Kanye West 'Fade' video starring Teyana Taylor unveiled at MTV VMAs 2016
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Your support makes all the difference.Kanye West was given free-reign by MTV at the Video Music Awards on Sunday and he used it to give one of his famous, wide-ranging speeches and drop the visuals to "Fade" from his latest album, The Life of Pablo.
“I came here to present my new video," he began, "but before I do that, I'm a talk.”
In his lengthy speech, West addressed gun violence in Chicago, his ex-girlfriend Amber Rose, and briefly mentioned his beef with Taylor Swift before releasing the music video, which is exclusively streaming on Tidal.
Stealing the thunder from West was the star of the video, Teyana Taylor, who set the internet ablaze with her fiery performance. She essentially danced her ass off for three minutes a la Flashdance.
Things take a turn by the video's end, when Taylor's fiancé, Cleveland Cavaliers star Iman Shumpert, joins her for a shower scene. The couple poses with their baby daughter Iman and a flock of sheep. Oh, and Taylor turns into a cat.
Taylor was the only star to become a trending topic on Twitter and she congratulated fans online for their words of adoration.
"Good morning," she wrote, "and thank you all so much for all the love."
For those who are unfamiliar with the singer, Taylor signed to West's G.O.O.D. Music in 2012 and contributed vocals to "Dark Fantasy" off his critically acclaimed 2010 record My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.
You can peep the entire video above and read Kanye's speech below.
I am Kanye West, and that feels especially great to say this year. I came here to present my new video, but before I do that, I’mma talk. Now, later tonight, ‘Famous’ might lose to Beyoncé, but I can’t be mad. I’m always wishing for Beyoncé to win, so.
But for people to understand just how blessed we are… It was an expression of our now, our fame right now, us on the inside of the TV. You know, just to put… the audacity to put Anna Wintour right next to Donald Trump. I mean, like, I put Ray J in it, bro. This is fame, bro! Like, I see you Amber. My wife is a G. Not a lot of peoples’ wives would let them say that right there. We came over in the same boat. Now we all in the same bed. Well, maybe different boats, but uh.
But if you think about last week, there were 22 people murdered in Chicago. You know, like, people come up to me like, ‘Yeah, that’s right! Take Taylor!’ But bro, like, I love all y’all. That’s why I called her.
So I was speaking at the Art Institute last year, and a kid came up to me and said ‘Three of my friends died, and I don’t know if I’m gonna be the next.’ And it has to, you know you have to think, like, when you’re a senior and it’s the last month and you just don’t feel like doing any more work. If you feel like you seeing people dying right next to you, you might feel like, what’s the point? You know like life could be like, starting to feel worthless in a way. I know times for me, I sit down and talk to older, like, like, rich people. You know, a.k.a. white, you know. And they tell me, ‘Don’t compare yourself to Steve Jobs. Don’t compare yourself to Walt Disney,’ and my friend [J. Sakiya Sandifer] told me… they tell me, ‘Don’t compare yourself to these people, right.’ My friend [J. Sakiya Sandifer] told me there’s three keys to keeping people impoverished: that’s taking away their esteem, taking away their resources, and taking away their role models. My role models are artists, merchants. There’s less than ten that I can name in history. Truman. Ford. Hughes. Disney. Jobs. West.
Bro. Bro! Tonight, we here to have fun. I’m standing in front of my idol, Puff Daddy. I’m standing in front of my wife, Kim Kardashian West. I’m standing in front of the future: Chance the Rapper, 2 Chainz, Jaden Smith. Bro, we are undeniably the influence, the thought leaders. I’m gonna play y’all a piece of my art, and I just hope y’all have a good time. Play that.