In February of 2011, he released his first mixtape titled nostalgia, ULTRA without the knowledge of his record company Def Jam knowing. He did this due to the fact that the label was’t allowing him to drop his music after he was officially signed. The self dropped mixtape received tons of uplifting reviews from NPR, Rolling Stone, and many more. He also caught the attention of well known stars like Jay-Z and Kanye West. They were so impressed that they insisted Ocean to contribute to two tracks on their 2011 album, Watch the Throne. After his first drop, he was far from done. He went on to work on a follow up album that was released by Def Jam. in June of 2012 he unofficially released a song called Pyramids via his Tumblr site just how his first mixtape was released. The following month he was invited to appear on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon where he revealed another unreleased snipped of another song from his upcoming album. Not shortly after, he revealed to his fans that he was bisexual but received a heap of support and encouragement for making this big announcement so publicly. His second album, channel ORANGE, was officially released on iTunes on July 10, 2012. Within the first couple of hours of the new album being released, it was already No. 1 on the charts. In 2016 he released a 45-minute visual album titled Endless while simultaneously, dropping his third album-second studio album- titled Blonde.