Implying triumph and power, the statue has endured over centuries, and The Carters imply just as much by once again standing in front of it, in perhaps a nod to their own triumph and the power they’ve achieved. It’s also no accident that the “Winged Victory of Samothrace” statue is frequently seen in “APESHIT”. “WINGED VICTORY OF SAMOTHRACE” (2ND CENTURY BC) Humans have spent centuries trying to unpack the enigma of the “Mona Lisa” and still continue to do so to this day do you really think you can figure out The Carters in a day? They know that we’ll spend hours analysing them and their work, attempting to find meaning in their movements and lyrics, trying to work out the symbols and icons they’ve put forth, and hoping to crack the impenetrable fortress they’ve built around them (from which they only emerge to become vulnerable when they want to). Much like the “Mona Lisa”, they are telling us that they know we think about them in a way we don’t think about other music artists. By donning expressions very much in the same vein as the iconic painting, they’re telling the viewer that they’re basically in the presence of a peer.īut even more than that, they’re commenting on the beguiling and enticing space they occupy in our own culture. They are telegraphing to us that they are as iconic as the “Mona Lisa”, without even saying a word. But even more of an echo of the painting is their expressions: a strong stare straight ahead, lips pressed together, shoulders back. Suits for both, in bright colours and styles specific to their tastes and representative of the times they live in again, just like the “Mona Lisa”. Like the “Mona Lisa”, Beyoncé and Jay-Z are dressed simply, but powerfully. Sure, it’s a callback to the first time they took a photo with arguably the most famous painting in history back in 2014, but something is different this time around. The Carters begin positioning themselves as iconography from the moment we first see them, standing in front of the “Mona Lisa”.

It’s a middle finger to convention, a dare aimed at squarely at the gatekeepers of history and artistic tradition: You know we deserve to be here. Their presence in a place that preserves what history has deemed the most important artworks, standing next to said art while themselves looking like art and using their body language to engage with this art, already implies they are as worthy of being there as the older work. Not only can we expect to see (and do see) The Carters standing next to some of the most famous works of art, including the Mona Lisa and Winged Victory of Samothrace, but we see that they are aligning themselves with it right out of the gate. For modern audiences and fans of The Carters, the disruption is surely welcome. Tradition and the Louvre go hand-in-hand, too, which means that Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s presence is a total disruption from the beginning. It’s a microcosm of history, which itself is mostly white, male, and heterosexual. Historically, it’s a predominately white space that primarily features white, male-created works of art. Following their stint overseas, they will head back to the States to kick off the North American leg of the tour with a July 25 show in Cleveland.Ĭheck out Jay-Z and Beyoncé's new 'Apeshit' video below.Let’s start with the primary location in “APESHIT”: the Louvre. 'I'm like Chief Keef meet Rafiki/Who been Lion King to you/Pocket watch it like kangaroos/Tell these clowns we ain't amused/Banana clips for that monkey business/4-5 got change for you.' 'I'm a gorilla in the fuckin' coop/Finna pull up in the zoo,' he raps. The ageless Hov comes through in the clutch, capping off the lit cut. 'Or watch me reverse out the deck (skrrt)/He got a bad bitch, bad bitch/We live it lavish, lavish/I got expensive fabrics/I got expensive habits.' 'Rah, gimme my check/Put some respeck on my check/Or pay me in equity, pay me in equity,' she spits. Bey flexes with ease with the assistance of adlibs from Quavo. Making use of different locations in the museum, the power couple and a group of dancers get busy over the bouncy Pharrell-produced track.

Jay z and beyonce music video apesht