It turns out that Kanye West actually was not playing when he almost rushed the stage after Beck’s Album of the Year win at last night’s Grammys. On E! after the ceremony, he went on a rant, saying Beck should “respect artistry” and give his award to Beyonce.
“I just know that the Grammys, if they want real artists, to keep coming back, they need to stop playing with us. We ain’t gonna play with them no more. And Beck needs to respect artistry and he should’ve given his award to Beyonce.
Because when you keep on diminishing art and not respecting the craft and smacking people in their face after they deliver monumental feats of music, you’re disrespectful to inspiration. And we as musicians have to inspire people who go to work every day, and they listen to that Beyonce album and they feel like it takes them to another place.”
Uh. OK. Kanye also asked the E! reporters to take the logos off of their mics. “”hey need you! Y’all are the personalities, E! needs y’all! The Kardashians have a percentage of E! That’s what I’m saying, they need y’all!” Kanye’s wife, Kim Kardashian, is the star of the network’s extremely popular reality show, Keeping up with the Kardashians.
http://youtu.be/T8sgtYRQrsw
The reason Kanye thought better of actually taking the stage was to protect his daughter, North West, he claimed. “I’m not gonna do nothing to put my daughter at risk, but I am here to fight for creativity,” he said. “That’s the reason why I didn’t say anything tonight, but you all know what it meant when ‘Ye walked out on that stage!”
TMZ reports that Kanye clarified his remarks upon arriving in NYC on Monday. When asked by a reporter if he was implying, in his remarks, that Beck wasn’t an artist, the rapper said, “I wasn’t saying Beck; I said the Grammys. Beck knows that Beyoncé should have won; you know that…I love Beck! But he didn’t have the Album of the Year.”
Beck handled the diss with class, however, telling US Magazine, “I was just so excited he was coming up. He deserves to be on stage as much as anybody. How many great records has he put out in the last five years right?”
When asked if he thought Beyonce should have won, Beck answered, “Absolutely. I thought she was going to win. Come on, she’s Beyonce! . . . You can’t please everybody, man. I still love [West] and think he’s genius. I aspire to do what he does.”
Kanye West Almost Takes the Stage
Via: Billboard, Rolling Stone