Kanye West and Spike Jonze are buddies, going far back (at least) as when the whimsical director interviewed West for VBSTV, and the rapper called Graduation his Thriller album. The fairly violent video features Kanye getting beaten down with a shovel by a half-naked woman. There is a “graphic nature” warning at the beginning of the clip.
The premise is basically: a scantily clad woman has kidnapped and trapped West in the back of her trunk for reasons unknown. She kissed his tapped-up mouth and then proceeds to pull a “Goodfellas” and beat his body senseless with a shovel. Not for kids and most likely not for MTV or most commercial airplay, but you’ve got to love Jonze’s wacky and disturbing ideas.
Oh yeah, it’s all done in one, slow-motion shot to boot. When West told Jonze in the aforementioned video that he strives to give his audience something extra , “I give people better art. My life depends on how good this does” and “I want my music, my pieces of art, to be that,” we guess he wasn’t kidding.
Rodrigo Perez is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Playlist, which he launched in 2008. He has worked in entertainment journalism since 2000, including at MTV, and has written for SPIN, IndieWire, Pitchfork, Complex, Magnet, and various music, film, and entertainment publications over the past two decades.
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