Kanye West Performs "All Day" and "Black Skinhead" at Billboard Music Awards, Censors Go Nuts

Photo by Erez Avissar

Kanye West closed out the Billboard Music Awards tonight with a medley of “All Day” and “Black Skinhead”. Thanks to the censors (or some other issue with the audio feed), frequent, extended periods of silence proved more attention-grabbing than West’s pyrotechnic backdrops—especially by the time the latter track rolled around. Visibility proved an issue as well; he’s hard to pick out from all the smoke and sparks. Check out footage of the medley below, and don’t worry, there’s nothing wrong with your computer.

Update: Billboard confirms that the performance was heavily censored. Rolling Stone reports that of the five minutes and 18 seconds West performed, viewers could hear four minutes and 16 seconds of audio.

Update 2: Kanye never did a dress rehearsal, according to TMZ, which made his expletive-loaded performance a surprise. “He’s Kanye,” a production source told TMZ. “What are we supposed to do?”

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