So the new full-length Kanye West video has been released.
If you have 35-minutes to kill have a look. I ain’t gonna lie, I only watched it so that when everyone else started talking about it, I’d know what they’re talking about. I’ll also admit, that sometimes the lines between crap and art get a bit blurry for me.
Whenever I hear of these long play video clips, I wonder what the hell the artist is thinking. I don’t give a shit about a 13-minute music video (let alone 30) and the only time you’ll probably be able to see it is either on the Internet or on Rage at 3am. I just wanna hear the song, maybe see some ass, a nice car, a cool stunt and something in slow motion. Under no circumstances should a music video become a short-film starring the artist and their friends. Case in point: Puffy, Ma$e and J-Lo did NOT need to make a ten minute recreation of True Lies with the track Been Around the World. No one needed to see that. No one.
However, when done right, a mini-movie music video clips can be quite neat (Thriller, Remember the Time, California Love, etc). I just don’t know where to put this Runaway video. I mean, I actually quite like some of the visual aspects; colours, set design, shots and the appropriate use of slow motion. But the dialogue is horrendous at best (he calls the phoenix “baby”), the acting was average and some parts just plain ol’ annoyed me (he took her to a party where they were serving bird!).
The ballet scene was stunning while the scene where they copulate or dry hump is forgettable. The way he soundtracked the clip was also on point with the ballet scene and the end credits (ha!) being the ones that stuck out most – although the auto-tune made me cringe.
Overall, it was aiight. And I bet if he cut the video in HALF it’ll still be aiight.
Janini Panini
STOLEN RECORDS 