videology

‘Pyramids’ Video: Frank Ocean’s NSFW Adventure

Frank Ocean made a wise choice linking back up with Nabil, the Australian director behind the Nostalgia, Ultra joints “Swim Good” and “Novacane” as well as Kanye West’s optical illusion of a “Mercy” video and Bon Iver’s striking “Holocene” and “Towers” clips. Here, our man Frank downs four absinthes, blasts up a bar, then rides a motorcycle into a strobe-lit, slo-mo strip club fever dream. (There’s your NSFW portion of the program — half the lengthy song’s narrative centers around a guy’s complicated relationship with a Vegas stripper. That’s the half that’s not about Cleopatra, set in ancient Egypt.) “Pyramids” purists will notice the jam has been chopped up a little — including an intro and closer featuring other Channel Orange tracks — but John Mayer also shows up a bit past the five-minute mark to up his shred game from the understated offering on the album. Have fun.

‘Pyramids’ Video: Frank Ocean’s NSFW Adventure