Frank’s Time Away The above picture is shot at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Tokyo, Japan in 2015 when Frank was visiting to put the final touches on the “Boys Don’t Cry Magazine”. It was after the 2013 Grammys that Frank Ocean decided to take time away and move to London sparking one of the most anticipated returns in modern music. The events that transpired within his hiatus are a mystery for most, but here are some short stories and trvia that occured in the 4 years Frank was away.





The Nikes video was first drafted back in September 2014. Frank took a trip with his friend Emily. Frank wanted to visit several car shops and borrow some RWBs for a shoot. He was connected with Toshi Ichiraku, who is the director of RWB Worldwide. They talked and later met with Akira Nakai, the founder of RWB and ended up letting Frank borrow some Porsches.



The “Boys Don’t Cry” magazine started in 2014 and as the magazine was being produced, Frank was conflicted over the official font. He really loved the concept of the “Berlin Biennale “ and asked his project manager Wendy to contact the establishment behind the piece. That’s when he met Zak Group and together with his creative director Thomas Mastorakos they agreed upon the “3D Scanning” design seen in the final draft.

Frank went to a party in London and heard The Isley Brothers ‘At Your Best’ and fell in love with the track. He said to himself that he “had to cover this” and eventually did. The original track contained drums but after showing it to producer Jordan Ascher; who suggested that Frank remove the drums to let the track breathe more, Several months later, ‘You Are Luhh’ was released without the drums.

A year before releasing the ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ magazine, Frank had Daniel Freeman’s paintings of Lil B, Christophe Chassol and Om’mas Keith plastered all over London. These paintings ended up in the final edition of the magazine

Frank and ‘Nikes’ director Tyrone Lebon took acid while filming filming the music video to make the overall atmosphere more kaleidoscopic. The video was all shot in London and Frank had one his E30’s imported from Los Angeles after it was finished being wrapped by Ghost Motorsport.

During his time in London, Frank would visit local record stores and spend hours there listening to Fleetwood Mac and The Beatles.

Frank worked on an unreleased project in Japan with Luke Huxham who specializes in making car commercials. Luke also works with RWB / RAUH-Welt BEGRIFF, the same company that rented Frank Porchses during his stay in Japan.

Frank’s current car collection includes an Acura NSX, Porsche 911 GT3, Tesla Model X S.U.V. and a supercharged S54-powered E30 sedan.

