Let’s face it: digital mixtapes are the new LP’s, or rather, they’re the latest incarnation of the multi-platinum selling album without selling a single copy. Ditching major label budgets for viral internet publicity and of-the-minute promotion, artists use the WWW’s arms-reach accessibility to salvage fans from every which way, perhaps helping from-the-street-up communities like hip-hop more than any other musical genre. This is most true of the entire OddFuture crew. Taking to tumblr, twitter and blogs, OddFuture claimed hip-hop’s largest audience yet with free downloads (screw an album leak) and abundant amounts of studio material (recorded not in multi-million dollar recording studios but garages, bedrooms, and laptops), that were never possible for artists pre-Facebook. Frank Ocean; the smoother-than-thou R&B slice of OddFuture’s gang, may be unlike his mates in sound, but, has garnered much of the same fan base from their brand of far-reaching online slinging.

Ocean as an artist came to fruition with his debut, free-of-charge mixtape: Nostalgia/Ultra, in February of this year via Odd Future’s Tumblr page and within minutes gained exposure (along with becoming a bonafide trending topic) in independent music circles. Partially based on Odd Future’s quick D.I.Y. rise to mainstream-cult fame, Ocean had fans before he even had a contract (which he has now; courtesy of Island Def Jam).

The 23-year-old LA-born singer/songwriter has undoubtedly latched onto Drake (the initial mixtape-to-millions superstar) and Trey Songz’s sound (to which he even compares himself in the Neptunes-y, melt in your mouth stunner, “Songs for Women”), the muddled, mopey underwater-R&B freestyle. But he makes it all his own to much success, with cynicism and a fond ear for pop radio melodies. He also comes across as more avant garde than his peers, with oddly pitched interludes, over-layered accompaniments, a liberal political stance (hear his message of marriage equality in “We All Try”) and an in-the-know pantheon of tastes.

The mixtape’s success has landed him a corporate deal, a re-release version for iTunes, songwriting gigs with Beyonce (4′s “I Miss You”), Nas and Brandy, and a first single (the mix’s least interesting but lyrically amusing, stoner-ready “Novacane”) produced by The-Dream’s right-hand-hitman, Tricky Stewart. It’s also worth mentioning he’s caught the ear of Jay-Z and Kanye West whom have already started work with him on their collaborative opus, Watch The Throne. Among Nostalgia‘s tracks that dig deep are “Swim Good” and “Lovecrimes”, which easily outshine his choice of debut single. “Swim Good” is so emotional in its content, it’s hard not to feel inspired, not only by the driving beat but the drive off a cliff into the ocean-theme itself. “Lovecrimes” employs a seductively catchy slap-beat and piano loop, an over-layered samba composition and Prince-like swagger, all the while a Nicole Kidman Eyes Wide Shut monologue, in which she reprimands her man’s infidelities, competes in the background. It’s all heavy stuff for a 21st century R&B stud; that’s for sure, but what’s most compelling about Frank Ocean is that he tried and it worked. It being an independent sensibility to music making, especially for his genre. R&B has long been considered a genre that lacked experimentation. But today that could all be erased as easily as “un-liking” a post or flipping former industry marketing ploys on their heads a la Tumblr. It was just that easy for the kids of Odd Future, especially Mr. Ocean.

KEYWORDS: Drake, Frank Ocean, Kanye West, Music Videos, Odd Future