Kanye West Famous Music Video (NSFW)
Kanye West is known for pushing the envelope, especially when it comes to interacting with other celebrities. His new ‘Famous’ music video if raising some uproar in the entertainment world.
The Famous music video premiered on the music service Tidal last month, and on July 1, the music video was uploaded to the KanyeWestVevo channel on YouTube.
The video opens with several images that depict celebrities and what looks like interviews but in lo-definition, archive footage if you will. With the compilation of images, you also see quick glimpses of what you’re about to witness within the music video itself.
We then hear Rihanna come in as the camera focuses on the bed sheets only to pan over the sleeping bodies of nude celebrities; George W. Bush, Anna Wintour, Donald Trump, Rihanna, Chris Brown, Taylor Swift, Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Ray J., Amber Rose, Caitlyn Jenner, and Bill Cosby. These celebrities weren’t actually in the video, instead, the bodies featured are wax figures.
The whole video gives an eerie ‘home-footage’ feel and at the 2:25 mark, the music subsides but the camera continues to pan over the naked bodies. Along with the camera panning over the communal sleep and uncomfortable silence, we hear panting which seemingly is coming from the individual holding the camera. This carries on for five minutes with a ‘thank you’ of sorts to the celebrities depicted in the video. They’re simply thanked for being “famous”.
Kanye told Vanity Fair that he is not for or against any of the celebrities depicted in the video, but that it’s simply a comment on fame.
The video was inspired by a painting entitled “Sleep” by artist Vincent Desiderio. In an interview with NPR, Desiderio explains how Kanye got a hold of him and showed him the video before its release. He also explains the inspiration for his painting, saying,
“One of the big similarities is that, as I was doing my painting, I wasn’t feeling a tremendous amount of empathy for the people; I actually thought of them as slumbering idiots who really need to wake up to what’s going on, to a different world. And yet, every time I worked on it, rather than taking the image to a highly critical point that’s typical in the art world, jaded and cynical, I kept holding back. It was almost as if I began falling in love with the characters, even though at the beginning of my endeavor they were supposed to be people I didn’t quite care for.
And so when I saw Kanye’s video, I was also struck by [that]. A few these people are certainly repulsive to me, and everything in the habit of my intuitions would steer me to seeing this as a vicious attack on them. And yet, there was something in the execution of the piece that kept all of those thoughts at bay. I felt a spark of empathy — not really for them, it was for the world.” – Desiderio, NPR.
Could Kanye’s video be a criticism on each celebrity and how they need to ‘wake up’ from being famous? Perhaps fame is the bed they are all laying in, which they need to reenergize and need for sustenance.
In the same interview with NPR, Desiderio explains why he thinks Kanye depicts himself in the video along with the other celebrities.
“An image like that is a mirror of the ridiculous cult of celebrity. I think Kanye, who I believe is very much like Andy Warhol in that he does not let his guard down about who he is, presents a mirror to people rather than he telling them how to think.” – Desiderio, NPR.
Along with a lot of buzz, the video has gotten a lot of backlash due to its controversial context. Including a public Facebook post by Lena Dunham (creator of HBO “Girls”), stating, “…I have to see the prone, unconscious, waxy bodies of famous women, twisted like they’ve been drugged and chucked aside at a rager? It gives me such a sickening sense of dis-ease.”
Amber Rose also fires back in an interview with The Daily Beast stating, “Everything I’ve done since then [their relationship] is my own doing, and I’ve worked my f***ing ass off for everything I have.”
The Famous music video has certainly raised some eyebrows and some controversy for obvious reasons. Check out the Famous music video below, and see what all the buzz is about.
Kanye West – Famous Lyrics:
Man I can understand how it might be
Kinda hard to love a girl like me
I don’t blame you much for wanting to be free
I just wanted you to know
Swizz told me let the beat rock
[Kanye West & Swizz Beatz:]
For all my Southside niggas that know me best
I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex
Why? I made that bitch famous (God damn)
I made that bitch famous
For all the girls that got dick from Kanye West
If you see ’em in the streets give ’em Kanye’s best
Why? They mad they ain’t famous (God damn)
They mad they’re still nameless (Talk that talk, man)
Her man in the store tryna try his best
But he just can’t seem to get Kanye fresh
But we still hood famous (God damn)
Yeah we still hood famous
[Rihanna & Swizz Beatz:]
I just wanted you to know
I loved you better than your own kin did
From the very start
I don’t blame you much for wanting to be free
Wake up, Mr West! Oh, he’s up!
I just wanted you to know
[Kanye West & Swizz Beatz:]
I be Puerto Rican day parade floatin’
That Benz Marina Del Rey coastin’
She in school to be a real estate agent
Last month I helped her with the car payment
Young and we alive, whoo!
We never gonna die, whoo!
I just copped a jet to fly over personal debt
Put one up in the sky
The sun is in my eyes, whoo!
Woke up and felt the vibe, whoo!
No matter how hard they try, whoo!
We never gonna die
[Rihanna:]
I just wanted you to know
[Sister Nancy & Swizz Beatz:]
Bam bam, bam bam
Bam bam dilla, bam bam
‘ey what a bam bam
How you feeling right now? Let me see your lighters in the air
Bam bam dilla, bam bam
Bam bam eh
Bam bam, bam bam
Let me see your middle finger in the air
Bam bam, bam bam
Bam bam dilla, bam bam
Let me see you act up in this motherfucker
‘ey what a bam bam
Bam bam dilla, bam bam
How you feelin’, how you feelin, how you feelin’ in this mother fucker, god damn
Bam bam
One thing you can’t do is stop us now
Bam bam, bam bam
Bam bam dilla, bam bam
You can’t stop the thing now
‘ey what a bam bam
Man it’s way too late, it’s way too late, it’s way too late you can’t fuck with us
Bam bam dilla, bam bam
Bam bam, bam bam
Bam bam, bam bam
To the left, to the right
Bam bam dilla, bam bam
I wanna see everybody hands in the air like this
‘ey what a bam bam
Bam bam, bam bam
Bam bam dilla, bam bam
[Nina Simone:]
I just wanted you to know
I loved you better than your own kin did
From the very start
I don’t blame you much for wanting to be free
I just wanted you to know