Up In Flames

Of course, it's ridiculously grandiose for Kanye West to shoot a 40-minute narrative music video based on his new album. On the other hand, I kind of think it makes sense at this point in his career. "Heartless," the Hype Williams-directed video is probably the one that's stuck in my consciousness most:

But his videos have always been full of strong, striking images rather than intense narrative coherence, whether it's American-Psycho-goes-African in "Love Lockdown":

or the Japan in turmoil of "Stronger":

or the somewhat-facile dancing chain gang of "Jesus Walks":

Makes sense that he'd want to make something with a genuine story to it. It might have been better to practice within the smaller constraint of a five-minute music video first, and this story of a phoenix come to earth may well be a colossal mess, but I bet it'll look good. Hopefully it'll be more than just attractive flickers for 40 minutes.