Sure, the Backstreet Boys and New Kids on the Block may have set hearts a-flutter closing out last week's American Music Awards, but the real music news this week is that Kanye's back, alright!
Everyone's favorite opinionated rapper took the stage in a not-so-secret New York concert Tuesday night to celebrate the successful release of new album "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy," and after rocking a packed Bowery Ballroom, took it upon himself to slam country crooner Taylor Swift - again.
"Taylor never came to my defense in any interview," West, 33, shouted into the mic. "And [she] rode the wave and rode it and rode it."
The wave he referenced was, of course, the never-ending loop of Kanye's drunken ramble at the 2009 Video Music Awards, when he hopped onstage alongside a startled Swift and proclaimed Beyoncé the rightful award winner.
"When you do things like what happened last year, it's disrespectful to everyone that's creative," West asserted. "It's a smack in the face to everyone who tries to do something real."
"If I wasn't drunk, I woulda been on stage longer!" he exclaimed, to cheers and applause from Tuesday's crowd, which included friends Diddy, Spike Lee, Ivanka Trump and The Roots drummer ?uestlove. "Are you f--king kidding me? Are you f--king kidding me?!"
In a nearly 10-minute monologue, West also touched upon his most recent controversial appearance, opposite Matt Lauer on the "Today" show.
"I ain't here to talk in no stupid interviews, for some guy to ask me some stupid a-- questions," West quipped. "Matt Lauer's not a bad guy, I'm sure. But if you are a child that's being abused by your parent, or you are a girl being abused by your boyfriend - the greatest win that you could ever have is for that person to hit you in public. You SEE! YOU SEE! I TOLD YOU!"
West's rant follows his public apology to 20-year-old Swift, in which he Tweeted: "She had nothing to do with my issues with award shows. She had no idea what hit her. She's justa lil girl with dreams like the rest of us. She deserves the apology more than anyone."
Swift, likewise, had accepted the apology in - what else? - a song she performed at the 2010 VMAs, "Innocent."
"Thirty-two and still growing up now; who you are is not what you did," she sang. "Lost your balance on the tight rope, it's never too late to get it back...today is never too late to be brand new."
But from the looks of it, seems like West couldn't resist a few more jabs at a controversial, tried-and-true situation. This sounds like the swaggering West music fanatics know all too well.
"I always felt like I could do anything, but now I feel so fearless - after the year I had, to come back and do 100,000 on the first day, digital alone...to do 600,000 in the first week...and I don't talk about the numbers. But what the numbers say is that the people want me to keep making music and never give up."
And he knows it too. "Everybody needs a villain, don't we?"
Everyone's favorite opinionated rapper took the stage in a not-so-secret New York concert Tuesday night to celebrate the successful release of new album "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy," and after rocking a packed Bowery Ballroom, took it upon himself to slam country crooner Taylor Swift - again.
"Taylor never came to my defense in any interview," West, 33, shouted into the mic. "And [she] rode the wave and rode it and rode it."
The wave he referenced was, of course, the never-ending loop of Kanye's drunken ramble at the 2009 Video Music Awards, when he hopped onstage alongside a startled Swift and proclaimed Beyoncé the rightful award winner.
"When you do things like what happened last year, it's disrespectful to everyone that's creative," West asserted. "It's a smack in the face to everyone who tries to do something real."
"If I wasn't drunk, I woulda been on stage longer!" he exclaimed, to cheers and applause from Tuesday's crowd, which included friends Diddy, Spike Lee, Ivanka Trump and The Roots drummer ?uestlove. "Are you f--king kidding me? Are you f--king kidding me?!"
In a nearly 10-minute monologue, West also touched upon his most recent controversial appearance, opposite Matt Lauer on the "Today" show.
"I ain't here to talk in no stupid interviews, for some guy to ask me some stupid a-- questions," West quipped. "Matt Lauer's not a bad guy, I'm sure. But if you are a child that's being abused by your parent, or you are a girl being abused by your boyfriend - the greatest win that you could ever have is for that person to hit you in public. You SEE! YOU SEE! I TOLD YOU!"
West's rant follows his public apology to 20-year-old Swift, in which he Tweeted: "She had nothing to do with my issues with award shows. She had no idea what hit her. She's justa lil girl with dreams like the rest of us. She deserves the apology more than anyone."
Swift, likewise, had accepted the apology in - what else? - a song she performed at the 2010 VMAs, "Innocent."
"Thirty-two and still growing up now; who you are is not what you did," she sang. "Lost your balance on the tight rope, it's never too late to get it back...today is never too late to be brand new."
But from the looks of it, seems like West couldn't resist a few more jabs at a controversial, tried-and-true situation. This sounds like the swaggering West music fanatics know all too well.
"I always felt like I could do anything, but now I feel so fearless - after the year I had, to come back and do 100,000 on the first day, digital alone...to do 600,000 in the first week...and I don't talk about the numbers. But what the numbers say is that the people want me to keep making music and never give up."
And he knows it too. "Everybody needs a villain, don't we?"
