Samson, thought of as a white biblical figure, has stolen the queen of the black speaker. To further establish Cleopatra’s disloyalty, the speaker says, “Set the cheetah on the loose.” “Cheetah” can be heard as “cheater.” Furthermore, the line about Cleopatra cheating on her lover introduces the element of race.
Later in the first part of the song, the speaker says, “I found you laying down with Samson and his full head of hair.” This line establishes that the speaker is a lover of Cleopatra and that he found her cheating on him. Instead, she is being chased, as there is “a thief out on the loose.” It appears that someone is trying to steal Cleopatra. However, Cleopatra is not bathing in her lavish lifestyle.
In the first part of the song, Ocean introduces “Cleopatra,” historically know as one of the most beautiful, important queens in world history. In “Pyramids,” Frank Ocean shows how the power dynamic between Black and Europeans have shifted dramatically during Westernization through commentary from a Black male lover on a Black female lover in ancient Egypt and present day Las Vegas.
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