Frank Ocean's Return Continues With Striking, NSFW 'Nikes' Music Video
Frank Ocean knows that his fans have been chomping at the bit for new material from him for the past four years - and after a prolific, eventful weekend, he's thanking them for their support.
"I had the time of my life making all of this. Thank you all," he wrote on his Tumblr page. "Especially those of you who never let me forget I had to finish. Which is basically every one of ya'll. Haha. Love You."
Frank's Tumblr page has also hosted longer, more introspective entries. But after all he has released this weekend, fans should have their fair share of Frank Ocean for a while.
On Thursday night, Frank Ocean surprise released Endless, a 44-minute visual album of new music that features collaborations with Jasmine Sullivan, James Blake, Sampha and Arca. The visuals showed Frank building a spiraling staircase - an image that was introduced when a stream on the site BoysDontCry.co went live in previous weeks.
The following night, he released the music video for "Nikes" - a colorful, sprawling, NSFW affair that featured a slew of striking images and tributes to ASAP Yams, Pimp C and Trayvon Martin.
Saturday was the big day. Early that evening, Frank Ocean announced the opening of four Boys Don't Cry pop-up shops around the world - Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and London - that had copies of the Boys Don't Cry magazine he had announced in 2015. Moments later, fans got what they wanted: Blonde, a brand new Frank Ocean album that features contributions by Pharrell Williams, Kanye West, Yung Lean, Rick Rubin, and many others.
Endless, the "Nikes" video and Blonde are all exclusively available on Apple Music.
The weekend's releases come after years of build-up since Frank Ocean's 2012 Def Jam debut, channel ORANGE. He revealed that he was working in 2013, and in April 2015, he said the album and an accompanying magazine would be released that July. After the release date came and went, a combo of media reports, fan speculation and obscure messages from Frank made the topic of his impending album a running joke and a source of obsessive frustration, depending who you ask.
Frank Ocean posted an image of a library card with various dates at the beginning of July 2, 2016, with the image hinting at a release date by the end of the month. But again, the month completed without a release. But on Aug. 1, Apple Music released the first shot of the warehouse Frank is working from in Endless; and weeks later, the rollout seems complete.
It's been a long ride, but Frank Ocean has left us plenty to talk about: two albums, a magazine, and visuals.
