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Kanye West has pushed the boundaries of music video visuals, completely.
The rapper debuted the NSFW music video for “Famous,” the first single off his latest album, The Life of Pablo, on Friday night at the Forum in Inglewood, California. The presentation, which sold out in 20 minutes on Ticketmaster, also streamed live on Tidal.
Inspired by Vincent Desiderio’s 2008 “Sleep” painting, West literally strips down 12 of the biggest pop culture figures. The video opens with a snippet of Taylor Swift with background audio from the MTV Video Music Awards.
Then, naked sculptures resembling Swift, George W. Bush, Anna Wintour, Donald Trump, Rihanna, Chris Brown, Kanye, Kim Kardashian West, Ray J, Amber Rose, Caitlyn Jenner and Bill Cosby all lay naked in repose, and are lumped together on a significantly large bed with a singular bed sheet covering them.
During the video, the camera pans on each individual’s face as body tattoos and differing hairstyles make each celebrity identifiable. Rihanna, who lends her vocals for the chorus, can be recognized by her Egyptian goddess Isis tattoo while Rose, who is West’s ex, can be recognized by her bleached buzzed head.
And at the end, a panorama-style visual shows all 12 celebrities in one shot followed by ending credits that name each figure in order from left to right, starting with Bush and ending with Cosby. “Special thanks for being famous,” the clip closes.
“I wanna thank Eli first of all who was in the project every day … I don’t wanna give away how it all happened,” West addressed the audience. “I wanna thank all my family, my wife, and y’all supporting ideas and truth. I got one question though. Would you like me to play that back?”
Dressed in a white “Famous” shirt, white jeans and color coordinated Yeezy sneakers, West, 39, joined the audience over 45 minutes before the scheduled 7 pm premiere taking photos with fans and hanging out with famous pals. The start time was delayed by 40 minutes due to ticket holders being stuck in L.A. traffic.
Joining the star were his wife, Kourtney Kardashian, Kris Jenner, Rick Rubin, Scott Disick, French Montana, Desiigner, The Game, 2 Chainz and Post Malone.
Kylie Jenner and Tyga were seated next to the rest of the family, and appeared to be back together as they held hands throughout the event.
North and Saint’s mom dressed in a tank top and skirt combo with a fur shawl. She accessorized with her $10,000 “Saint” choker.
“Famous” is the infamous song that refueled West’s feud with Swift, 26. The father of two raps, “For all my Southside n—-s who will know me best / I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why, I made that b—h famous / God damn / I made that b—h famous.”
Though Swift claims she didn’t approve the verses mentioning her, Kardashian West, 35, recently came to the defense of her husband in an interview saying: “She totally approved that. She totally knew that that was coming out. She wanted to all of a sudden act like she didn’t. I swear, my husband gets so much s— for things [when] he really was doing proper protocol and even called to get it approved.”
The grandeur of the L.A. event mirrored West’s previous Madison Square Garden gathering where he released his seventh studio album and Yeezy Season 3 fashion show in February.
Earlier this month, West announced dates for his Saint Pablo tour, which kicks off Aug. 25 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
He has four shows (Oct. 25, Oct. 26, Oct. 27 and Nov. 1) scheduled at the Forum.
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