Nostalgia, Ultra, released on 16 February 2011, is the masterpiece that broke away from the twenty-tens blueprint for R&B. In looking to the past to find himself as a recording artist, Frank Ocean leapt into the future, where R&B’s boundaries around are blurred and lyrical content isn’t limited to romance.
Nostalgia, Ultra is a prime example of alternative R&B at its finest. It is unconventional and breaks all the rules, but is marked by an undeniably soulful quality. That is what prevents people from daring to suggest it’s outside of the Rhythm and Blues family. In the end, it’s a question of what the rhythm is like and how deeply you can feel the blues. Crossovers into pop and genre-bending have played an integral role in R&B’s revolution over the past decades, led by legends like Whitney Houston, since shifted again by Frank Ocean ten years ago. On the project’s 10 year anniversary, we walk through 5 reasons Nostalgia, Ultra may just be contemporary R&B’s most groundbreaking work.
1. Nostalgic cassette tape interludes
From the offset, the sounds of clicking and clicking cassette tapes indicate that something from the past has been unearthed. The mixtape’s opening interlude Street Fighter references the iconic Japanese video game first released in 1987, which also happens to be the same year Frank Ocean was born. The interludes woven throughout the mixtape add to its nostalgic feel. In 2011, in an interview with Complex, the singer-songwriter explained:
“It’s nostalgic. It’s a longing for the past. That’s what this record felt like. I named it five minutes before 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. That’s how I am. I just go with it.”
It’s this ‘go with the flow’ attitude that makes the 14-track mixtape feel like it has the structure of a dream. There’s no consistency with the tape interludes; the chopping, changing and the sometimes abrupt endings, as in Nature Feels at the very end, force us to move on because we’re running on the Frank Ocean’s time, not our own.
2. Bold and daring delivery
Frank Ocean had been writing songs for Justin Bieber, John Legend, and Brandy, but the singer-songwriter felt Island Def Jam had left his solo career on the shelf. Burdened in the present, in Nostalgia, Ultra, the artist dips in and out of yesteryear, deep-diving into his emotions. When manipulative algorithms weren’t pushing us to consume the same content over again, Frank Ocean wasn’t the social media ghost he has become today. He would regularly express himself online and engage in Odd Future’s outrageous antics, belonging to the alternative—and strange—universe the hip-hop collective built around them.
Eventually, fed up with his label, Frank released the Nostalgia, Ultra as a free download on Tumblr in 2011. To set the record straight in a since-deleted post, he tweeted, “i. did. this. not ISLAND DEF JAM. that’s why you see no label logo on the artwork that I DID.” As such, the mixtape’s alternative style was shaped by both frustration and freedom over his art. Of course, the body of work alone is remarkable, but what’s most surprising is the level of praise from industry critics that Frank received for his debut, self-released project. Daring to be different and going his own way paid off.
3. Pushing production boundaries
From the opening with Strawberry Swing to closing tracks American Wedding and Nature Feels, Frank Ocean pushes boundaries with his production choices. Nostalgia, Ultra is comprised of many samples, but The Eagle’s Hotel California sample in American Wedding is most left of the R&B field. Still, incorporating the 1977 rock hit wasn’t without trouble, it led to the threat of a lawsuit for copyright infringement. With his usual humbleness, Frank responded on Tumblr:
“I think that’s fuckin’ awesome… They also asked that I release a statement expressing my admiration for Mr Henley, along with my assistance pulling it off the web as much as possible. Shit’s weird. Ain’t this guy rich as fuck? Why sue the new guy?”
Given the volatility of the music industry, and what Frank had already endured, it’s significant that he continued to stand up for himself and his creative vision.
4. Conceptual storytelling
With his novel approach to songwriting, Frank immerses us in gripping stories. At face value, Songs For Women seems like just another ballad, but the artist is more concerned about how others perceive his music than his dysfunctional relationship. Frank shows this by adopting different voices and complaining that his girlfriend always plays Drake and Trey Songz in the car. “It’s like she never heard of me, heard of me”, sings Frank with exasperation. At the time, Trey Songz’ album Passion, Pain & Pleasure peaked at number two on the Billboard chart (behind Linkin Park), representing R&B’s obsession with sex. So when Frank bemoans writing love songs, he distinguishes himself as an artist outside of the norm.
Other times, Frank fixes his creative lens on a concept and then blows it out of proportion. In Novacane, he envisions a drug so powerful it numbs the pleasures of life, so even emotions you would expect to feel at the point of climax are entirely anaesthetised. And though his words aren’t exactly subtle, Frank’s sweet tones mask the lyrical content, leaving you singing along without too much of a second thought. He made way for non-conforming artists like Khalid, Kevin Abstract (Brockhampton), Daniel Caesar and SZA to experiment and find their own unique sound.
5. Poetic lyricism and raw emotion
When Frank isn’t enchanting us with trippy adventures or flipping R&B’s script, he’s tugging at our heartstrings with poetry. Of course, we don’t know why the artist is “about to drive in the ocean”, but we’re with him every step of the way.
I’ma try to swim from somethin’ bigger than me
Kick off my shoes
And swim good, and swim good
Take off this suit
The upbeat rhythm contrasts with the melancholy weighing on the artist’s shoulders. With Swim Good, Frank hints at anxieties that most are unwilling to speak of, breaking free from this world. The sounds of waves and birds fade out at the end, bringing home the tragic end to the song. This poeticism bursting at the seams in Dust and There Will Be Tears runs throughout the mixtape.
Frank Ocean’s mixtape has no doubt stood the test of time. The fact that people are still asking when it will become available on leading streaming services is evidence of that. But perhaps, that is part of Nostalgia, Ultra’s beauty, even in terms of format it’s stuck in a particular time and that’s unlikely to be changed any time soon.
