

The track lyrically contains several extended metaphors referencing Cleopatra, pyramids, and strip clubs. The song explores a narrative of a pimp falling in love with one of his clients. On June 7, 2012, Ocean posted a small teaser video featuring a snippet of the song onto his Tumblr account, and released the full, nearly 10-minute song later that day onto his official SoundCloud account. The track features an uncredited guitar solo from singer John Mayer.

The song was written by Ocean and produced by Malay and Om'Mas Keith. "Pyramids" is a song by American singer Frank Ocean, released as the second single from his debut studio album Channel Orange (2012).
