Kanye’s Video Makes Me Uncomfortable

I love Kanye as much as the next guy. I do. And even if in my humble opinion “Love Lockdown” is exactly what it should sound like (a producer ternt rappa ternt sanga caterwauling like a tracheotomized android), I have to say this video is beautiful. If you haven’t seen it, you should. Here. It’s gorgeous, visually arresting and the starkness juxtaposed with the explosive action is damn-near impossible to stop looking at. It was genius to have Simon Henwood direct because as creative director, he did a brilliant job lighting up Kanye’s Glow in the Dark tour. I also think it was genius to premier the video on “Ellen.” Peep the video here:

What I’m having problems with, now that I’ve happily watched this video a bajillion times, is that it’s maybe sorta racist. Check it. OK, so yes, we get that it’s an homage to Patrick Bateman in American Psycho.

But while Patrick Bateman had this sparse, regimented life in order to quell the murder monster, why is Kanye’s “trouble within” portrayed as a tribe of dancing, spear wielding Africans? What exactly is he trying to lock down? Why this particular personification? I might be nuts but it just feels weird to display this archetype in such broad strokes.

Of Afar, Anlo-Ewe, Amhara, Ashanti, Bakongo, Bambara, Bemba, Berber, Bobo, Dogon, Fang, Fon, Fulani, Ibos, Kikuyu, Maasai, Mandinka, Pygmies, Samburu, Senufo, Tuareg, Wolof, Yoruba, Zulu (among others), just who are these guys? I don’t know. I’d like for someone to tell me.

And why show these drums when you admittedly used Japanese Taiko drums for the song? And why use ancient Peruvian geoglyphs for body paint on these ethnic peoples?

And then light the whole thing up like Tron so it reminds me of this guy?

The more I watch it, the more I give myself a headache thinking about Kanye’s intentions and what this all means. Then I remind myself that he’s an entertainer, has admitted that he doesn’t read books and that he’s Kanye “I can’t make a lyrical allusion to anything preceding my life span” West and feel better. The video’s pretty and that’s nice. Fin.