Kanye West's "Runaway"

I was considering making this 35+ minutes "music video" of Hip Hop biggest ego Kanye West's Runaway which turned into an hour long TV program on VH1 late last night my Music Invasion of the week but the sheer length of it doesn't fit in my definition. Maybe it's one of the occasion where the language barrier with me really shows, I can't decipher or understand most hip hop songs without really taking the time to study the lyrics, so in no point of this mini movie does any piece of music got into my head.



To call Kanye egotistical is somewhat of an understatement, he has surpassed your normal rap star bragging and go into a whole megalomaniac state. I too was endeared to Kanye when he showed up on the Hurricane Relief Concert and blurted out "George Bush doesn't care about Black people", his gay-friendliness and I did enjoy Late Registration. But these days, he has been pulling a Mel Gibson on us showing up late and intoxicated in concert performance, getting on stage and be Taylor Swift moment-stealer on the VMA. Success do funny things to people.

Despite the theme of this mini-movie is an artistic expression of his "Why do people hate me because I'm talented" narrative, it isn't without any merits. Sure, the story is a bit out there, illogical and deeply pretentious, it was quite beautifully filmed. Main actress Selita Ebanks is gorgeous, both the art director and the cinematographer deserve awards. The sequence starts at 13:37 with the ballet is gorgeous, I love the contrast of the delicate unraveling limbs and flowery tutus with the rough content of the song "Runaway" and I can almost see myself appreciating ballet even though I think it's one of the most boring type of artistic expressions. There's truly some great music in the video, I loved the final song with the very Imogen Heap-y vocal manipulation. It showcases that Kanye really does have talent, if only he can be more personable and less of a twat about it. When people have talent and self-confidence, I imagine there would be an attractive quiet confidence about them, someone with a lot to prove and an arrogant demeanor usually means otherwise.