Computer-generated inmates climb fences and escape prison to see Jesus Christ get baptized during a hurricane in the opening scene of Kanye West’s new “Hurricane” music video, out Tuesday.
The four-minute visual for his Donda song — with Lil Baby and the Weeknd — comes several days after West dropped the disturbing Pete Davidson-beheading, claymation video for “Eazy.”
“See this in 3D, all lights out for me/All lights out for me, lightning strikes the beach,” sings the Weeknd to open the video as lightning literally strikes a CGI beach and inmates escape jail. “80 degrees, warm it up for me/Finally free, found the God in me.”
After Jesus’ baptism and the prison break, the video shows clips of the three musicians as CGI humanoids as they seem to perform the track from a strange, heaven-like place. To quote West’s lyrics, “It’s a lot to digest.”
To end the video, the camera zooms out to show the CGI humanoids forming a large blob. For the Weeknd’s last lines, the video shows a black-and-white image that seems to be of Hurricane Katrina, which killed more than 1,800 people in 2005.
Last week, West released the video for “Eazy,” which featured the singer kidnapping and killing West’s ex-wife Kim Kardashian’s boyfriend Pete Davidson. He defended the video in a since-deleted Instagram post saying “art is protected as freedom speech,” and writing, “Art is not a proxy for any ill or harm. Any suggestion otherwise about my art is false and mal intended.”
10cc drummer Paul Burgess has announced that he is leaving the band because the demands of touring have become too much for him.
The 75-year-old musician, who also spent time performing with Jethro Tull, Camel, Magna Carta, and The Icicle Works, has chosen to walk away from the legendary rock group after more than five decades.
He shared: “After so many wonderful years with 10cc, I must admit that the rigours of touring are no longer manageable for me as I get older, and I feel it’s time to let go of the long hours in airports and endless travel on buses.
“I’m not planning to stop playing altogether. I will still perform but at a pace that feels right, working alongside old friends and a new group of fellow musicians called The Guilty Men.”
Frontman Graham Gouldman confessed that it will feel unusual to perform without his “longest-running musical associate.”
He explained: “When Paul and I first joined forces in 10cc, we never could have imagined that we’d still be at it after 30 years, let alone 52.
“Paul has been my longest musical partner and it will feel different to turn around and see another drummer, but I completely understand why he no longer wants to sit on a plane for 14 hours or wake up in a new hotel every day for weeks at a time.”
Ben Stone, who has previously played with Mike and The Mechanics and Bonnie Tyler, will be taking over on drums.
Paul, who had several runs with 10cc after joining in 1973, performed his final show with the I’m Not In Love band in Alexandria, Virginia this past September.
The group is set to continue their And Another Bloody Greatest Hits Tour in the UK next year.
