Houston police shut down Kanye West's screening for racially-charged music video

AFRIK UPDATE

A public screening for Kanye West's music video New Slaves was shut down by police Friday night. 

The rapper, who has been promoting screenings of the clip around the world via Twitter, was scheduled to unveil the visual for his controversial track at the Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas at 9:45pm.

According to the Houston Chronicle, local authorities broke up a crowd that had gathered to see the video, threatening to arrest anyone who failed to comply for trespassing. 

Lyrics to New Slaves make several references to slavery in the US.

'My momma was raised in an era when/Clean water was only served to the fairer skin/Doing clothes you would have thought I had help/But they wasn't satisfied unless I picked the cotton myself,' West raps in the first verse. 

The rapper performed the track and another called Black Skinhead on Saturday Night Live on May 18, screaming his way through the performance as images of barking dobermans and slogans including 'Not for sale', 'New Slaves' and images of black hoods resembling those worn by members of the Klu Klux Klan flashed behind him.