21-time Grammy winner Kanye West debuted his incendiary music video for his new song, Wash Us In The Blood, on Tuesday.
The montage of madness was assembled by Sundance Award-winning DP Arthur Jafa, who previously directed videos for Solange and Devendra Banhart as well as working on two Spike Lee films.
The 43-year-old rapper-designer’s face is obscured by a CG black mask through most of the clip, along with footage of him from The Yeezus Tour in 2013-2014.
Back in the spotlight: 21-time Grammy winner Kanye West debuted his incendiary music video for his new song, Wash Us In The Blood, on Tuesday
Corona graphic: The montage of madness was assembled by Sundance Award-winning DP Arthur Jafa, who previously directed videos for Solange and Devendra Banhart
Seven-time Grammy nominee Travis Scott, who has a daughter with Kanye’s sister-in-law Kylie Jenner, is featured on the song and makes a cameo smoking in the video.
But mostly, West’s video is made up of footage from the past few months of rage-filled Black Lives Matter protests.
It opens with a white police officer, his face blurred with CG, pushing people in a group of mostly peaceful protesters.
There’s shots of desperately sick African-Americans struggling to breathe after coming down with the coronavirus.
Elusive: The 43-year-old rapper-designer’s face is obscured by a CG black mask through most of the clip, along with footage of him from The Yeezus Tour in 2013-2014
All in the family: Seven-time Grammy nominee Travis Scott, who has a daughter with Kanye’s sister-in-law Kylie Jenner, is featured on the song and makes a cameo smoking in the video
Burn it down: But mostly, West’s video is made up of footage from the past two months of rage-filled Black Lives Matter protests
Police brutality: It opens with a white police officer, his face blurred with CG, pushing people in a group of mostly peaceful protesters
They can’t breathe: There’s shots of desperately sick African-Americans struggling to breathe after coming down with the coronavirus
Wash Us In The Blood attempts to reflect the politically-heated, near apocalyptic times all Americans are living through – the age of uncertainty.
The Donald Trump supporter also shows the late Ahmaud Arbery running, unarmed, before his murder by three white men in Georgia on February 23.
Kanye made donations to Arbery’s family as well as George Floyd and Breonna Taylor to help with their legal costs, according to TMZ.
It ends on a hopeful note with his seven-year-old daughter North dancing with his Sunday Service choir as West makes a plea to God.
Gospel singer: Wash Us In The Blood attempts to reflect the politically-heated, near apocalyptic times all Americans are living through – the age of uncertainty
Stalked and killed: The Donald Trump supporter also shows the late Ahmaud Arbery running, unarmed, before his murder by three white men in Georgia on February 23
Charitable: Kanye made donations to Arbery’s family as well as George Floyd and Breonna Taylor to help with their legal costs
His legacy: It ends on a hopeful note with his seven-year-old daughter North dancing with his Sunday Service choir as West makes a plea to God
The born-again Christian said: ‘Wash us in the blood of Jesus. Holy spirit come down. We need you’
‘Wash us in the blood of Jesus. Holy spirit come down. We need you,’ the born-again Christian said.
Wash Us In The Blood marks the first collaboration between Ye and six-time Grammy winner Dr. Dre, who mixed the track.
‘He’s the definition of a true talent: Dre feels like God placed him here to make music, and no matter what forces are aligned against him, he always ends up on the mountaintop,’ West wrote in Rolling Stone back in 2010.
‘I remember hearing Dre’s music before I really knew who he was. I had a tape of Eazy-E’s Eazy-Duz-It when I was ten years old (until my mother found out it had curses on it and confiscated it).
Hip-hop legend: Wash Us In The Blood marks the first collaboration between Ye and six-time Grammy winner Dr. Dre (R), who mixed the track (pictured November 18)
West wrote in Rolling Stone back in 2010: ‘He’s the definition of a true talent: Dre feels like God placed him here to make music, and no matter what forces are aligned against him, he always ends up on the mountaintop’ (pictured in 2011)
On sale now: Wash Us In The Blood will appear on Kanye’s forthcoming 10th studio album, God’s Country
‘I didn’t know what “production” was back then, but I knew I loved the music. The more I learned about producing hip-hop, the more I respected what Dre was doing.’
The Calabasas father-of-four also admitted that he ‘bit’ his ‘entire sound’ from the 55-year-old hip-hop mogul’s 1999 song, Xxplosive, off his second studio album 2001.
Wash Us In The Blood will appear on Kanye’s forthcoming 10th studio album, God’s Country.