Frank Ocean Unveils Visuals for "Nikes"

Early this morning, Frank Ocean released a new music video titled “Nikes” which is rumored to be the first single off his official follow up album to 2012’s Channel Orange.

The newly released video can best be described as a hypnotizing combination of semi-NSFW nudity, glitter inspired late nights, rare colorful race cars, the avant-garde representation of what appear to be both fans and individuals from all unique walks of life, and a cameo from A$AP Rocky, paying his respects to A$AP Yams.

For the first two thirds of the video (see above), Ocean narrates and sings in a contrasted style of higher pitched vocals, and chopped-and-screwed commentary. At 3:04, Ocean properly breaks into the song, with a relatively short yet powerful verse.

This new “Nikes” video comes only hours after, Frank Ocean finally gave fans what they’ve been so desperately craving, a lot of new material. In the form of a visual album via Apple Music, Frank Ocean is depicted building a spiral staircase, and is simultaneously accompanied by an entire albums worth of new music. The visual album in question, is titled Endless, and without fail, had fans and Twitter in a frenzy. Endless appears to be what Ocean was alluding too a few weeks earlier, with a brief and befitting endless loop of a single scene of Endless (no the irony is not lost on us) which he then uploaded to his website.

Not that anything thus far concerning Ocean’s new album has been clear cut, but this is where things start to get even more confusing. While yes Frank Ocean has released what appears to be an album in itself, one cannot yet listen to the audio without the visual stream. While this is understandably frustrating for fans, rumors are beginning to circulate that Endless (classified as a biography on iTunes) is a separate project to Boys Don’t Cry, which is believed to still be on the cusp of an official release this weekend. If this is indeed true, “Nikes” should prove to stand as the first single off this rumored second project, but unfortunately the world is once again at the mercy of Ocean’s cryptic behavior and strategic decisions. Whether Endless will serve as his new album once the individual tracks are released, or if he really has “two versions” and another catalog of material is on its way is unclear. However, the dust should settle by the end of this weekend, hopefully giving fans the answers they’ve been so patiently waiting for.

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Posted By

TJ Mroz

- Honors, Communications (Wilfrid Laurier University) - Program Director, Radio Laurier (Waterloo & Brantford Campus) - Host of The Rap Up (Radio Laurier) - Amateur Hip-Hop artist - Email: tj_mroz@hotmail.com - Twitter: @TeeJmroz