Sun Blogs: The Pop Culture Pill
Estelle Once Said to Me Cool Down, Down…Don’t Act a Fool Now, Now…
September 16, 2009 - 2:00amWhat do you get when you mix hip-hop’s biggest ego (and biggest sunglasses) with the daughter of pop-country music? The 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. During Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech for Best Female Video for her single “You Belong With Me”, Kanye West stormed the stage, insisting that “Beyonce has one of the best videos of all time […] of all time”. But this isn’t West’s first outburst. In 2007, at the very same award show, Kanye insisted he was done working with MTV, and couldn’t understand the network’s decision to open the show with Britney Spears and the now infamous “Gimme More” performance. In Europe in 2006, also at the MTV Music Awards, Kanye stole his first microphone from Justice and Simian when their video “We Are Your Friends” beat out one of Kanye’s hits, and pleas as to why his own video should have won.
West at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards (from chron.com)
For artists like Kanye West, the Video Music Awards, both home and abroad, are an easy venue for self-promotion. An esteemed performer and entertainer, West doesn’t need to win his awards from MTV, and he certainly doesn’t need to help Beyonce out in the same department. A visibly embarrassed Beyonce even put her head down both in both shock and chagrin at this year’s awards when West surprised the audience with this bombshell. But Kanye clearly knows where the bulk of his audience resides, and that may be the reason he chooses to act out at so many of the network’s events and promotions.
Taylor Swift’s VMA-winning “You Belong With Me”
Kanye West has expressed on his own blog that he’s sorry, and he “[feels] like Ben Stiller in ‘Meet the Parents’ when he messed up everything and Robert DeNiro asked him to leave…” While all that may be true (though not so eloquent), the old adage that actions speak louder than words holds true. Whether for publicity’s sake or just a complete lack of self-control, Kanye West now bears the burden of proving to anyone who’s looking to work with him that his ego can be suppressed.