Dissect - S3E1 – Frank Ocean: A Man of Art and Mystery

Episode Date: May 22, 2018

Season 3 of Dissect is dedicated entirely to the music of Frank Ocean. Today we begin with Ocean’s upbringing in New Orleans and his move to Los Angeles after Hurricane Katrina. We’ll then break down his landmark 2011 mixtape Nostalgia, Ultra. Dissect is a Spotify Original Podcast. Follow @dissectpodcast on Twitter and Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From Spotify Studios, this is Dissect, long-form musical analysis broken into short digestible episodes. I'm your host, Cole Kushner. Four years. Four long years. Any fan of the genre-defying Grammy award-winning artist Frank Ocean knows exactly what this means. Four years. It began the summer of 2012. Frank Ocean had just released Channel Orange, his monumental debut album that garnered

universal critical acclaim and landed a handful of Grammy nominations. Channel Orange propelled Frank Ocean into the stratosphere of musical stardom. The authenticity and soul of his sound gained the respect of his peers and amassed a dedicated, cult-like fan base. Ocean did something like a typical press circuit directly following the album's release. He appeared on late-night television, performed at the VMAs and Grammys, and played a handful of concerts. By February of 2013, just six months after the release of Channel Orange, Ocean told the BBC he was already 10 songs into his next album. But then, over the course of 2013, Frank began receding from the limelight. The posts on his once very active Tumblr page became few and far between.

Interviews, public appearances, and performances were increasingly scarce until they stopped entirely. Quickly and without warning, Frank Ocean had all but disappeared. But it was too late. The seed of a new album had been. planted, and for years the world hung on breadcrumb clues trying to decipher just where Frank was and when he planned to deliver his next album. In March of 2014, an Instagram photo revealed Frank crouched over a mixing board inside a recording studio. In a cryptic Tumblr post shortly after, Frank hinted that the album was nearly complete. But then an entire year goes by. No album, no update, nothing aside from a few photos of Frank in the studio. It's now April 6, 2015. It's now April 6, 2015.

nearly three years after Channel Orange's release. Frank drops a bombshell. A photo posted to his website shows him looking down at two piles of magazines titled Boys Don't Cry. The photo's caption reads, I got two versions. I got two versions. Hashtag issue one, album three, July 2015, Boys Don't Cry. The same day, Billboard confirms what everyone is hoping. Frank Ocean is dropping a new album in three months. The weight, it seems, is nearly over. But July comes and July goes. No album, no magazine, nothing. Another entire year goes by. Frank remains silent. No word about what happened. No word about the status of his album. It's now July 2nd, 2016. Another cryptic photo appears on Frank's website. It's a library due date slip. The date at the top of the card, July 3, 2015, is crossed out.

alluding to the missed release date a year prior. Various due dates continue down the length of the card, ending with July 2016. It appears Frank will finally be releasing the album Boys Don't Cry sometime in July. But just like the year prior, the month of July comes and goes. No album, no update, nothing. But then on the 1st of August, a mysterious black and white live stream appears on Ocean's website. It shows work benches in a large warehouse. Hours later, Frank, Frank appears on the live stream and without saying a word, begins woodworking, building a series of four-foot rectangular boxes while instrumental music plays. After completing these boxes, Frank exits the stream. That same day, the New York Times announces that Boys Don't Cry would release five days later on Friday, August 5th.

But August 5th comes and August 5th goes. You guessed it, no album, no update, nothing. Nearly two weeks later, on August 18th, Ocean reappears on the black and white live stream. He begins assembling the boxes he built into an ascending 12-foot spiral staircase while new Frank Ocean songs play. The 20-song 45-minute music video is announced as a visual album called Endless, made available to view on-demand the next day. But the drama is not over yet. It turns out the visual album Endless is separate from the long-awaited Channel Orange follow-up, Boys Don't Cry. That album drops just 48 hours later, and after four excruciatingly long and tortured years,

the world finally got their album. No longer Boys Don't Cry, the album is called Blonde. And frankly, it was well worth the wait. Frank Ocean's Blonde's Blondeen. Blonde is 17 tracks of transcendent emotional and spiritual depth. It's less of an album and more of a world you step into. Once inside, we're privy to Ocean's most intimate memories and emotions. Memories and emotions that are reflected prismaticly across its dense, detailed, richly colored sonic architectures.

Season 3 of Dysect is in large part dedicated to Frank Ocean's blonde. But unlike seasons past, we're going to have our first ever double header. After today's biographical introductory episode, we'll spend six full episodes on Ocean's debut album Channel Orange. A remaining 10 or so episodes will then cover the album Blonde. This double album approach will allow us to examine Frank Ocean's art holistically, tracing the evolution of Frank Sound from the singer-songwriter structures of Channel Orange songs like Thinking About You. to the intimate atmospheric introspection of blonde tracks like white Ferrari. We'll also discover how with each project came parallel acts of liberation in Ocean's personal and public life.

From the independent release of his self-funded mixtape nostalgia ultra, to the touching open letter that publicly revealed his sexuality days before the release of Channel Orange, to his reclusive withdrawal from the trappings and falsities of fame in the four years before blonde, Both Frank Ocean's art and his actions move in parallel along a self-created path towards artistic truth, creative purity, and personal and financial independence. Indeed, Frank Ocean is something of an anomaly in today's world of 24-hour quantity over quality social oversharing. Frank curates his ethos with an eye on forever. His pursuits are pure, his output intentional, his art a reservoir of warmth, vulnerability, nostalgia, empathy, and the genuine feeling of someone's striving. toward a more thoughtful, elegant existence. This season, we're going to learn more about what it means to be human through the beautiful music of Frank Ocean. And so without further ado,

let's dissect. Frank Ocean, whose birth name was Christopher Edwin Bro, was born on October 28, 1987 in Long Beach, California. When he was five years old, Frank moved to New Orleans, Louisiana with his mother, Catania, who raised Frank alone without the presence of Frank's father. Regarding his childhood, Frank told GQ magazine, quote, I haven't seen my father since he left. And for a while, you know, we weren't middle class. We were poor. But my mom never accepted that. She worked hard to become a residential contractor, got her masters with honors at the University of New Orleans. I used to go to every class with her, unquote. Since a young age, Frank was drawn to both riding and singing, citing car rides with his mother as his earliest influences. There, he was exposed to divas

like Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, and Anita Baker. But his most formative early musical experience came when Ocean first heard Prince. Quote, I used to sing when I was younger, and my mom would be like, stop hollering. It used to make me all self-conscious about how I sounded, like the tone of my voice or how loud I was. I discovered Prince at my mom's friend Jerry's house. I mean, she used to have them on like every day, and I honestly didn't pay attention at first, but I vividly remember the first time I heard beautiful ones. and this grown man singing for his life. Immediately, I remember it clicking like,

oh, it's okay to holler and scream and everything. Like, express yourself, kid, go off. Prince basically made it all okay, unquote. Let's hear a bit of Prince's beautiful ones, the song so influential to Frank as he was coming of age. Frank's interest in music continued to grow into his teenage years. At 13, Frank washed cars, walk dogs, and mowed lawns to save money for studio time.

He soon became determined to make music his crew. career. Ocean told Fader magazine, quote, I knew the only way I can make singing a livelihood and make a living off of it was if I was great at it. I didn't want it to be my hobby. I wanted it to be my career, unquote. In 2005, at age 18, Frank enrolled in the University of New Orleans and moved into the college dorms. Just months later, in August of 2005, Hurricane Katrina stormed through New Orleans, leaving the city in ruins. Among the wreckage was the studio Frank was used. to record his music, leaving him out a crossroads of sorts. To continue to pursue his music career, Frank dropped out of college and made his way to Los Angeles. He told the BBC, quote,

The storm itself didn't make me move, but the storm ruined my recording environment, and the studio I was working in got looted and destroyed by floodwater. I didn't have a place to work in New Orleans, so I left and came to L.A., unquote. With $1,100 in his pocket, Frank drove over two days to Los Angeles, originally planning to stay just two months. He recorded a demo at his friend's home studio and worked a number of odd jobs while pursuing a songwriting career. He told GQ, quote, I was only supposed to be in L.A. for six weeks. I don't feel like I ever made a conscious decision to stay six years. You just kind of roll. The first four and a half years was me in the studio every day, writing songs for other people. I had jobs too, 11 jobs.

I worked at Kinko's, Fat Burger, Subway. I was a sandwich artist, and I was a claims processor at Allstate Insurance, unquote. Over time, Frank began to make more connections in the music industry. Surrounded by experienced artists and producers, Frank used his feelings of infiority as fuel. Quote, I would sit in those studios for hours, but I wouldn't write any line that was as good as the lines being written in the rooms next to me. I had to elevate. I was looking at it like an athlete then. I just wanted to be better than everybody else." By 2008, Frank had landed a songwriting deal and gained writing credits for artists like Brandy and John Legend. As an example of Frank's early songwriting, let's listen to an excerpt of Brandy's 2008 song First in Love, co-written by Christopher

Bro. The year's 2009 and 2010 would contain a handful of pivotal events that would begin to propel Lonnie Brod the songwriter toward Frank Ocean, the solo artist. First, he met Tricky Stewart, A&R at Def Jam Records. Tricky heard some of Frank's solo work and signed him to Def Jam, not as a songwriter, but a solo artist. Unfortunately, it immediately became clear that Def Jam had no intentions to prioritize Frank. He told Complex, quote, I signed my paperwork at the end of 2009. It was official by January of 2010. Outside of the contract in the paperwork, there was no relationship. I never walked through the building. I never had the opportunity to build with them because of some other shit within the company. All I knew was that I was an artist and I didn't have a relationship with my

label, unquote. Later in 2010, Christopher Edwin Bro would officially file to change his name to Christopher Francis Ocean, aka Frank Ocean. The genesis of the moniker was inspired by the original Ocean's 11 film and legendary rap-pack singer Frank Sinatra. Ocean was initially compelled to change his name because as he thought it looked better on magazine covers, but it seems the change became a defining act of liberation. He told Complex, quote, I changed my name on my birthday last year. It was the most empowering shit I did in 2010 for sure. I went on legal Zoom and I changed my fucking name, unquote. In addition to signing to Def Jam and changing his name, Frank met Tyler the Creator, kingpin of the Los Angeles collective Odd Future, eventually joining this crew of influential musicians

and artists. His membership in odd future was a step out of the shadows of songwriting, no longer a faceless credit in the liner notes. His membership also came at a critical time, when Ocean was suffering emotionally. Ocean told GQ, quote, I was at a real dark time in my life when I met them. I was looking for a reprieve. At 20 or 21, I had a couple hundred thousand dollars from producing in songwriting, a nice car, a Beverly Hills apartment, and I was miserable. And here's this group of like-minded individuals whose irreverence made me revere. The do-it-yourself mentality of odd future really rubbed off on me, unquote. Inspired by the odd future DIY approach and the neglect from his label, Frank began working on a self-funded project without any support from Def Jam.

He would release said project for free in February of 2011. It would garner critical acclaim and launch Frank into the music industry's limelight, forcing Def Jam's hand and prioritizing him as an artist. Of course, this transformative landmark project is named Nostalgia Ultra. Nostalgia. Nostalgia is a never a world. I believe a woman's temple

Gives her the right to choose but baby don't unfold I believe in marriage isn't... Nostalgiaeotra is a 14-track mixtape released for free as a digital download on Ocean's Tumblr page. Nostalgia Ultra both utilizes

and pays homage to the mixtape. The mixtape format has a rich history as two parallel definitions and uses of the word mixtape developed during the early 80s and continue to evolve through the early 2000s. Nostalgia Ultra actually utilizes both of these parallel definitions of the mixtape simultaneously, and a brief sidebar into the history of the mixtape

will prove essential to fully appreciating Ocean's clever use of the medium. The concept of a mixtape rose to prominence in the early 1980s when cassette tapes emerged as the dominant medium of audio distribution and consumption. Consumers could create a custom collection of songs with a few simple tools, a blank cassette, a cassette player with a recording feature, and a primary audio source from which to record, like the radio, a second cassette player, or later a CD player. These custom mixes of songs recorded on tape were dubbed mixtapes and became extremely popular throughout the 80s and 90s.

There was an art to the creation of a great mixtape, and for many they became a point of pride, an outlet for self-expression. You could create custom mixtapes for yourself, for a best friend, or to woo a potential partner. They could take hours or even days to compile, often decorated with handwritten tracklists and hand-drawn embellishments. In the 2005 book mixtape, The Art of Cassette culture, contributor Matias Vigener said, quote, the mixtape is a form of American folk art. Predigested cultural artifacts combined with homespun technology and magic marker, turned the mixtape into a message in a bottle.

mere consumer of pop culture, it says, but also a producer of it. Mix tapes mark the moment of consumer culture in which listeners attain control over what they heard, in what order, and at what cost. Simultaneously in the mid-70s and early 80s, a parallel definition and use of the mixtape began to emerge in disc jockey culture. Before the cassette tape, there was no physical medium capable of recording and easily distributing the early iterations of hip-hop, which was created live by DJs using the instrumental breaks of funk records mixed with various samples, vinyl scratching, and rhyming emcees. DJs began recording their live performances on cassette, which could then be duplicated and distributed in the streets. Known then as DJ tapes,

their popularity exploded due to their portability and helped the widespread growth of hip-hop as an emerging genre. As an example, let's listen to one of the earliest surviving DJ tapes from a Grand Master Flash New York performance in 1978. The DJ-centric mixtape developed into a number of permutations over time, becoming more and more vocal-centric in its evolution. By the mid-90s, mixtapes produced. mixtapes produced by the likes of DJ Clue and others showcased an array of rappers rhyming 16-bar features, with the DJ interjecting with echoed shouts of their moniker.

Bringing it straight to your face for 9-6, DJ Clue, DJ Clue, with that four-five-six, for that ad. Once again, it's the infamous back in the house once again. Look the life dad of diamonds and guns and out, jailed, full gaps like a base-hand, pull on stem. In the early to mid-2000s, rapper 50 Cent led a movement of artist-centered mixtapes. These iterations were full-blown, full-length projects by a single artist that contained a collage of freestyles, remixes of popular tracks, and original songs. Rappers used the mixtape to gain street credibility in hopes of getting attention from record labels.

And with the rise of the internet and specifically blog culture in the mid-2000s, mixtapes became even more prevalent, as one could distribute their tape digitally on sites like datpiff.com, lifting the restricted reach of regional physical distribution in the streets. This full-length, artist-driven approach eventually began to blur the line between the mixtape and album. Young aspiring artists like Chance the rapper, Drake, Kendrick Lamar, and The Weekend, released quote-unquote mixtapes that sounded so much like albums that seemingly the only thing mixtape about them was the fact that they were distributed digitally for free without a physical counterpart. And it was in this mixtape as album environment that Frank Ocean created and

released Nostalgia Ultra in 2011. But Frank's mixtape was unique in its conception, blending both the classic custom cassette tape definition of the word with hip-hop's free album evolution. Like hip-hop's definition, Nostalgia Ultra is a full-length project, it was a release for free and features a collage of original songs, interludes, and remix covers that borrow production from well-known groups like Coldplay, The Eagles, and MGMT. These reimagined covers play into the classic custom cassette version of the mixtape, which Ocean accentuates by using actual sounds of a cassette tape being stopped, rewound, and fast-forwarded throughout the entire project. In fact, the cassette tape is the conceptual framework of nostalgia ultra. The project plays like Frank's intimate custom collection of songs on tape,

creating a world of memories, childlike wonder, and adulthood disappointment. We'll dive into this beautiful, fantasy-filled world that is Nostalgia Ultra, right after the break. Welcome back to Dysect. Before the break, we discovered how Frank Ocean's debut project, Nostalgia Ultra, is at once a free album mixtape that plays like a cassette mixtape. The project begins with the skit titled Street Fighter, a nod to Ocean's love for video games. These opening moments of Nostalgia Ultra firmly established the cassette motif that reappears throughout the album. Of course, the cassette tape also evokes nostalgia. one of the project's central themes.

Regarding his approach to nostalgia ultra, Ocean told the BBC, quote, Have you ever seen boys in the hood? There are certain movies that are shot with the summer haze that look like the best part of summer. The vibe in that film is super nostalgic for me, and I was chasing those colors,

trying to make a record that had that feel, unquote. This cinematic approach to album construction and Frank's obsession with Summer would prove to be a throughline in his career, as with the juxtaposition between old and new, the nostalgic longing for the simplicity of childhood against the harsh realities of adulthood and contemporary life. Regarding the mixtape's title, Ocean Told Complex, quote, it's nostalgic, it's a longing for the past, that's what this record felt like. I named it five minutes after we finished mastering, right before we had to write the labels on

the CDs and get out of there. Ultra, because it's also modern, because of the sonics of it. It felt right, unquote. This juxtaposition of old and new is masterfully displayed on the opening sequence of tracks on Nostalgia Ultra. The brief audio clips on cassette tape we just heard on the project's opening moments are taken from Coldplay's 2008 album Viva LaVita or Death in All of his friends. Frank skips through a few songs off the album and finally lands on the track's Strawberry Swing. That signals the start of Nostalgia Ultra's first song, which borrows production from Coldplay Strawberry Swing. As we listen, notice how the music begins sounding lofi and thin, as if Frank is in his room singing along to the cassette tape.

Over time, that lo-fi sound gradually ascends with more and more clarity and fidelity, as if we're being eased into Frank's fantasy world of childhood nostalgia. Frank utters on nostalgia ultra are masterful in their poetic composition and establish straight away the nostalgic tone of the mixtape. He sings, When we were kids, we hand-painted strawberries on a swing. Every moment was so precious then. I'm still kicking. I'm daydreaming on a strawberry swing.

The entire earth is fighting. All the world is at its end. Just in case an atom bomb comes falling on my lawn, I should say and you should hear, I've loved the good times here. Frank is daydreaming about the warmth and innocence of childhood, using beautiful, vivid imagery of swinging on hand-painted strawberry swings as symbolic of youthful bliss. Both Oceans and Coldplay's use of strawberries to evoke childhood is likely a nod to the Beatles' strawberry fields forever, itself a song about the carefree naivety of childhood.

Ocean immediately contrasts nostalgic sentiments with this present day. Here, the innocence of childhood has decayed into the harsh conflict-ridden realities of adulthood. Still, Frank punctuates the verse with glowing optimism and grace, saying that if he should die, by Adam Bomb no less, we should know he's cherished the good times he's had on earth. Verse two of Strawberry Swing further expounds upon the momentary fleeting nature of our most beautiful moments with a tragic sense of nostalgic optimism. He sings, say hello, then say farewell to the places you know. We're all mortals, aren't we?

Any moment this could go. Cry, even though that won't change a thing. But you shouldn't know, you should hear. that I've loved the good times here. Toward the end of strawberry swing, we hear a crossfade of conflicting elements. The music begins to fade down as a jarring, aggressive sounds of an alarm clock

invade and eventually dominate the sonic landscape. We hear Frank's sigh before turning off the alarm. His nostalgic daydream is over. The alarm clock wakes him up to the shrill realities of adulthood. A second heavy sigh leads directly into the project's next track, Novakane, where we find Frank dealing with those adulthood realities and a drug-induced meandering of momentary pleasures. Brain like Berkeley

Met her at Coachella I went to see Jigger She went to see Z trip Perfect I took a seat on the ice cold on She handed me an ice blue bung Whatever She said she wanna be a dentist

Really bad She's in school paying For tuition doing porn in the valley At least you're working But girl I can't feel my face What are we smoking anyway She said don't let the high go to waste In Novakane, Frank describes various states of numbness.

He begins saying he, quote, can't feel nothing, and likens his desensitized emotionless state to the robotic emotionless vocal effect autotune. We discovered that the cause of his numbness is a woman. He describes this woman as being both gorgeous and smart, singing, I blame it on the model broad with the Hollywood smile, stripper booty in a rack like wow, brain like Berkeley. Later in the verse, Frank sings, She want to be a dentist really badly. She's in school paying for tuition doing porn in the valley. Here, Ocean juxtaposes her ambitions as a dentist with her current situation as porn actress.

It gives the line Brain Like Berkeley a clever double meaning. UC Berkeley is one of the most acclaimed college universities in the U.S., so Brain like Berkeley alludes to the woman's intelligence and her ambitions as a dentist. Brain is also slang for oral sex, and given that the woman does porn, brain like Berkeley also applies she's masterful in bed. Novakane continues with a repetitive yet discreetly complex hook. It would seem that sex with this woman has left Frank numb in more ways than one. First, the sex itself leaves him numb, a temporary drug-like euphoria.

Later in verse two, we'll discover that the woman in their sex was so good that it leaves them numb to everything and everyone else, as nothing compares with her. These various states of numbness are encapsulated in the song's title, Novacane. We first think of the localized anesthetic commonly used by dentists to numb the pain of dental work. Of course, with Frank's ideal woman aspiring to be a dentist, the use of Novakane is a clever way to express the numbness she causes him. But it's only when we analyze the spelling of Ocean's Novakane that we discover its double, triple and even quadruple meanings. Nova C-O-V-O-C-A-I-N-E. But in Frank's alternative spelling,

he combines the word Nova, N-O-V-A, and C-A-A-N-E. The definition of Nova is a star that suddenly increases its light output tremendously and then fades away to its former obscurity in a few months or years. This speaks to the momentary overwhelming bliss of sex with this woman, and the numbness it causes Frank to have about everything else after. Nova, according to Urban Dictionary, is also slang for, quote, a beautiful girl who is extremely unique. The woman character in Novacane is both beautiful and extremely unique as she's an aspiring dentist who does porn. Lastly, Nova is also slang for the synthetic psychedelic drug 25B-N-B-N-B-O-M-E. Like the Star Nova's brief high-intensity burst followed by a fading decline, 25-B begins with an LSD-like visual trip lasting three to five hours,

followed by ecstasy-like effects lingering up to 12 hours. 25-B is perhaps the answer to Frank's question toward the end of verse 1, where he asked, I can't feel my face, what are we smoking anyway? An interesting detail here is that Nova, or 25-B, only very recently surfaced on the streets as a designer drug in 2010. In verse 1 of Novacaine, Ocean describes doing drugs. at Coachella where both J-Z and Z-Trip were set to perform. The only year both of those artists performed at Coachella was in 2010, precise of the year drug Nova hit the streets.

Finally, we have the word cane, spelled C-A-N-E. There's a few interesting possible interpretations here. We first think of a cane that helps one walk, a crutch, similar to the way a drug addict might use drugs as a crutch to escape their suffering. Cain is also slang for cocaine, and in England, cane is used as a verb to describe consuming drugs or alcohol in large quantities. Of course, both of these uses of cane find relevance within the context of Ocean's Novakane, which we're discovering to be a song rich with understated complexity and depth. In verse 2, we find Frank sometime after his transformative encounter with the woman. He suddenly portrays himself like a drug addict, doing cocaine for breakfast in a messy house,

and filming himself doing orgies with a bed full of women. Midway through the verse, we discover why his life has turned so explicitly gluttonous. I'm like, white chef, but it keeps on moving. I blame it on a model bra with the Hollywood smile. Stripper booty with a rack like why. Forget you, you put me on a feel and I never had, never had, never had. And ever since I've been trying to get it back, you pick it up and put it back. Now I'm something like the chemist on campus.

but there's no drug around quite like what I found Frank sings You put me on a feeling that I never had And ever since I've been trying to get it back And pick it up and put it back Now I'm something like the chemist on campus But there's no drugs around

Quite like what I found in you Frank is chasing unsuccessfully For the high he felt with this woman But nothing he's found is as potent as her This sentiment is fully expressed In the song's outro Where Frank pities all the women he slept with in search of his high.

As you listen, notice how the words, can't feel her, begins to sound like, can't fulfill her. All the pretty girls involved with me and making pretty love to me, pity pity. Because of Frank's numbness, he has no feelings for the women he sleeps with.

And because of this lack of feeling, he can't fulfill them either sexually or emotionally. This general lack of feeling on Novakane is in stark contrast with the warmth and innocence of the daydream strawberry swing. The wake-up call that is Novakane establishes the internal push-pull relationship Ocean has with the past and present. Nostalgia Ultra continues to develop these themes of internal confliction with songs like We All Try, a track that finds Ocean oscillating between belief and disbelief in a meditation on religion and personal credence. On songs for women,

he proclaims to write songs to attract women in verse 1, only to deny the claim in verse 2. On American Wedding, a remake of the Eagles Classic Hotel California, a young couple gets married in verse 1, only to get divorced in verse 2. Nostalgia Ultra is also filled with self-referential connections between tracks. For instance, on Novakane's second verse, Ocean sings about feeling like Stanley Kubrick and name-check's Kubrick's final film Eyes Wide Shut. And then later on the project, the song Murder She wrote samples an extended monologue from Eyes Wide Shut. On the hook of We All Try, Ocean sings, We All Try, The Girls Try, The Boys Try, Women Try, Men Try, You and I Try, We All Try. This song is followed directly by an interlude that features Radiohead's optimistic, a song in which frontman Tom York sings, You Can Try The Best You Can, The Best You Can. The Best You Can. The Best You Can is good enough.

These intricate connections display the detail in which Ocean constructs a project, helping to create a cinematic dreamlike sorality that permeates the listening experience of nostalgia ultra. There's a sense of someone attempting to align the conscious and subconscious experiences of the past and present, attempting to connect the emotional dots in one's life in order to move more successfully into the future. And that future was looking all the more bright for Frank Ocean upon the release of nostalgia ultra. The project received positive reviews from critics and peers alike, propelling the relatively anonymous songwriter and fringe member of odd future into the limelight of the music industry. Within the year, Ocean was collaborating with Titans Kanye West

and Jay-Z, landing two prominent features on their 2012 album Watch the Throne. He would also work with Beyonce at her album 4, as well as Naas's album Life is Good. He wasn't yet a household name, but Frank Ocean had the ears of many, proving himself to be an extremely promising and unique young talent, who showed genuine signs of greatness. And then there was Def Jam, you know, the record label that signed Ocean, only to immediately shelf him. On March 1st, 2011,

less than a month after the release of Nostalgia Ultra, Frank aired the dirty laundry of their strained relationship, tweeting, quote, I did this, not Island Def Jam. That's why you see no label logo on the artwork that I did. Guess it's my fault for trusting my dumb-ass lawyer and signing my career over to a failing company. Fuck Def Jam and any company that goes the length of signing a kid with dreams and talent,

with no intention of following through. Fuck him. Now back to my day. I want some oatmeal and toast. Brunch swag, unquote. Of course, with the success of Nostalgia Ultra, Def Jam ultimately changed their tune. Through determination of artistic spirit and fearless defiance,

the kid from New Orleans bet on himself and took on a major label Goliath, gaining the upper hand by releasing a free mixtape on the internet with no marketing or promotion. It's truly an incredible feat, a testament to great arts capacity to transcend, to empower, to thrive despite a lack of resources and support. When asked if he felt vindicated when Def Jam came crawling back, Ocean responded with nothing short of a mic drop. Quote, yeah, I just told them, give me one million dollars if you want the next album, unquote. Indeed, with nostalgia ultra, Frank Ocean was just getting started. He would immediately begin working on his debut Grammy Award winning genre-defying full-length album Channel Orange,

which we'll thoroughly discuss next time on Dissept. Dissect is written and produced by me, additional project support from Spotify's Michelle Santucci, original theme music by B-Rocrattit. Remember, when you listen to Dissect on Spotify, you'll get new episodes a week before everyone else, as well as access to exclusive bonus episodes only available on Spotify. This week's bonus episode dissects two additional songs from nostalgia

Ultra. There will be tears and swim good. You can also follow the official Dysect profile on Spotify to find a selection of curated playlist by yours truly, as well as playlists that are open source from Dysect listeners. If you'd like to contribute to those playlists, follow at Dysect podcast on Twitter and Instagram. Okay, thanks everyone. I'll talk to you next week.