In typical elaborate fashion, Kanye West debuted his latest album, The Life of Pablo, on Thursday at Madison Square Garden, with a visually minimalist presentation that simultaneously showcased clothing from his Yeezus 3 collection. On first listen, it’s good to hear the restoration of Kanye’s soulful core in his music, which included guest vocals from Rihanna, The Weeknd, Frank Ocean (!!!!!!!!!!!) and Chance the Rapper.
But the most striking and characteristically odd part of this whole show was toward the end, when Kanye played a clip of a trailer for a video game he created about his late mom, Donda West, titled Only One. “The concept is my mom traveling through the gates of heaven,” he said.
After playing the entire album (plus tracks from a few of his friends/collaborators), Kanye queued up a clip that’s equally touching, strange—and also, frankly, captivating because of how much you realize he’s still incredibly traumatized by the loss of his mother. Watch it above.
Contact the author at [email protected].