Kanye West appeared on Ryan Seacrest‘s radio show on Wednesday morning, and had a lot to talk about following his Grammy stage stunt and backstage rant against Album of the Year winner Beck.
“You know what happened?” the rapper said during an “On Air” interview. “It’s because I sat there and I kind of let that [smolder] and I was asked my opinion and I was given a platform. And when given a platform, it’s very hard as we know — and I’m going to talk in third person like I’m a crazy person — but it’s very hard for Kanye West to not be very true and vocal to what he feels.”
“This is our Super Bowl,” West added, “and someone’s got to be mad that [Marshawn Lynch] didn’t get the ball.”
West said he was egged on to follow Beck to the stage by “voices in [his] head,” and explained he really did do it as a joke in reference to the time he crashed Taylor Swift‘s acceptance speech to praise Beyoncé at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.
“What I really wanted to do is just joke around about what had happened before, but I just really didn’t want to take away from Beck’s moment,” West explained. “So I just walked back down because you know, it was kind of a joke, like the Grammys themselves.”
That’s West’s second dig at the Recording Academy of Arts and Sciences after having previously accused Grammy voters of “diminishing art and not respecting the craft and slapping people in the face after they deliver monumental feats of music.” The outspoken artist, however, did straighten out what many considered a dig at Beck.
“When I said that thing about respect artistry, I think it came off the wrong way, and that was a mis-wording on my part because obviously Beck is one the most respected artists and respects artistry,” West said. “But I felt that even though the Grammys sometimes gives awards to people who you wouldn’t think should win in the category, as a respect to artists, we mention the other artist’s name in our speech. And that was the point I was making about it.”
West’s “mis-wording” has — not surprisingly — angered a lot of people, including the ladies on “The View,” Patriots cornerback Brandon Browner and Garbage singer Shirley Manson, who called West a “complete twat.”
“It is YOU who is so busy disrespecting artistry,” she wrote on Facebook. “You disrespect your own remarkable talents and more importantly you disrespect the talent, hard work and tenacity of all artists when you go so rudely and savagely after such an accomplished and humble artist like BECK.”
Meanwhile, West says he does, in fact, respect artists of all kinds, which is why he’s “definitely” going to record music with Swift.
“Any artist with an amazing point of view, perspective, fan base — I’m down to get in the studio and work. I don’t discriminate,” West said. “I think that everyone loves music whether they love hip-hop, alternative, country; and if I could be involved in giving people any type of energy advice in the studio — whether you’re Beyonce, whether you’re Taylor Swift, whether you’re Jay Z, whether you’re Beck, whoever — and they can be reciprocal with that, I’d like to be involved with that.”
