It's unclear what, exactly, 'Hova was going for with his stunt, besides collecting material for what undoubtedly will be the first music video from Magna Carta Holy Grail. Some have speculated that he was paying homage, in an art-world mashup way, to performance artist Marina Abramovic, who is known for sitting, motionless, in front of thousands of strangers for hours at a time in 2009. (Abramovic did show up yesterday to briefly perform with Jay.) Others focused on how the song touched on the nature of celebrity—how Jay was able to keep a crowd entranced for hours by sheer force of energy. And still others saw it more as a gentle spoof on the art world and all the the weird “fascinations” that come with it. Judging by the fun Jay-Z seems to be having in the video that came from the event, I do think he was having a blast just fucking around in a pretentious art gallery.
In other news, Memphis Bleek performed “Round Here” for a small group of pigeons in Tompkins Square Park yesterday. Not content with matching Jay-Z's six-hour mark, Bleek plans to stick around for the rest of the week.
[H/T: Gothamist]
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