Kanye West

A fiery clip taken from Kanye's recent Chicago Donda album listening event.

Getting boxy and decidedly blue in this surreal video EP'ed by video legend Spike Jonze.

It's interesting that the breakout new star from the 2016 is sombody who didn't perform on the stage, and who took about about half of the time that Kanye West had at his disposal. Meet Teyana Taylor, an actress/singer/dancer who takes a cue from Irene Cara and Jane Fonda, but updated with way more sexuality and booty — and, a shower scene with her real-life fiancee, basketball star Iman Shumpert, that's closer to soft core than a workout tape — in a video that West premiered during the VMA telecast.

Of course, KWest isn't presenting a straight-up dance video. There's an ending twist, that reveals the animalist side of the on-camera actors, and the way we gawk along like obedeient sheep.

If you missed it last night, you're only option (for now) is Tidal. So sheep on over to Tidal.com if you need your fix right now.

The infamous video has hit the unfettered web... At its simplest, it's 10 minutes of celebrity doppelgangers  — we assume, unless they actually got the likes of George Bush to appear here — all sleeping together in a bed, butt naked.

The actual construction of the clip is more complex, starting with a descent through the clouds with Kanye audibly taunting designer/antagonist Hedi Slimane that rock is dead, then a leering sex-tape coverage of the massive bed tableau — a Last Supper of sorts, with Kanye and Kim and the center and surrounded by notable people, mostly culled from the most notorious parts of their past — then a more formal depiction of the set-up, following by another cloud sequence.

Artistic? It is inspired by a work by artist Vincent Desiderio, who approves of this interpolation. Controversial? Oh, yes. Yes, indeed.

No, it's not an official video for Kanye, but it should be, since I doubt anyone can top the casually ridiculous genius of Eric "Big Bud" Wareheim and Aziz "Little Bud" Ansari in this tribute to Rome, pasta, and humping inanimate objects.

Kanye West is your 2015 recipient of MTV's Video Vanguard Award — a Lifetime Achievement that's been doled out to a fairly equal mix of directors and recording artists, from Godley & Creme, Wayne Isham and Hype Williams, to Beyonce, U2, LL Cool J and some band called The Beatles.

Deserving? C'mon.

Kanye West has been one of the most daring and unique visual artists in hip-hop since his debut video "Through The Wire" — a fearless bulletin board biographical clip that's still resonant today with it's journey from hope to tragedy and then triumph.

He's worked with a dizzying array of creatives: cartoonist Bill Plympton, artist Takashi Murakami, and who's who list of important video directors: Hype Williams, Chris Milk, Nabil, Michel Gondry, Director X, Romain Gavras, Coodie & Chike, Spike Jonze and on and on. 

The award comes at an interesting point in time since Kanye seems to have been in an anti-video mode lately, with his most recent two being decidedly simple, yet still powerful clips in the fashion portrait "FourFiveSeconds" and the diaristic "Only One." Otherwise his videos have largely existed in even more ephemeral places, be it projected on a building or within the confines of a limited museum run.

Kanye has also graced the VMA stage many times, although never more infamously than his "Beyonce had the greatest video of all time!" moment — which is worth revising as a bizarrely misguided, yet magnanimous moment for an artist who often gets criticized for being self-centered. We might catch Kanye in a sharing mode and paying tribute to videos and the directors he collaborated with along the way when accepts the Vanguard on August 30, and pivot back to making bigger videos. Or, maybe he'll say nothing at all and never make another traditional video, which would also be a typically punk rock move from Yezus.

Just don't expect an explanation of "Bound 2" — that speaks for itself.