The legal complications around the samples might be responsible for the project’s complete absence on streaming platforms (only two singles, “Novacane” and “Swim Good,” were officially released and remain available for stream).Īs the record progresses, the subject matter becomes more serious and less cohesive. The band threatened to sue him for using the sample, and Ocean was prohibited from singing the song live. On “American Wedding,” he samples the Eagles’ “Hotel California,” a song released 21 years before he was born.
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While four interludes named after video games tie the album together and link it to Ocean’s juvenility, the reconstruction of rock classics and use of indie and electronic samples showcase how Ocean’s musical lexicon was extensive, mature, and eclectic: On “Bitches Talkin’ (Metal Gear),” he uses a snippet of Radiohead’s “Optimistic” to crack a subtle joke about his non-commercial music taste. The mixtape is populated by the duality of being unable to forgo your youth and being more mature than most people your age.
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He talks about the movie again on later track “Lovecrimes,” in which he even includes Nicole Kidman’s monologue from the film. The track is the first in the record to showcase his manhood and cultural literacy: on it, he references Eyes Wide Shut, Stanley Kubrick’s last movie, released in 1999. Over the laidback and atmospheric production, he talks about viagra and having sex under the influence. “Novacane” sees Ocean emotionally numb, dazed by the presence and then by the absence of a dental student slash porn actress he met at Coachella. If on “Strawberry Swing,” he dreams about the past, on the next song, “Novacane,” he’s awake and realizing sex and drugs do mix. His songwriting at that time reflects a brave, dreamer young man burying his head in hedonism to suppress the loss of his innocence.
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He was 23 when he released the mixtape for free on his Tumblr, an act of defiance against his label Def Jam after they ignored Ocean and kept toying him about officially releasing the mixtape. The artwork, which shows a bright orange 1988 BMW that Ocean described as his “dream car,” pretty much sets the tone: Nostalgia, Ultra is more than about vague nostalgia-it’s dreamy.
Boworring instrumentals from rock and indie bands, he infuses his personal experiences and his perspective on faith and social matters into the revoiced songs, making them his own. He stitches the record with original productions, interludes, and samples to tell a typical story: a boyhood spent thinking about the future, adulthood spent reminiscing the past. While the major guitar chords of the original song conjure up a familiar ambiance in your mind, Ocean warbles, “When we were kids/Every moment was so precious.” Automatically, the song evokes memories from your high school years and your first job, and that’s pretty much the template Ocean uses on Nostalgia, Ultra.
His first words come only in the second song, “Strawberry Swing,” which samples Coldplay’s 2008 single of the same name. The first track on Nostalgia, Ultra, Frank Ocean’s debut mixtape, is simply the sound of a cassette tape being inserted into a radio.
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