DIBS: Kanye West's Runaway

I guess I can't write this fast enough. While I was upstate this weekend Kanye West's Runaway premiered on MTV. On the way back, I sat in the front seat of a rainy, nighttime Greyhound watching, flabbergasted, at this 30 minute manifesto written and directed by 'Ye himself (with some highbrow inspiration from across the board, but we'll get to that later).

For tonight, I just need to get this in front of your faces as quickly as possible. Get a good pair of headphones a half an hour of interrupted time, and check it. Tomorrow, I'll fill you in on my thoughts on what this infuriating, intriguing beautiful piece is.

I will only leave you with something well put by performance artist Aliza Shvarts regarding West's performance, "Somehow we have to be open to unmaking ourselves to remake ourselves in other ways."

Love him or hate him, like Elvis's hips or MJ's Thriller, West's Runaway speaks very loud for our generation's musical imprint in the world.

"All of the statues that we see, where do you think they came from?"

"I think that artists carved them years and years ago,"

"No, they are phoenix turned to stone, do you know what I hate most about your world? Anything that is different, you try to change. You try to tear it down. You rip the wings off the phoenix and they turn to stone. And if I don't burn, I will turn to stone. If I don't burn, I can't go back to my world."

Cheers,

Merman