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.
So how do Kanye and Kim follow up that video? Well, this time, he's collaborated with the Balmain fashion house, director Steven Klein, and others for a brooding, black-and-white affair.
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.
Despite having so far only been available via pay-per-view, be it at the ticketed premiere event at LA's Forum, or as a TIDAL exclusive, the new Kanye West video has been making a big ripple (thank you) with his controversial new "Famous" video. Visually inspired by artist Vincente Desiderios' "Sleep" painting, "Famous" depicts a massive and surreal post coital moment with Kanye next to his wife Kim Kardashian, and surrounded by other naked celeb lookalikes, all of whom were perfectly chosen for maximum controversy: Taylor Swift, Chris Brown, Rihanna, Ray J, Bill Cosby, Donald Trump and on down the line.
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.
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.
"Music is art, and art is important and rare" - Taylor Swift
Bet you didn't think Kanye and TayTay had much in common, huh? But, catching glimpse of Kanye's music video collaboration with director Steve McQueen will require you to make it to LA's LACMA museum before the video heads back to destination unknown on Tuesday...
LA Times has the video pegged as a nine-minute one-taker that starts kinetically with Kanye antagonizing and engaging with the camera, but then ends with the rapper collapsed and virtually still.
Check out MTV.com's report for a breakdown of the video installation... and stay tuned for where or if it shows up next.