American rapper Kanye West is the self-proclaimed “voice of a generation”. He also has the honour of being called a “jackass” by US President Barack Obama for pulling the mic out of the hands of a “young girl who seems perfectly nice”, aka Taylor Swift.

West’s latest album was released in February to a mixed reception. The music video of the much-anticipated first single Famous came out on June 24, instantly greeted by controversy. It ends giving thanks to, amongst others, “Bill Cosby, Chris Brown, Rihanna, Donald Trump, George Bush” for “being famous”.

It's just that Cosby’s been charged with sexual assault on multiple woman, Chris Brown assaulted Rihanna when the two were going out, and as for Donald Trump and George Bush...well, they're Donald Trump and George Bush.

West’s video – which features wax figures of these figures and other celebrities, including his wife Kim Kardashian West, in the nude – is a comment on “fame”. It is supposed to be a “work of art”. The fact that it is a teenage boy’s version of art does not matter.

The song has already provoked outrage for its lyrics about the infamous Taylor Swift incident “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex. Why? I made that bitch famous,” West raps in the song. Apparently, he felt liberated singing these lines.

It's true, he felt, and therefore he shouldn't be stopped from voicing whatever he feels. Yes, even if you have sentiments with misogynist and sexist undertones.

In the first couple of minutes of the 10-minute-long video, which was exclusive to rapper Jay Z's much-criticised streaming service Tidal for a week before coming to YouTube, the camera pans over the nude bodies of men and women lying together in bed. The men are face down. On the other hand, the women's breasts and buttocks are amplified. None of the figures involved were asked for permission.

This is followed by a much longer watching-paint-drying sequence, which feels as if this is something West would be most proud of. Deep breathing is heard as more nude bodies are shown. Yes, Kanye West wants to be Andy Warhol and he will do anything to be compared to him.

Filmmaker and writer Lena Dunham wrote a lengthy post criticising the video, concluding, "Kanye: you're cool. Make a statement on fame and privacy and the Illuminati or whatever is on your mind! But I can't watch it, don't want to watch it, if it feels informed and inspired by the aspects of our culture that make women feel unsafe even in their own beds, in their own bodies."

Thankfully, there's always the adult animated show South Park. In an episode, a joke that the lead characters created is getting worldwide fame. There's only one guy, the "proud non-reader of books", who cannot understand it...until it makes him have the most life-changing of realisations.

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