Kanye West videography
Videos released by American rapper
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
American rapper Kanye West has released four video albums and been featured in various music videos. He has also made cameo appearances in films and appeared in several television programs.
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Music videos
As lead artist
| • | Denotes music videos directed by Kanye West |
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| Title | Year | Other performer(s) credited | Director(s) | Description | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Through the Wire" • | 2003 | None |
|
It is a slideshow of videos and pictures of West producing and his crash seen through the frames of Polaroid pictures. West, who financed the video, conceived ideas for the clip after seeing an Adidas advertisement in BlackBook magazine. He stated, "I don't like gettin' ideas from direct shit ... I like to pull ideas from all the way over here. Sometimes my vision can't be explained in words, 'cause I couldn't have even told you in words how I envisioned that video ending up."[1][2] | [3] |
| "Jesus Walks" (version 1) | 2004 | Michael Haussman | The music video was filmed in California and West is portrayed as a preacher rapping before a congregation from a pulpit. All the while, angels guide a prostitute, an alcoholic, and a drug dealer who want to change their lives to his Baptist church. | [4] [5] | |
| "Jesus Walks" (version 2) | Chris Milk | The video features West rapping in a hallway which is filled alternately with hellish flames and angelic light, in conjunction with footage of drug traffickers being pursued through a barren desert by police, prison camp inmates battling with guards, and a Ku Klux Klansman setting himself on fire while carrying a burning cross up a mountain. | [6] | ||
| "Jesus Walks" (version 3) • |
|
Shot in black-and-white, the low-budget video was filmed guerrilla-style in West's hometown of Chicago. It depicts Jesus in the present-day following West as he walks from his home and through his neighborhood to church, performing miracles along the way. | [7] | ||
| "All Falls Down" |
Syleena Johnson |
|
Filmed at the Ontario International Airport and shot from a first-person perspective. West escorts his girlfriend, played by Stacey Dash, from inside their car and throughout the departure terminal to catch her flight. The video illustrates their journey literally through West's eyes, but he is momentarily seen rapping lines when passing by reflective mirrors. Certain scenes are in slow-motion and include cameos by Syleena Johnson, Common, and Kel Mitchell playing the various roles of airport employees. | [8] | |
| "The New Workout Plan" • | None |
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The video is tailored in the manner of an infomercial for a series of workout tapes. It boasts cameos from Anna Nicole Smith, Tracee Ellis Ross, Esther Baxter, Vida Guerra, Consequence, GLC, Miri Ben-Ari, John Legend, and West's mascot Dropout Bear and features Fonzworth Bentley performing his guest verse from the remix. The long version of the video contains an extended introduction derived from a skit taken from The College Dropout. | [9] | |
| "Diamonds from Sierra Leone" | 2005 | Hype Williams | The music video was shot entirely in black-and-white and filmed on location in the city of Prague. West traverses throughout the Czech Republic capital as the video depicts young African children toiling away in mines juxtaposed with scenes of wealthy Europeans shopping in boutiques and trying on jewelry. The music video concludes with text which reads, "Please purchase conflict-free diamonds." | [10] | |
| "Gold Digger" | Jamie Foxx | A cute girl sticks out her tongue towards the end of this video | [11] | ||
| "Heard 'Em Say" (version 1) | Adam Levine | Michel Gondry | Filmed in Macy's flagship department store in New York City, the live-action music video expresses a surrealistic Christmas sentiment with the use of special effects. It depicts West as a homeless father of three young children who stay overnight inside the store which seems to come alive. Adam Levine plays a security guard while co-producer Jon Brion makes a brief cameo appearance. | [12] | |
| "Heard 'Em Say" (version 2) • | Adam Levine |
|
The animated music video expresses grayscale pencil-sketch animation. It contains literal interpretations of select lyrics while West is portrayed as a taxicab driver working in a bleak city who picks up troubled passengers and encounters a young boy and his mother. The animated segments are interspersed with live-action scenes of West and Adam Levine performing. | [13] | |
| "Touch the Sky" | 2006 | Lupe Fiasco | Chris Milk | It was done in homage to Evel Knievel's unsuccessful jump across the Snake River Canyon in 1974 and West uses the music video to make fun of his huge ego.[14][15] West also pokes fun at his anti-Bush outburst from 2005 and the possibility of his career arc ending with a crash-and-burn.[15] The video features a cameo from actress and model Pamela Anderson, who opposes the daredevil character that West portrays.[16] Actresses Nia Long and Tracee Ellis Ross also make appearances in it.[17] | [18] |
| "Drive Slow" | Hype Williams | In the video, West is being driven around the neon lights of the Fremont Street Experience in downtown Las Vegas. | [19] | ||
| "Classic (Better Than I've Ever Been)" (DJ Premier Remix) | 2007 | Thibaut de Longeville | [20] | ||
| "Can't Tell Me Nothing" (version 1) | None | Hype Williams | Filmed in a desert, the music video harbors a minimalist visual aesthetic, with scenes of West performing in the barren, wide-open landscape. | [21] | |
| "Can't Tell Me Nothing" (version 2) | Michael Blieden | The alternate version features comedian Zach Galifianakis and folk singer-songwriter Will Oldham and filmed at Galifianakis' farm in North Carolina. West is absent from the unscripted, low-budget music video, which instead sees Galifianakis and Oldham lip-synching to his lines. | [22] | ||
| "Stronger" | Hype Williams | It explores life in a sleek space-age robot world set in Japan, filmed in the country's capital Tokyo and Los Angeles (L.A.),[23] featuring shots in Aoyama clothing store A Bathing Ape and Harajuku clothing store Billionaire Boys Club/Ice Cream. The music video also includes cameos from the two principal actors from the film Daft Punk's Electroma dressed as Daft Punk; West's manager Don C insisted on their appearances because "that's what it was". The video also features multiple scenes which pay homage to the 1988 anime film Akira,[24] adding elements of sci-fi. These include the light effects on the motorbikes, the medical machinery examining West, and Daft Punk's control room.[25] | [26] | ||
| "Good Life" | T-Pain | The music video casts West and T-Pain against a white backdrop, heavily accompanied by digital effects.[27] A colorful theme is harbored, showing cartoon sketches and spelling out the song's lyrics. Visuals also echo the lyrics, beginning with hands being thrown up and police vehicles appearing on duty. Additional visuals include West leaning on his Ferrari and performing "Good Life" with T-Pain through TV screens. The music video features a cameo from rapper and model LoLa Monroe.[28] Towards the end of the video, the backdrop turns black as the performers are shown enjoying a rich lifestyle while joined by women. | [29] | ||
| "Flashing Lights" (version 1) • | 2008 | Dwele |
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Filmed entirely in slow-motion, the video has a Ford Mustang Bullitt roll onto the screen and stop at dusk in the desert outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. Playboy model Rita G. exits the vehicle dressed in a wig, fur coat and large black sunglasses. After walking a distance away from the car, stripping down to her lingerie and setting her clothes on fire, she walks back to the car and opens the trunk to reveal a bound and gagged West. She gently strokes his face and gives him a light kiss before retrieving a nearby shovel and bludgeons him to death as the camera pans out. | [30] |
| "Flashing Lights" (version 2) | Dwele | N/a | [31] | ||
| "Flashing Lights" (version 3) | Dwele | [32] | |||
| "Homecoming" | Chris Martin | Hype Williams | Filmed in the city of Chicago, the black-and-white music video features a montage of West visiting several different areas of his hometown, with slow-motion shots and camera angles highlighting its buildings, streets, monuments and citizens. Chicago hip-hop group L.E.P. Bogus Boys and rapper Common make cameos. | [33] | |
| "Champion" | None | NABIL | The video carries an Olympic theme and revolves around a puppet version of Kanye West participating in the 100-meter dash at a fictitious sporting event known as the Unified Games. Flashbacks display the extensive amount of training that the puppet undertook before the race commences. | [34] | |
| "Good Morning" • |
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An animated video centered around West's anthropomorphic teddy bear mascot Dropout Bear. He overcomes various obstacles while racing through a futuristic city in an effort to reach his college campus in time to attend his graduation ceremony. | [35] | ||
| "Love Lockdown" | Simon Henwood | The music video is mostly set in West's real life apartment, with him being dressed in white while appearing in the apartment. For paying homage to Christian Bale's role in American Psycho, the rooms were treated to remove all colour. West unhappily moves around the apartment, not looking into the camera until two minutes into the video. During the song's choruses, African dancers and drummers appear, beating on djembe drums to the Roland TR-808 drumbeats of song. Simultaneously, African tribe members are present, who run wildly and head into battle. Two women eventually increase their vividness, becoming some of the dominant characters. West later sits against the wall as the camera starts shaking. | [36] | ||
| "Heartless" | Hype Williams | Throughout the animated music video, West expressing grief about his break-up with Alexis Phifer is interspersed with scenes of various women. The women are rotoscoped over West at times, with them having been drawn on top of the footage by hand. West wanders around a city while backed by the night sky at first, before he sits in a car's back seat. At one point, a portrait of Andy Warhol's artwork Campbell's Soup Cans is displayed. The locations that West appears in during the video are highly stylized, including a Miami street scene and a space-age version of Times Square. He briefly breaks his character, smoking a cigarette. At the end, West demonstrates frustration in an apartment while portraits of animated sitcom The Jetsons can be seen in the background. | [37] | ||
| "Welcome to Heartbreak" | 2009 | Kid Cudi | NABIL | The music video was filmed in Los Angeles and utilizes the visual technique of datamoshing. It contains multi-faceted textures of compression artifacts laced throughout its technicolor visuals. The bleeding pixels, calculated moshes and other manipulated imagery makes it seem as if the software that rendered the final video output a low-resolution, artifact-laden product. West and Kid Cudi appear at various intervals within the transitional music video, with certain shots in super-slow-motion. | [38] |
| "Amazing" | Young Jeezy | Hype Williams | The video was shot in Kauai, Hawaii, and includes a series of aerial shots of the Hawaiian Islands and sees West contemplating nature whilst feeling lonesome. Young Jeezy has a cameo in it, along with a girl wearing a bikini by the fire. | [39] | |
| "Paranoid" | Mr Hudson | NABIL | It stars Rihanna. The music video's premise is rooted in fantasy, centering around Rihanna's paranoid state of mind causing her to experience a surrealistic dream sequence. Meanwhile, West appears in some scenes in his human form and also his wolf form during the dream sequence. | [40] | |
| "Spaceship" • |
|
Kanye West | The videos, made for songs from The College Dropout, were shelved in 2005 in anticipation of his forthcoming sophomore album | [41] | |
| "Two Words" | Coodie and Chike | [42] | |||
| "Street Lights" | None | Javier Longobardo | The video is computer animated and features West driving a car through a deserted metropolis, searching for a destination that he never reaches. | [43] | |
| "Coldest Winter" | 2010 | NABIL | A purple color palette is used for the music video, which begins with shots of a bride dressed in white and Grim Reaper-style characters interspersed by ones of a dark, winter forest.[44] Various shots in the video depict her running through the forest, being pursued by the characters.[45] The same actions are shown in slow motion as the video progresses, with the woman also looking in varying directions at points. She later falls over but quickly stands back up and looks around herself, before running from the Grim Reapers again. The bride continues to run away until she leaps off a cliff, being absorbed by dark forces. | [46] | |
| "Power" | Marco Brambilla | As the music begins, the camera slowly tracks out in one continuous take to reveal West standing at the end of a hallway of black columns, and surrounded by partially dressed female characters. Some kneel before him, some embrace, four figures wear ibex-like horns; and some are inverted, pouring water that flows upward. Two horned, staff-bearing figures, loosely resembling interpretations of Isis and Hathor, stand on either side of West; each slowly strikes the ground with their staff, in time to the music. The Sword of Damocles hangs over the rapper's head, while other slowly moving figures appear ready to strike West with blades.[47] The various figures within the painting are presented in poses similar to the Major Arcana and Minor Arcana of the Etteilla occult tarot deck. | [48] | ||
| "Runaway" • | Pusha T | Kanye West | The video was made available in a short, extended, and feature film version | [49] | |
| "All of the Lights" | 2011 |
|
Hype Williams | It features strobe-lit images of Rihanna and West, Kid Cudi in a red leather suit, and visual references to Gaspar Noé's 2009 film Enter the Void.[50] | [51] |
| "Monster" | Jake Nava | The music video is inspired by horror films and extensively features gothic and horror related imagery, including references to Michael Jackson's Thriller. The video features references to horror cult films such as American Psycho and Saw as well as the supposedly haunted painting The Hands Resist Him. The Hand Resists Him is a painting created by artist Bill Stoneham in 1972, depicting a young boy and female doll standing in front of a glass paneled door against which many hands are pressed.[52] The painting became famous for apparently being haunted.[53] The painting is referenced during a scene in the video where Kanye West attempts to hold a door closed, from the monsters outside attempting to enter. The video features mostly naked corpse looking models, some of which are decapitated. West's role in the video is similar to Doctor Frankenstein, with the video set in a castle. Jay-Z appears in the video dressed in a tuxedo, standing in front of a nude corpse in a darkly-lit library. Zombies appear in the video, with hanging corpses and blood-splattered furniture. The video also contains the duality of Minaj; Harajuku Barbie (born January 7, 1995) and Roman Zolanski (born August 23, 1989). Roman reveals his real form; a naturally curly long black-haired demon in a black gothic outfit. He is a dominatrix in this video. Barbie reveals her real form; a naturally straight long banged neon pink-haired angel in a white bridal dress. However, she is a damsel in distress in this video. This is because Roman kidnapped Barbie. He tortures her while they both rap Minaj's dialogued verse.[54] Blac Chyna is Minaj's double. | [55] | ||
| "Otis" |
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Spike Jonze | The video, features a cameo by Aziz Ansari.[56] It primarily shows West and Jay-Z destroying and then customizing a Maybach 57 and then racing around an industrial lot in it (with no doors or windows), while four models smile and laugh from the backseat. The "dynamic duo take a saber saw to a glistening new Maybach and turn it into a tricked-out 'Thunderdome' cruiser, then do doughnuts in a parking lot with a gaggle of models packed in the back." The video "eschews the narrative spazzouts and stoner-boggling tricks of previous Jonze videos" preferring instead to "luxuriate in the icon status of its two principals. We get fireworks, fist bumps, a fast car, and general larger-than-life camaraderie rather than, say, guys on fire running in slow-motion. It's like The Expendables, if that movie only starred two guys, and both of them were rappers who didn't do any onscreen fighting."[57] The car was put up for auction, and the proceeds were donated toward the East African Drought Disaster.[58] The car sold for $60,000 at auction, despite its $350,000 retail price and $100,000–$150,000 evaluation before the auction.[59] | [60] | |
| "Niggas in Paris" • | 2012 | Jay-Z | Kanye West | The music video is composed from live concert footage of Jay-Z and West performing at the Staples Center during the last Los Angeles venue on their Watch the Throne Tour. The footage are treated with kaleidoscopic effects as well as images of big cats and Paris landmarks. It also includes a brief video clip taken from the comedy film Blades of Glory. The music video was accompanied by a warning message to viewers with photosensitive epilepsy regarding its extensive use of flashing lights. | [61] |
| "Lost in the World" | Bon Iver | Ruth Hodben | The black-and-white clip opens with a warning that "strobe effects are used in this video" and features a group of models dressed in sheer fabric dancing while West poses during his verse.[62][63] West's face is actually not shown anywhere in the video, which mostly showcases "tortured and slick mirrors and skylines, with a well-placed dancer depicting the heaven and hell in which the rapper wallows."[64] According to Belinda White of The Daily Telegraph, it features designers Gareth Pugh and Rick Owens, stylists Katie Grand and Katie Shillingford and "brands such as Louis Vuitton, Barneys, Mac Cosmetics and Selfridges." | [65] | |
| "No Church in the Wild" |
|
Romain Gavras | The music video was filmed in the areas surrounding Prague's Jan Palach Square and National Theatre, as well as near Škoda Palace in Jungmannova Street. There were two hundred extras, divided into police and rioters.[66] The video is "influenced by the protests and civil unrest that took place all across the country". The video's final shot bears similarity to an image from visual artist UnkleLuc's project The Wild.[67] Rolling Stone reported that the "clip for 'No Church in the Wild' depicts a grim clash between a large number of protesters and heavily armed and violent riot police".[68] | [69] | |
| "Mercy" | NABIL | The music video was filmed in a university at Qatar Foundation's parking garage in Doha, Qatar, while West was producing his short film, Cruel Summer.[70][71] The video was shot in a wide aspect ratio, featuring the artists performing in what appears to be a parking garage as the camera pans smoothly across the space. A Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 is prominently displayed in the background, adding to the video's sleek aesthetic.[72] Marc Hogan of Spin praised the video for its minimalistic black-and-white visuals, primarily featuring West and his collaborates exuding style and attitude. He highlighted the sequence coinciding with the song's synth lift as the visual peak, noting the moment when two versions of West appear simultaneously as a standout creative choice. Carrie Batton of Pitchfork described the video as a minimalist yet visually striking black-and-white production, notable for its use of leather outfits, keffiyehs, and sharply composed camera angles that enhance its stylish presentation.[73] | [74] | ||
| "I Wish You Would" / "Cold" |
|
Hype Williams | Both music videos were filmed in the same location, Mack Maine, Ace Hood, and Birdman make cameo appearances in the music video for "I Wish You Would". The music video for "Cold" features an appearance by West's then-partner Kim Kardashian. | [75] | |
| "Black Skinhead" | 2013 | None | Nick Knight | Its interactive portion allows users to control the video's speed down to almost one-sixteenth the normal rate, as well as take screenshots for use on social media platforms. The user's cursor changes to that of a black hand giving the finger when interacting with the video. The video opens with three figures wearing black conical hoods, reminiscent of those worn by the Ku Klux Klan; the hoods form a black border that envelops most of the screen, while the silhouettes of the outlying cones stay on each end.[76] The music video has a blurred black-and-white background within it.[77] The primary action takes place in the middle portion of the screen occupied by a shirtless, computer-generated version of West, wearing a long chain and leather pants It raps the song's lyrics and dances.[78][79] West appears in various forms: a rough, spiky animatic; a silhouetted model; one whose upper torso save the face is covered in talc; a heavily muscled version; and a nude version with rows of subdermal implants on the shoulders and chest. Interspersed with his figure are several brief flashes of snarling dobermanns and other predatory animals.[80] | [81] |
| "Bound 2" | The music video features West's then-fiancée Kim Kardashian riding topless with him atop a motorbike in front of the Monument Valley mountain range and other green-screen landscapes. | [82] | |||
| "Only One" |
2015 | Paul McCartney | Spike Jonze | The video was shot in the minimalist style that West had been continuously using.[83] It sees West walking through a soggy field with his daughter North, who was 18 months old at the time, and he is silhouetted by fog. | [84] |
| "FourFiveSeconds" |
|
Inez and Vinoodh | The video features Rihanna, West, and McCartney performing against a white background. She explained the fashion that they used for the video, "Kanye came up with the idea of doing just some real street, denim, all-American-type look. Denim never goes out of style; it's classic, it's iconic, just like the Beatles."[85] | [86] | |
| "All Day" / "I Feel Like That" |
|
Steve McQueen | The visual features West as the only star in it and is set in a warehouse room for the entirety that West runs around in.[87] Once he stops running around, West heavily breathes after McCartney's outro on "All Day", leading into a song entitled "I Feel Like That" being played in the video.[88] While the song begins to play, West collapses on the floor of the warehouse. The song sees West go deep into his issues with mental health, which he also references in the songs "U Mad" and "FML".[89] | [90] | |
| "Famous" • | 2016 | None |
|
The video displays West sharing a bed with the nude, sleeping bodies of famous celebrities. Kim Kardashian, Taylor Swift, George W. Bush, Donald Trump, Anna Wintour, Rihanna, Chris Brown, Ray J, Amber Rose, Caitlyn Jenner, and Bill Cosby are all shown as wax figures. | [91] |
| "Wolves" | Steven Klein | The music video was released as part of a Balmain advert campaign.[92] It resonates with the emotional feel of the song as it features West and his wife Kim Kardashian in tears. The video also features Alessandra Ambrosio, Francisco Lachowski, Joan Smalls, Jourdan Dunn, Josephine Skriver, Kylie Jenner, Sia, Jordan Barrett, and Vic Mensa.[93][94] The video is black-and-white and sees West and his wife wearing the same outfits designed for their appearance at 2016's Met Gala.[95] | [96] | ||
| "Fade" • |
|
The music video prominently features Teyana Taylor performing an extensive dance routine inside a gym. She is joined by her husband, Sacramento Kings guard Iman Shumpert, during a shower scene. West's inspirations for the video include Flashdance, the Ohio Players album covers, 1980s pornography, John Carpenter films, The Fly, Dancing with the Stars, the Olympics and the NBA championship. | [97] | ||
| "I Love It" • | 2018 | Lil Pump |
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The music video was premiered at the 2018 Pornhub Awards and features an appearance from Adele Givens.[98] West and Lil Pump wear giant, rectangular body suits reminiscent of characters from the video game platform Roblox[99] as they walk behind a giant Givens down a hallway lined with women covered in mesh cloth posing as statues, while Givens occasionally turns to give them stern looks. The women statues can be seen moving, breathing, and shifting throughout the video. The video was executive-produced by Spike Jonze. | [100][101] |
| "Follow God" |
2019 | None | Jake Schreier | Filmed at Kanye West's ranch in Cody, Wyoming, is the first video that Kanye and his father, Ray West, have appeared in together. The music video opens with a scene of Kanye and Ray walking on snow.[102][103] Pastor Kerwin B. Lee delivers a voiceover, asking: "What does it really mean to follow God?". He describes how Kanye and others feel fear when they first walk in the snow from the perspective of God looking at his children. The outfit worn by Kanye consists of an orange hoodie, white vest, brown gloves, and thermal trousers.[104] The Wests drive around in all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) in the music video. After initially driving around in a relatively large ATV, the two of them later change to a larger one for transport and use the vehicle for doing donuts.[105][106] The Wests are also shown dancing and Kanye mimes his own scream.[107] The visual ends with white text displayed over a blue background. The message explains it took Kanye 42 years to realize that his father is his best friend. | [108] |
| "Closed On Sunday" |
The music video was filmed at Kanye West's ranch in Cody, Wyoming, it is dimly lit and centered around family, beginning with Kanye and Kim Kardashian cuddling with their children; North, Saint, Chicago, and Psalm West, who are sleeping.[109] Kardashian also has her eyes closed and Kanye West appears to be keeping watch, with the couple and their children being sat in the cleft of a rock formation, which is on a hill.[110][111][112] The family members then walk hand-in-hand across a stone plateau, as the first verse of "Closed on Sunday" plays in the background. In the following scene, other members of the Kardashian-West family and members of the Sunday Service Choir both arrive in a convoy of all-terrain vehicles (ATVs). Kanye's then mother-in-law Kris Jenner steps out of an army tank wearing a fur coat, leather gloves and diamond earrings, joining a large group of the extended family that wears Carhartts, including Ray.[113] The camera then zooms out to a shot of a group that shows Kanye's then sister-in-law Kourtney Kardashian and her children Mason Dash, Penelope Scotland and Reign Aston, front and centre, accompanied by the West children, their mother, and Jenner. Kanye West later stands alone on a rocky outcrop in the video before dropping to his knees, bowing his head, and raising his hand while the line "I pray to God that he'll strengthen my hand" is heard. West is surrounded by the Sunday Service Choir, with them doing this while he stands on the higher ground, and the group sing the last lyrics of the song. The music video concludes with a close-up shot of North West screaming "Chick-fil-A," differentiating from the original version of the song where the line is performed by her father. | [114][115] | |||
| "Wash Us in the Blood" |
2020 | Travis Scott | Arthur Jafa | The video uses split-screen presentation throughout and features footage of West's Saint Pablo Tour, police brutality, a gospel choir, people with masks on that struggle to breathe, goats, Afrofuturism, Breonna Taylor dancing, Ahmaud Arbery soon before his shooting, protests, church services, cars doing donuts, scenes from Grand Theft Auto V, computer-generated images of West, imprisoned people, and an unmanned drone. | [116] |
| "Come to Life" • | 2021 | None |
|
The video features footage from the Donda's third public listening event at Soldier Field in Chicago on August 26, capturing West getting set on fire while sitting in a replica of his childhood home and wearing protective gear.[117][118][119] The home is also set alight, accompanied by onlookers watching the scene. West then stands up and walks out, though remains covered in flames, before he is extinguished. The rapper's then-wife Kim Kardashian slowly approaches the center of the stadium as she wears a Balenciaga wedding dress, reuniting with him for the video's conclusion.[120] | [121] |
| "24" |
Nick Knight | The music video begins with a portion of "No Child Left Behind" playing in the background, and a clip of a fictional audience seemingly cheering for West during the second listening event at Mercedes-Benz Stadium for Donda; footage is shown from the event of him ascending to the sky while wearing his black Donda vest.[122][123] West then floats into computer-generated clouds, with him hovering around the atmosphere.[124] The rapper is accompanied by a backdrop of footage and images of his mother Donda West from the one minute mark onwards, including her laughing and smiling. Religious imagery and concert footage are also displayed, while Kanye West goes on to rise above the clouds and reach an infinite universe.[125] He appears to be ascending to heaven to meet Donda at one point and towards the music video's end, the clouds vanish into a digital void. | [126] | ||
| "Heaven and Hell" |
2022 | Arnaud Bresson | [127] | ||
| "Hurricane" |
The Weeknd Lil Baby |
An army of digital masked avatars dressed in Yeezy Gap hoodies–resembling the music video released for "Heaven and Hell"–are present in the video, demonstrating a dystopian-looking society.[128] The visual opens with the image of a half land and half water piece of coastline, accompanied by a grey dragon. This is followed by the army of digital avatars climbing fences of the ADX Florence prison building while lightning strikes, appearing merely as silhouettes initially until they can be seen wearing opaque masks.[129] The avatars then escape prison to watch a faceless representation of Jesus get baptized, appearing on a beach where acid rain falls down. In the following scenes, people ascending towards the sky close to a beam of light, while swirling hurricane clouds can be seen.[130] A flash of lightning pierces the sky, inviting the avatars to follow its light. The video also shows clips of West and his collaborators as CGI humanoids performing the song from a "strange heaven-like place". The video ends with a black and white photograph taken from Hurricane Katrina–which killed more than 1,800 people in 2005–of an American flag emerging from a pile of rubble.[131] | [132] | ||
| "Life of the Party" |
None | The video was released on mothers day and featured images from West's childhood.[133] The music video served as both a commercial for Yeezy Gap and a tribute to Donda West.[134] A press release from Gap Inc. stated "in a seamless alignment between Ye’s creative platforms new visuals bridge the multidisciplinary artist’s past and future. Photos from Ye’s childhood have been updated to inlay pieces from the forthcoming Yeezy Gap engineered by Balenciaga creative exploration".[135] | [136][137] | ||
| "Talking / Once Again" (version 1) |
2024 | Damiano and Fabio D'Innocenzo | The video shows shots of West and his daughter North, who is depicted getting her hair braided by a group of stylists. Ty Dolla Sign and his daughter, Jailynn Griffin, also appear. | [138] | |
| "Talking / Once Again" (version 2) |
|
|
The visual focuses on North and her friends, hanging out while wearing Vultures-themed merch. | [139] | |
| "Vultures" (Havoc version) |
Jon Rafman | The music video features visuals created using generative AI.[140] | [141] | ||
| "Vultures" • (Juice version) |
|
|
[142][143] | ||
| "Carnival" |
|
Jon Rafman | The music video serves as a tribute to Inter Milan's ultras,[144] featuring CGI shots of them at a stadium during a football match. A shot of the song's artwork is shown around 20 seconds in and the "Vultures" logo appears several times, although West, Ty Dolla Sign, and the featured artists do not make any appearances in the video. Different male figures fight with each other in the stadium's celebrations, including skinheads and police troopers. Fires are started and some people who are attacked start bleeding, with the visuals inspired by football riots. | [145] | |
| "Fried" • | Ty Dolla Sign |
|
The music video is minimalist, and runs for two-and-a-half minutes. The video shows a large group of masked individuals wearing black hoodies and pants running through an eerie concrete setting, consisting of geometric structures and walls.[146] They seem to run across hallways continuously, which infinitely stretch outwards. The music video led to mixed reactions from fans; some felt it worked well as a visualizer, while others were confused as to how it connected to the song. | [147] | |
| "Bomb" |
|
N/a | [148] | ||
| "Slide" • | Ty Dolla Sign |
|
Filmed in black-and-white and shot with 4-Perf 35 mm film,[149] the video was uses a singular, side-angle shot for its runtime. The video mostly features women, many of which are scantily clad. They are seen either hanging around the sidewalks or talking to men, who are implied to be their clients.[150] Taylor described the video as "a portrait of the blade", a strip of road associated with prostitution. The setting appears run-down, as homeless people in tents and burning cars are visible throughout. A vulture can be seen in the video, referencing the title of the album. | [151] | |
| "Father" |
2026 | Travis Scott | Bianca Censori | A single-shot music video, it takes place in a minimalist church, with West, "dressed in a gray suit and stone-colored cowboy boots" sporting a straight face,[152] and other attendees from elderly women to nuns appearing in the background. As the song begins, an attendant's card tricks evolve into flames before a police squad, next to a plate-armored knight on horseback,[153] arrive to arrest a nun and carry her out of the church. Later on, two astronauts arrive to unmask West as an extraterrestrial alien before carrying him out of the church, right before Travis Scott appears in his wedding to two women. Throughout the music video's chaos, much of the attendees appear unbothered. Concluding the music video, most of the attendees leave the church, as a man enters with a large wooden crucifix and sits in West's spot.[154] Thematically, it ranges from sci-fi elements involving aliens, UFOs, and astronauts, to religious imagery with a dancing choir group and crucifix, along with a knight on horseback. The music video also includes an uncredited individual sitting in the background who resembles the late Michael Jackson,[155] who was later confirmed to be impersonator Fabio Jackson as he confirmed on Instagram. | [156][157][158] |
As featured artist
Cameo appearances
Video albums
| Title | Album details | Description |
|---|---|---|
| The College Dropout Video Anthology | Contains the music videos for songs from his debut studio album, The College Dropout (2004). | |
| Late Orchestration |
|
Features his concert at Abbey Road Studios in London, England. |
| Late Registration Video Anthology | Contains the music videos for the singles from his second studio album, Late Registration (2004). | |
| VH1 Storytellers |
|
Contains the concert television special of West's live performances on VH1 Storytellers, originally aired on VH1 on February 28, 2009. |
Filmography
| Title | Year | Role | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fade to Black | 2004 | Himself | Uncredited cameo | |
| Dave Chappelle's Block Party | 2005 | Guest performance | ||
| State Property 2 | Cameo appearance | [246] | ||
| The Love Guru | 2008 | [247] | ||
| We Were Once a Fairytale | 2009 | Short film; directed by Spike Jonze | ||
| Runaway | 2010 | Griffin | Short film, also director and writer | |
| The Black Mamba | 2011 | Himself | Short film; directed by Robert Rodriguez | [248] |
| Cruel Summer | 2012 | Ibrahim | Short film; co-directed with Alexandre Moors | |
| Bad 25 | Himself | Documentary film | ||
| Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues | 2013 | Wesley Jackson of MTV News | Uncredited cameo | [249] |
| Jesus Is King | 2019 | Himself | Short film; directed by Nick Knight | |
| A Man Named Scott | 2021 | Documentary film | ||
| Bianca | 2025 | N/a | Feature film; producer | [250] |
| Bully V1 | Short film; directed by Hype Williams | [251] | ||
| In Whose Name? | Himself | Documentary film; directed by Nico Ballesteros | [252] |
Television
Commercials
| Company and product | Year | Director(s) | Featured song(s) | Description | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boost Mobile | 2004 | Chris Robinson | "Where You At? (The Whole City Behind Us)" | The video showcases West, Ludacris and The Game using nationwide Boost Walkie-Talkie to exchange rhymes that pay tribute to their respective hometowns on location. West is shown rapping in front of a mixing console inside the control room of a recording studio in Chicago. | [260] |
| Pepsi | 2005 | Spike Lee | "Heard 'Em Say" | The commercial premiered during the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards. Entitled "Timeline," it uses special effects and computer graphics to illustrate West walking past iconic backdrops of various major cities, including Paris, Tokyo and Chicago, while leaving a trailing aura fueled by Pepsi. | [261] |
| Absolut Vodka | 2008 | Ulf Johansson | "Truth or Dare" | [262] |