Frank Ocean has always been a bit wary of the record industry. For a lot of bright-eyed artists, being signed to a major label was the dream. Back in the day, the music industry was swimming in money. As a result, artists could really make a livable wage off of their work. Moreover, making music is a dream job for any artist, and a label provides that. It certainly beats the 9-to-5.
But for Ocean, he’d already known the many sides of the music industry working as a songwriter. Additionally, it’s really hard to break out on your own when you’re penning great songs for other artists. Only legends like Ne-Yo, The-Dream, and Babyface have been able to pull off that gambit. Consequently, when Frank Ocean got signed by Def Jam after Tricky Stewart had a vision for him, he wasn’t exactly jumping for joy.
“I was so nonchalant about it, because I think, as a songwriter, when you get on that side of it, it disillusions becoming a recording artist a little. It rubs a little bit of the makeup off the face,” Frank Ocean told Respect Magazine in 2012.
Still, the Channel Orange singer had a master plan behind the scenes. If he wasn’t going to get the funding to secure his future as a recording artist, he’d do it himself.
Frank Ocean Was Jaded That His Label Only Wanted Him as a Songwriter at First
“At the time that I signed, I did still think, I’m gonna do this, that and the third. I had strategies all lined up, release schedules, and here’s how we’re gonna put the show together, and this is what we’re gonna do to create a buzz and make sure people are there. Months and months went on, and none of those ideas or strategies were being funded, and I was just like, F**k—studio wasn’t funded, and a bunch of things. And it disappointed me, but at the same time, my nature is like, ‘It’s gonna get done no matter what. No matter who jumps off the train, I’m gonna get it,’” Frank Ocean recalled.
With this thinking in mind, the “Novacane” crooner created Nostalgia, Ultra. He got the runaround from his label, so he chucked it up on mixtape platforms. He had no idea it would take off the way it did.
“First day it had, like, 60 downloads or something. Next day, it was tripled. After that, it was going crazy. Still, you grow up on the Internet and you’re like, ‘A’ight, that’s cool, but what does it really mean?’” Frank Ocean said. “Like, are they gonna care a month from now? Or are they downloading it just because there’s so much heat on my guys? Somebody could pull the rug out from underneath real quick. But it hasn’t been pulled yet.”
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