UPDATE 9:37 a.m. EST: Beck has responded, pretty much exactly how you’d expect him to.
Sooooooo yeah, maybe Kanye West wasn’t just joking when he pretended to bum-rush the stage after Beck won Album of the Year at tonight’s Grammys. Speaking on a post-show telecast on E! a few moments ago with wife Kim Kardashian by his side, ‘Ye let loose on Beck’s Morning Phase victory, saying the former “Loser” and soon-to-be Boston Calling headliner should give his award to Beyoncé.
In a bit of an upset, Beck beat out Beyoncé’s self-titled album, as well as releases from Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, and Pharrell Williams. Beck also won Best Rock Album, but Kanye wasn’t too concerned with that one, probably because the competition involved U2, Ryan Adams, the Black Keys, and Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers.
“Beck needs to respect artistry,” Kanye said on the E! broadcast — with a straight face. “He should’ve given his award to Beyoncé.”
Hey now, hey now! Check out the video below.
Yeezus rises again RT @thefader Kanye: “Beck needs to respect artistry. He should’ve given his award to Beyoncé.” https://t.co/O1gZbD5i04
— Joe Coscarelli (@joecoscarelli) February 9, 2015
UPDATE 1:24 a.m. EST: The Daily Beast has more on Kanye’s post-show rant, including the full text. Dig in:
“I don’t even know what [Beck] said. I just know that, the Grammys, if they want real artists to keep coming back, they need to stop playing with us. We aren’t going to play with them no more. ‘Flawless.’ Beyoncé’s video. And Beck needs to respect artistry, he should have given his award to Beyoncé. At this point, we tired of it. What happens is, when you keep on diminishing art, and not respecting the craft, and smacking people in the face after they deliver monumental feats of music, you’re disrespectful to inspiration. 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 a different place. And then they do this promotional event, and they’ll run the music over somebody’s speech, the artist, because they want commercial advertising. We aren’t playing with them anymore. And by the way, I got my wife, my daughter, and I got my clothing line, so I’m not going to do nothing that would put my daughter at risk, but I am here to fight for creativity. That’s why I didn’t say anything tonight, but you all knew what it meant when ‘Ye stepped on that stage.”
Here’s the move from tonight’s award’s party, which got us all laughing about a faux repeat of Kanye’s infamous “Imma let you finish…” stage-crash on Taylor Swift at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards after the singer won “Best Female Video”. His laugh right at the end there is all like “Nah, I’m just playin’.”
And here’s Jay Z’s initial reaction to Kanye’s move as he walked back to his seat. It’s like the scene where Ray Liotta laughs hysterically at Joe Pesci in Goodfellas…
— BuzzFeed (@BuzzFeed) February 9, 2015
But wait! There’s more!
stop playin with us https://t.co/RGrSSDnIxA
— ovo krystie (@KrystieLYandoli) February 9, 2015