Novacane

For many of us, "Novacane" was our introduction to Frank Ocean, who moved from his home city of New Orleans to Los Angeles in August 2005 to pursue a music career. Before releasing his own music, he was a writer for a number of well known acts, including Beyoncé ("I Miss You" from the album 4). He also appeared on a couple of tracks on Kanye West and Jay-Z collaborative album, Watch The Throne. Ocean's debut mixtape, Nostalgia, Ultra, was self-released on February 18, 2011 via his personal blog and included the dark and moody "Novacane," which he released as his first single. On July 26, 2011, Def Jam Records released tracks from the mixtape as his debut EP.

Ocean explained the mixtape's title, Nostalgia, Ultra, in an interview with Complex magazine: "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. The only big debate was whether I was going to use the slash or the comma, but the comma felt right, too."

In "Novacane," Ocean is looking to his lover to numb his pain. The song fits the overarching theme of the Nostalgia, Ultra mixtape, which was inspired by the ending of a relationship. Ocean told Complex magazine: "Going through heartbreak was new for me. I wasn't trying to make a record that people could relate to. I was just trying to make a record with the s--t that I wanted to express. The s--t that I wanted to get off my chest. Everybody has a unique experience, but it's a feeling that's so human that others can relate to it. A lot of this record is influenced by one relationship, but I don't owe that whole project to one situation. It doesn't matter what the details of it are."