At the 2013 Grammy Awards, Channel Orange was nominated for Album of the Year and won Best Urban Contemporary Album one of its singles, ' Thinkin Bout You', was nominated for Record of the Year. His first studio album, the eclectic Channel Orange (2012), incorporated R&B and soul styles. The following year, he released his first mixtape, Nostalgia, Ultra, and subsequently secured a recording contract with Def Jam Recordings. Ocean began his musical career as a ghostwriter, prior to joining the hip hop collective Odd Future in 2010.
Ocean has won two Grammy Awards and a Brit Award for International Male Solo Artist among other accolades, and his two studio albums have been listed on Rolling Stone 's ' 500 Greatest Albums of All Time' (2020). His early works are credited by some music critics for pioneering the alternative R&B genre. Christopher Francis Ocean (born Christopher Edwin Breaux October 28, 1987) is an American singer, songwriter, and rapper.