All excesses considered, Kanye West’s 35-minute hip hop film Runaway is a bold work of art only possible in the age of the web, and an effective comeback for a disgraced performer who has effectively manipulated media new and old to present himself as a sympathetic and passionate heart despite all his failings. Whether he actually is or isn’t seems beside the point by the time it’s over.
There’s no shortage of weird to be found in the video, which strings together remixed versions of several of the songs from his upcoming album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and sets them as a soundtrack to a Aristotelian poetics-educated narrative that leverages elaborate costume design, careful direction and dance numbers.
The video evokes several of the images and themes the Chicago rapper has introduced over the past few months, including the ballet dancers from his eye-catching Saturday Night Live performance and the mythical elements of his music video for “Power.”
After Kanye fell from grace with his infamous 2009 MTV Video Music Awards faux pas that became an Internet viral sensation, his return to prominence needed to be very carefully calculated. Like Lady Gaga, the celebrity Kanye West is a walking, talking work of pop art crafted from the materials of the innumerable media outlets and mediums we use to share ideas and information.
“First rule of living in this world baby? Don’t pay attention to anything you see in the news,” Kanye says near the beginning of Runaway. Self-indulgent punditry about the vicissitudes of living publicly? Perhaps. But there’s more humility and repentance in this act of hubris than you’d expect.
The video premiered exclusively on Vevo, which has become the new old-school MTV in a lot of ways — the destination for music videos. In the same VMA ceremony that Kanye took the microphone from Taylor Swift, post-punk band Green Day called for MTV to play more music videos, but the case can be made that music videos belong online, not on the airwaves.
Runaway, Kanye’s previous video for “Power” and other projects like Swedish singer-songwriter Jonna Lee’s obtuse iamamiwhoami series show that there are artistic benefits in this. All have runtimes unconventional for music videos, but they can be as long as they need to be — on the Internet, no one is yet going to say it’s time to break for commercial or a reality TV news update.
Kanye and his team have taken advantage of this to use these videos and Twitter as platforms to reshape his image with the skeptical public. He answered fans’ questions on Twitter yesterday after the video’s debut.
The record sales figures and critics’ reviews will decide whether or not the artist was successful after the new album launches late next month, but this is an impressive directorial debut for Kanye and a fascinating look at how the new rules of media and entertainment can play a part in crafting a work of art and restoring a damaged brand.
Here’s the video in its entirety.
More About: hip-hop, kanye, kanye west, music, music video, runaway, vevo, video, viral videos, youtube
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