NPR's Andrew Noz said Ocean's songwriting is 'smart and tting him apart from the pack'. Rolling Stone magazine's Jonah Weiner wrote that Ocean was a 'gifted avant-R&B smoothie'. In April 2011, Ocean stated that his relationship with Def Jam had strengthened since the release of the Nostalgia, Ultra. The mixtape made Ocean widely known and led to his collaborations with rappers Jay-Z and Kanye West. Ocean first appeared in Tyler, the Creator's music video for the single ' She', from Tyler's debut studio album Goblin (2011).
His first performance was in collaboration with Odd Future at the 2011 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, where he later joined them for their first tour across the east coast of the United States.
