REVIEW: Jay-Z’s “Picasso Baby: A Performance Art Film”

One of the most amazing art pieces that I’ve seen so far on a spoken word/musical level was Sean Carter’s (Jay-Z) art film “Picasso Baby: A Performance Art Film” which aired on HBO August 2nd directed by Mark Romanez.

It primarily was Jay-Z performing his track “Picasso Baby” for six hours straight July 10th @ New York’s Pace Gallery. I wasn’t one of privileged and although the HBO presentation isn’t full length, you still get the feel of what he was trying to convey in the piece which is art and music are one in the same. Hip Hop is the art of word and is just as important to be placed in an art gallery as the Mona Lisa.

The interactions that were shown between Jay-Z and his audience while performing took on another piece of art which featured, Marina Abramovic, Taraji P. Henson, Fab Five Freddy, Alan Cumming and others.

Before the films debut Jay-Z appeared on Real Time With Bill Maher, in which he discussed art, hip hop and it’s correlation as well as politics.

“The Arts and Hip Hop really partied together, but when art started becoming part of the gallery then there was this separation,“ Jay-Z said.