Two Versions

Frank Ocean Released a New Music Video, “Nikes,” This Morning

The video features a rapping Chihuahua as well as a tribute to Trayvon Martin.

Frank Ocean's new music video "Nikes"

The wait for Frank Ocean’s new album has been seemingly, well, endless. He finally released that self-directed film on Thursday night, which features him building set pieces while 18 tracks (possibly from his album???) play in the background. This morning, he released a music video for the first single off that album, titled “Nikes”—and it’s powerful.

“I got two versions” it begins, a line Ocean originally wrote on his Tumblr a year ago when he announced his follow up to 2012’s Channel Orange, then titled Boys Don’t Cry.

Two versions seems to be a theme in “Nikes,” in which two modified versions of Ocean’s voice sing and rap alongside and on top of each other. The video is also a tribute to the late A$AP Yams, Pimp C, and Trayvon Martin, whom Ocean says “looked just like me.”

The video features, among other things, Ocean on fire wearing a Jenny Holzer shirt, a nude female swimmer in a large tank of water, and a rapping Chihuahua. There’s no clear story, but plenty of imagery and images to unpack.

Ocean is expected to reveal more of him album later this weekend, according to Rolling Stone.