No stranger to controversy, Kanye West is notorious for pushing boundaries and buttons. And with the recent official release of his music video for "Monster," Yeezy isn't letting anyone stymie his contentious creativity.
The video, which leaked in raw form in December, features a bevy of scantily clothed models playing dead in a variety of scenes that play up the demonic, occult-driven theme of the song. From cadaverous, noose-suspended women to a model feigning rigor mortis in between couch cushions, West's video is a no-holds-barred, six-minute montage of controversial visuals.
The 34-year-old rapper seems to be well aware of the music video's questionable content, adding a disclaimer to the beginning that reads, "The following content is in no way to be interpreted as misogynistic or negative towards any groups of people. It is an art piece and it shall be taken as such."
The disclaimer, albeit fair warning, is hardly forgiving of the video's disturbing imagery. Its emphatic tone may be an ambitious attempt to quell the video's lingering troubles with women's-rights groups, including those that collaborated to create a Change.org petition against West and Universal Music in December, after the video was originally leaked.
The model whose decapitated head makes a brief appearance in the video sat down with Stylecaster.com's Alyssa Vingan to detail what happened behind the scenes. Taylor Warren discussed how she was chosen as the video's dismembered head, meeting Kanye, and the overall feeling on the set.
"So the girls in lingerie or hanging from the ceiling might not have been as happy," Warren said. "Personally, I wouldn't have wanted to do the scene in the bed with Kanye in just my underwear."
While many have railed West, others have rejected claims that the video is controversial, including the Los Angeles Times' Jeff Weiss, who contends that the objectionable content of the video is nothing new.
"For a generation weaned on cartoon violence and Internet porn, it's unclear what's really so controversial about this video. For all its (para)psychology 101 symbolism and visually arresting images, it's about as provocative as an episode of 'True Blood,' " Weiss said in a recent blog post.
"Monster" is the third single from West's critically acclaimed album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.
Read more at the Daily Mail.
In other news: Weiner's Wife Is Pregnant, the First Lady Makes a Cameo on Nickelodeon and More.