Kanye West’s ‘Fade’ music video was inspired by Pornhub videos
Specifically uploads of 70s/80s stuff
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.If Kanye’s new music video for ‘Fade’ left you thinking ‘well yes, that was basically porn’, it was a pretty accurate assessment.
70s and 80s porn was a direct influence on director Eli Russell Linnetz, who is currently in the middle of a “one-year artist residency” with the rapper.
Of the reference points for the video, he told The New York Times: “Flashdance is just so iconic that it’s hard to move away from that, but the Ohio Players’ album covers were our starting point. Some people picked up on the Grace Jones boxing images by Jean-Paul Goude.
“I pulled a lot of references from ’70s and ’80s porn, just on Pornhub. That was less about the imagery and more about the texture of the skin, the oiliness.
"There’s John Carpenter films, The Fly,” he continued. “There’s also things like Dancing With the Stars, the Olympics and the N.B.A. championship.”
University of Southern California graduate Linnetz has been working with Kanye since he was 17. If you were wondering how a teenager comes to be Kanye’s right-hand creative man, the answer is with a simple email.
“Kanye had tweeted about starting [his creative agency] DONDA, and a friend of mine had emailed him,” he recalled. “Kanye actually responded. I was brought into the mix, and we started working on a bunch of writing projects together.
"It sounds like I’m skipping some steps, but that’s kind of how it was — pretty surreal.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments