Kanye West vs Freddie Mercury, uploaded to YouTube by Matt B in 2016, featured footage of Kanye West on stage at Glastonbury in 2015. West’s cover of Bohemian Rhapsody is spliced with interview footage of Mercury, who appears to be laughing at West’s performance.
The video then cuts to Mercury performing the hit live, as though West’s Glastonbury performance is being interrupted by the star, and images of a defeated looking West are spliced with the video, making it look as though a singing battle is taking place between the two artists.
See more from Matt B, the creator of the Freddie vs Kanye video on his YouTube channel. Freddie Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara in Stone Town, Tanzania, on September 5th 1946. In April 1970, he formed the band Queen with guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor and they were joined by bassist John Deacon the following year.
Queen enjoyed unparalleled international success and remain popular today. In 1984, Freddie Mercury began to release music as a solo artist. The Great Pretender was his seventh solo single and was a cover of the 1955 version by The Platters with Tony Williams.
The video for Mercury’s cover of The Great Pretender was directed by David Mallet and parodies several of Queen’s most iconic music videos, including: Radio Gaga, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, It’s a Hard Life, I Want to Break Free, Bohemian Rhapsody, and I Was Born to Love You. Roger Taylor and actor Peter Stroker also made a cameo appearance as backing singers dressed in drag.
The Great Pretender reached number four in the United Kingdom. Mercury saw the song as fitting for the way he saw his career and being on stage. The song would eventually go on to give its name to the 2012 feature length documentary produced by EMP and directed by Rhys Thomas, which focuses on Mercury’s solo efforts.