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ShareKanye West jumped the shark in a lot of people’s minds when he shanghaied Taylor Swift’s VMA acceptance speech to lavish praise on Beyonce, but maybe his boorishness is an affliction, maybe he’s just a normal person ill-equipped to handle the mind-bending fishbowl of fame. On a material level, it’s easy being Kanye West, but maybe it’s not easy being Kanye West. Or maybe he’s just a jerk. Either way, a night in the life of Ye as directed by Spike Jonze is distressing, and as the film progresses, very surreal.
We Were Once a Fairytale dir. Spike Jonze (short film)
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This week we look at racial profiling through the lens of controversial writer John Derbyshire. We also talk about racism within hip-hop and find ourselves stimulated by the riot porn of the new Jay-Z and Kanye West video. Flash Points ends on a more positive note: the rise of the walking dead.
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A message on the disc says that Michel Gondry's commentary had to be shortened for "accuracy, audience interest, and legality," a message that seems equally likely to be true or the product of one of Spike Jonze's stone-faced pranks.
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