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Kanye West VMAs: Lambasts MTV, Announces 2020 Presidency Bid

I'm not saying he's got this all planned out. But I'm not not saying that, either.

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Last night, Kanye West was awarded the MTV Video Vanguard Award, MTV’s own version of the Lifetime Achievement Award. The moonman statuette was given to him by none other than Taylor Swift, who introduced him and stood next to Kim Kardashian as West gave his speech, which was quite stirring, to say the least.

West has a knack for spectacle, but in this speech, he seemed very stark, striving to be real and honest in his own way. Perhaps most interesting is his open admission to “not saying the right thing” when he interrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the VMAs six years ago. He also lambasts how MTV immediately capitalized on the controversy.

Sometimes I feel like, you know, all this bullshit that they run about beef and all that, sometimes I feel like I died for the artist’s opinion. For the artists to be able to have an opinion after they were successful. I’m not no politician, bro. And look at that. You know how many times MTV ran that footage again? ’cause it got them more ratings. You know how many times they announced that Taylor was gonna give me the award? ’cause it got them more ratings.

To West, he was defending other artists, he was standing up for someone he felt deserved the recognition. It becomes just a little bit more clear why he did what he did when he explained his viewpoint on award shows in general, saying:

I still don’t understand award shows. I don’t understand how they get five people who worked their entire life one sold records, sold concert tickets, to come stand on a carpet and for the first time in their life be judged on a chopping block and have the opportunity to be considered a loser.

Then, in a moment of vulnerability, he goes on to say, “I don’t understand it, brah. I don’t understand when the biggest album and the biggest video… I’ve been conflicted, bro! I just wanted people to like me more.”

As his speech reached its apex, he closed it with one statement that you’ve surely seen making the rounds all night and this morning: he’s going to be running for president in 2020. Whether he actually is or not remains to be seen. After all, it just happened last night, and he did say he’s “not no politician.”

But you have to admit: there’s just the smallest sense of irony in him announcing something like that on MTV, a network he already knows will rerun that and spin it forever to accumulate as much attention as it can get.

I’m not saying that’s why West said what he did. But after reading over that entire speech and thinking about it, I wouldn’t be surprised if in four years from now–after MTV’s gotten half a million views on that speech, and after countless hot takes (perhaps this one included) on West4Prez–he’s back on stage, accepting another award, and all he says is: “I told you so.”

Because that’s just how West is.

You can read the full transcript of the speech below.

Bro, bro, listen to the kids. Jeremy, I got to put it down for a second, it’s beautiful, Jeremy Scott designed… First of all, thank you Taylor for being so gracious and giving me this award this evening. And I often think back to the first day that I met you. Also, you know, I think about when I’m in the grocery store with my daughter and I have a really great conversation about fresh juice, you know, and at the end they say, “You’re not that bad after all.” And I think about it sometimes, like it crosses my mind when I go to a baseball game and 60,000 people boo me. It crosses my mind a little bit.

And I think, if I had to do it all again, what would i have done? Would I have worn a leather shirt? Would I have drank half a bottle of Hennessy and given the rest to the audience? Y’all know you drank that bottle too. If I had a daughter at that time, would I have went on stage and grabbed the mic from someone else’s…

You know this arena, tomorrow, it’s gonna be a completely different set up or something like that. This stage will be gone. After that night, the stage will be gone, but the effect it had on people will remain. The problem was the contradiction. The contradiction is: I do fight for artists, but in that fight I somehow was disrespectful to artists. I didn’t know how to say the right thing, the perfect thing. I just… I sat at the Grammys and saw Justin Timberlake and Cee-Lo lose. Gnarls Barkley and the Future Sex album… Justin, I ain’t trying to put you on blast but I saw that man in tears, bro. And I was thinking like, he deserves to win album of the year. And this small box that we are in as the entertainers of the evening. How could you explain that? Sometimes I feel like, you know, all this bullshit that they run about beef and all that, sometimes I feel like I died for the artist’s opinion. For the artists to be able to have an opinion after they were successful. I’m not no politician, bro. And look at that. You know how many times MTV ran that footage again? ’cause it got them more ratings. You know how many times they announced that Taylor was gonna give me the award? ’cause it got them more ratings. Listen to the kids, bro.

I still don’t understand award shows. I don’t understand how they get five people who worked their entire life one sold records, sold concert tickets, to come stand on a carpet and for the first time in their life be judged on a chopping block and have the opportunity to be considered a loser. I don’t understand it, brah. I don’t understand when the biggest album and the biggest video… I’ve been conflicted, bro! I just wanted people to like me more. Fuck it bro.

Two thousand and fifteen. I will die for the art, for what I believe in. The art ain’t always gonna be polite. Y’all might be thinking right now, “I wonder, did he smoke something before he came here?” The answer is yes, I rolled up a little something to knock the edge off. I don’t know what’s gonna happen tonight. I don’t know what’s gonna happen tomorrow, bro. But all I can say to my artist, my fellow artist, just worry about how you feel at the time man. Just worry about how you feel and don’t never… I’m confident, I believe in myself. We the snake people, bro. This is a new mentality. We’re not gonna control our kids with brands. We’re not gonna teach low self esteem and that to our kids. We gonna teach our kids that they can be something. We’re gonna teach our kids that they can stand up for themselves. We’re gonna teach our kids to believe in themselves. If my grandfather was here right now he would not let me back down. I don’t know what I’m finna lose after this, it don’t matter though cause it ain’t about me. It’s about ideas bro, new ideas. People with ideas. People who believe in truth. And yes, as you probably could have guessed by this moment, I have decided in 2020 to run for president.

(via The Verge)

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Author
Jessica Lachenal
Jessica Lachenal is a writer who doesn’t talk about herself a lot, so she isn’t quite sure how biographical info panels should work. But here we go anyway. She's the Weekend Editor for The Mary Sue, a Contributing Writer for The Bold Italic (thebolditalic.com), and a Staff Writer for Spinning Platters (spinningplatters.com). She's also been featured in Model View Culture and Frontiers LA magazine, and on Autostraddle. She hopes this has been as awkward for you as it has been for her.

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