The final version of Kanye West's music video for "Black Skinhead" is out, and really similar to the leaked version that prompted an angry Twitter rant from West earlier this month.
The Sims-style graphics are still weird, and a computer-generated West gets more air time in his birthday suit.
The Sims-style graphics are still weird, and a computer-generated West gets more air time in his birthday suit.
Watch the video exclusively on West's website.
An impressive improvement was the addition of interactivity.
Viewers can adjust the motion speed — slowing sound and audio simultaneously — and take screenshots by clicking an Instagram icon with a hand cursor giving the middle finger.
Following its release, West begged the Internet to engage with the video on his site, and not just share static links on Twitter.
ATTENTION all sites just posting merely the video version of BLKKK SKKKN HEAD...
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) July 22, 2013
if you put a link to my site people will be able to chop & screw the video. this is a step towards the possibilities of internet based video
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) July 22, 2013
please don't diminish the user experience by just posting it as a normal video … please link them to my site
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) July 22, 2013
This press release describing the "compelling imagery," which West tweeted on Monday, displays on screen before the video plays:
Its functionality varies across different web browsers. We found Safari works best.
The video, a collaborative project with photographer and director Nick Knight, took a reported five months to create, but the final product bears a striking resemblance to the version leaked earlier this month — in spite of West's Twitter freak-out:
The BLKKK SKKKN HD video that leaked yesterday was not the official version.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) July 9, 2013
The final version will be ready within the next week.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) July 9, 2013
So any website that may have the unapproved / unfinished ruff. I ask you to please take it down.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) July 9, 2013
Allow me and Nick to give the world what we've been losing sleep over.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) July 9, 2013
And to who ever leaked the video… FUK YOU!
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) July 9, 2013
Here are some screenshots of the final video:
The sporadic cameos by Mega-Glitchy CGI Kanye were, it turns out, part of the plan the whole time.
This blurred black and white background didn't appear in the leaked version.
West shows some leg, circa Angelina Jolie at the 2012 Oscar's.
The wolves make a second appearance, accompanying the lyrics: "I'm aware I'm a wolf."
The video closes with West free-falling into a gray fog.
SEE ALSO: Kanye West Is Freaking Out On Twitter Over His Leaked Music Video
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