POPSCREEN: Keri Hilson feat. Kanye West and Ne-Yo

Hipster, gangster, intellectual, pop star—Kanye West never can quite decide which one he likes best. Now, finally, he seems to have figured out; in a kind of epiphany, Kanye decides that he’s all of these things, plus a painter— all too literally, a Renaissance man. “Knock You Down” begins and ends with Keri Hilson’s seemingly lifeless body falling slowly through the air, but neither this bizarre sight nor later shenanigans by Ne-Yo is any match for the Kanye Show.

His act opens with him rapping about Louis Vuitton and Reebok, telling us to “keep rocking and keep knocking” and talking about hate on a plate—same old, same old, you say. Not quite—cut to Kanye and Hilson in a what is either a studio meant to look like an apartment or an apartment meant to look like a studio. I guess it’s a fitting setting for Kanye to pick up a brush and paint a portrait of Hilson as Cleopatra, which manages to look like neither.

Needless to say, fine art isn’t the currency of a hip-hop video, and Kanye’s Da Vinci act soon ends. What follows is some semblance of plot. Kanye broods, raves, and rants about Hilson’s new boo (Ne-Yo) and finally engages said boyfriend in a deathmatch of sorts—a staring contest. It’s certainly an unexpected beef, and Kanye’s glare, in particular, would strike terror into the heart of any four-year-old. But while Yeezy perfects his hard gaze, Ne-Yo and Hilson are busy working on pantomiming the lyrics to the song. It’s unclear whether Kanye or Ne-Yo wins the staring match, or whether this matters. But on whether Kanye is a Renaissance man, there can be no doubt; the proof is in this video.

—Keshava D. Guha