Kanye West Turns On “All Of The Lights”

Idolator Staff | November 3, 2010 7:00 pm

Kanye West revealed at the premiere of his 35-minute art film that his single “All Of The Lights”, featuring a massive ensemble of 11 different artists, would be both “completely seamless and completely ghetto as f—,” and now we see what he means. Blaring horns and a frantic beat announce the arrival of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy‘s climax, and it’s true: all those artists (Rihanna, Kid Cudi, Elly Jackson) really did fit in one track (though you won’t hear Elton John til the last 45 seconds). But what exactly does West want us to see when all those lights are turned on? Listen below:

[wpaudio url=”//idolator.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/kanye-west-all-of-the-lights.mp3″ text=”Kanye West f/ John Legend, Rihanna, Elton John – All Of The Lights” dl=”0″] In some ways, this track reminds us of the unexpected (and incredible) collaborations that have taken shape in his G.O.O.D Fridays series — and just like many of those tracks, it feels loose to the point of sounding undercooked. But it’s also a big departure: “All Of The Lights” finds West taking on subject matter a little bit deeper than, say, New York Fashion Week. He tosses off a quick reference to the death of Michael Jackson (makes sense, since this song plays when we see the fallen King Of Pop’s paper mache head in Runaway), and then spends much of the song reflecting on the downside of the fast life (“I made mistakes, I broke my head / Court sucked me dry, I spent that bread / She need a daddy, baby, please / Can’t let her grow up in that ghetto university”).

All we can say is, good luck getting all these folks together for the video. Or a performance on the best venue to see Kanye perform — live television.

[Via You Heard That New]