So the Grammy Awards were last night and while I normally post a recap or reaction to my favorite award show of the year, this time I am going to digress and talk about the arrogant, egotistical train-wreck that is Kanye West. I am not much of a rap fan – I fully admit that, but I do respect the fact that Mr. West makes music that’s above your general run of the mill rap which talks mostly about strippers, butts, and spending Gs.
I guess we should be used to his behavior by now after the Taylor Swift debacle at the MTV Video Music Awards back in 2009, his 2 hour late arrival (and subsequent booing) at Bonnaroo, his accusation that “George Bush doesn’t care about black people,” and the MANY, MANY other award show stage crashes over the years. He throws tantrums on stage when he doesn’t win, plays the race card every chance he gets and tries to take awards away from anyone who wins over Beyonce. And then there were last night’s remarks about Beck’s win for Album of the Year:
“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 Beyoncé. 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,” West continued. “And we as musicians have to inspire people who go to work every day, and they listen to that Beyoncé album and they feel like it takes them to another place.”
This, coming from a man who has won 21 Grammys, making him one of the most awarded artists of all time and the MOST awarded for someone his age.
Kanye has every right to think Beyonce’s album was the best of the year, but she didn’t win. The Academy didn’t vote for her – they voted for Beck. And he needs to respect that.
Also, who is he to say who is and isn’t an artist? What’s even more puzzling is that for over 20 years, Beck has put out critically acclaimed albums and been considered an “artist” in music circles. Strange fellow musician to pick a fight with over artistry, if you ask me. I suspect that it probably wouldn’t have mattered who won the award though (except mabye Pharrell), Kanye probably still would have rushed the stage.
Beck may have taken home the trophy, but he’s also a big winner in how he handled Kanye’s comments:
“You can’t please everybody. I still love him and think he’s genius,” Beck said of West. “I aspire to what he does. How many great records has he put out in the last five years, right?”
Class act right there, folks.
So here’s my advice to Kanye for future award shows: either sit down and shut up or just don’t go. You may not like who wins and I may not like who’s nominated (read: I hated Beyonce’s album for so many reasons that I won’t go into here) but someone somewhere does, and there is room for all kinds of music in the world. Quit whining. Stop making a fool of yourself. And stick to making records that you’ll probably sell millions of copies of and win a Grammy for.