By Seraphine Habimana
Here’s What People Say About Kanye West [VIDEO]
Why does Kanye West keep annoying people? Actually, no-one knows exactly. Over the years I have been aware of West, he has never ceased to embarrass and shame people. Every year he heaps annoyance on top of annoyance and never repents or apologises for his actions. There are many examples of Kanye seeming not to engage his brain before speaking or acting, a trait many call ‘immaturity’.
It is doubtful anyone was surprised to hear that Kanye recently crashed Beck Hansen’s Grammy acceptance speech. As Beck arrived on stage on 8 February 2015 to accept the best album honour at this year’s Grammy awards, Kanye stormed the stage, shouting that Beyoncé should have got the award.
Humble Beck first looked shocked but recovered later to respond: “You can’t please everybody, man. I still love him [Kanye] and think he’s a genius. I aspire to do what he does.” That was good of Beck – instead of lowering himself to Kanye’s level he rose above it, killing him with kindness.
This came after the infamous incident following Taylor Swift’s MTV Video Music Award for Best Female Video of the year in 2009, which she won over Beyoncé’s video for Single Ladies. Kanye interrupted Swift’s acceptance speech, invading the stage and shouting at her to give her award to Beyoncé, insisting that Beyoncé had made one of the best videos of all time.
I wonder if Beyoncé really needs Kanye West standing up or fighting for her in this way. She seems like she has everything covered. Recent reports suggest she was “disgusted” by Kanye’s recent outburst at the Grammys.
And that’s not all from Kanye. Let’s chat about some of his extensive history of annoyance:
2006: The birth of Yeezus
As well as calling himself Jesus, Kanye has also compared himself to God. Back in 2004, for instance, in his single I Am a God, Kanye rants that Jesus talked to him and asked him ‘What’s up, Yeezus?’ Indeed, you may have seen Kanye on the cover of Rolling Stone wearing a crown of thorns like Jesus. These incidents annoyed many Christians worldwide.
While many people find his comparisons to Christ offensive, West clearly liked the attention and decided to start worshipping himself, opening the Church of Yeezus and calling Yeezianity ‘the best church of all the time’.
Speaking of bizarre Kanye self–comparisons, Jesus and God are just two of those Kanye has compared himself to. Barack Obama is another; Kanye once said that his wife (Kim Kardashian) is more influential than First lady Michelle Obama, adding that the First Lady could not post bikini ‘selfies’ of herself like his wife. It is not surprising that Obama has twice called Kanye a ‘jackass’.
Kanye also said he is better than the Thriller singer Michael Jackson, and that Jackson could not have achieved what Kanye has achieved. Amongst others, West has also compared himself to Picasso, Steve Jobs, Jay Z, Beethoven and Disney character Vanellope von Schweetz.
2007: MTV Video Music Award ‘black and white thing’
When West was not asked to perform at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards opening, he insinuated that he was not chosen because of his race, saying “Maybe my skin’s not right”. He later said “it’s not a black and white thing; it’s a money thing” and that MTV chose Britney Spears for the opening to get higher ratings. This entire episode was not received well as many people advised West to think twice before saying anything, especially in public.
2009: ‘I’ma let you finish’
‘Yo, Taylor, I’m really happy for you, I’ma let you finish — but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time,” said West to Taylor Swift when she was about to accept her accolade for the best female video at the 2009 VMAs, discussed above.
2013: Bound 2
Bound 2 – a song from West’s Yeezus album – is repeatedly derided as having one of the worst and most ridiculous videos ever released. The video features West on a motorbike, accompanied by his wife Kim Kardashian, naked. The video has led to many copycat videos – more press coverage for Kanye.
2014: Halted concert in Australia
During his Yeezus tour in Sydney, West insisted that everyone must stand up and dance to his next song. When West pointed out two people who were not standing (one was in a wheelchair and the other was also disabled), Kanye sent a bodyguard to verify their reasons, before finally starting his song. He did not apologize, even after members of the audience tried to signal to Kanye that one fan was wheelchair-bound. Some called West’s demand for fans to prove their disability ‘abuse’. West screaming at fans to stand up was not well received. The demand was outlandish and further cemented his reputation as an egotistical maniac.
2015: West’s Beck respect
After Taylor Swift’s 2009 Video Music award, it is hard to believe that Kanye could do it again. Thank God, the second time, it was Beck Hansen, a most humble person, even though he’s been a respected musician for much longer than Kanye West. You can imagine what it was like when Beck was ready to collect his award and walked up to the microphone like everyone else, celebrating his award with his fans in the house, then somebody else approached the stage: none other than Kanye West? Beck was visibly shocked.
Having explained that the “voices in his head” made him do it, Kanye later explained that although he did not say anything on the stage, he was there to fight for creativity. He also criticized the awards ceremony as ‘a joke’. Critics pointed out that Beck was the sole songwriter on his album, compared to sixty-eight writers on Beyoncé’s.
We cannot say that Kanye West does all these things in order to become more famous; he is already a huge celebrity. We do not even know if he wants the media to keep talking about him as he is already very well known, but if his ego is anything to go by along with his actions, it seems he certainly does want the attention to continue.
From what we have seen over the years from Mr West, it seems he needs to grow up and stop throwing his toys out of the pram, but the chances of him changing now are about as likely as seeing pigs fly.
