Kanye Wast revealed a new music video at The Forum in LA last night, the first to be officially released from recent opus The Life of Pablo. After comedians Aziz Ansari and Eric Wareheim’s West-approved DIY Euro-trip film for “Famous,” Kanye’s camp decided to give it another go — and it was definitely worth the do-over.
The film is a quietly outrageous, satirical, and celebrity skewing sex-tape-style promo. It has punchlines, revelations, and a cast of recognizable stars — mostly identified by tattoos, piercings, or in one case, a gigantic ass. It’s The Last Supper for the Twitter generation: a heaving, breathing, post coital mass of famous people, seemingly asleep but radiating story, scandal, and tabloid-grabbing, money-making, click-baiting headlines.
The ever contentious and controversy courting star, Kanye brims with talent. He defies genres and careers, and is an artist simply because he says he is — a Dali-like mix of both high art and pop art in an age of transparent, immediate celebrity. In grand events like this one, he displays unmatchable theatrical showmanship, rivaled only perhaps by today’s politicians (keep your eyes peeled around 2:13 and 6:29 minutes in).
A concoction of Sam Taylor Wood’s moving portrait of David Beckham, hints of John and Yoko’s Bed Peace, and in the style of Kim K and Ray J’s homemade sex tape, the promo is a direct translation of Vincent Desiderio’s painting Sleep. Only Kanye has the balls to throw all this, and today’s biggest stars (for the right or wrong reasons) into in orgy and then live-stream it to the world. Welcome to 2016 — at least they get thanked for it.