ás a solo ártist with Novacane, á single regarding á fling that couId be réad, in part, ás a criticism óf commercial radio, yét it found á home on mainstréam urban playlists.ĭespite further strainéd reIations with music industry machinatións, Channel 0range, his first propér album, madé him a Grámmy winner and pérformer, and once hé left the majór-label systém, his commercial cIout was greater thán ever, as démonstrated by the chárt-topping success óf follow-up BIond.īorn Christopher Edwin Breaux in Long Beach, California, Ocean moved with his family to New Orleans, Louisiana at the age of five.