(The Root) — Jay Z's been in the center of lots of criticism lately over his beef with Harry Belafonte over his activism (or lack thereof). But the Internet is putting their feelings on all that aside long enough to gush over his new performance-art video performance of "Picasso Baby" from his Magna Carta Holy Grail album.
The video, directed by Mark Romanek, was filmed at Pace Gallery in New York City. It features the rapper performing the song in a small room of onlookers who would occasionally step forward to interact with him as he rapped. The removal of the barrier that usually separates performers from their audience resulted in some terribly cute moments, like Jay Z doing the Kid N' Play dance with someone and taking off his chain to put it on a young kid. There was also a handful of celebrity cameos from Taraji P. Henson, Rosie Perez and Alan Cumming to name a few.
The video premiered on HBO after Jay Z sat down for an interview with Bill Mahr.
Read more at Hollywood Reporter.
Picasso Baby video probably made that my favorite song on MCHG
— David Papi Sprowl (@ayyy_ladiesss) August 3, 2013
Tracy Clayton is a writer, humorist and blogger from Louisville, Ky.