"Famous" - Kanye West ft Rihanna [YouTube Official Music Video]

Kanye West continues to find ways to push the envelope, for better or for worse. Watch the new visuals for "Famous" above on YouTube.

The video was inspired by Vincent Desiderio's 2008 mural painting called “Sleep.” For the story of how that came together, along with an interview of Desiderio, head to The New York Times.

Musically, the song has some interesting samples but isn't particularly creative. Lyrically, it has been the source of controversy because of a few ridiculous lines directed toward Taylor Swift, who fired back during her speech at the 2016 Grammys while accepting the award for Best Album. The controversy hasn't gone away, after Kim Kardashian claimed that Swift approved the verse in an interview with GQ, but Swift responded by saying she had never heard the song and had not given it her approval.

Taylor's camp requested that Kanye and Kim leave her alone, but that was obviously ignored. This video features a T Swift sculpture naked in bed with Kanye and a slew of other controversial (and, in several cases, widely hated) celebrities including Bill Cosby, Kim Kardashian, Caitlyn Jenner, Ray J, Chris Brown, Donald Trump, George W. Bush, Amber Rose, and Anna Wintour. The song also features Rihanna on vocals, and the video features a naked Rihanna sculpture.

There is some serious irony here. Kim Kardashian wasn't famous until a certain sex tape featuring her and Ray J started making the rounds in 2007. TMZ happened to run into Ray J and his manager Wack 100 in Los Angeles, and Wack had a pretty poignant comeback after the video was released: "If they didn't show Ray J with his [bleep] in Kim Kardashian's mouth, tell Kanye to go back and reshoot that [bleep]. He's a long way from Chicago, he better watch his [bleeping] mouth."

Of course, Kanye welcomes the controversy and in truth that's become his specialty ever since he interrupted a televised concert raising money for Hurricane Katrina relief in 2005 to say, "George Bush doesn't care about black people." On Saturday he tweeted, "Can somebody sue me already#I'llwait" but then deleted the tweet on the same day.

"Famous" is from Kanye's 2016 album, The Life of Pablo. Kanye adds an additional ten minutes to this music video visual, which includes five minutes of heavy breathing before the music goes back to a "Famous" outro and another TLOP track: "Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1." The intro also samples Kanye's notorious 2013 BBC interview with Zane Lowe.

The Life of Pablo is available on Tidal, Spotify, and other streaming services. There has not been a physical CD / vinyl release at this point.

Kanye will be heading out on his Saint Pablo Tour from August of 2016 to at least October. Get his latest music, news, and tour dates on his Zumic artist page.