One of the overlooked—but hilarious—moments of the 2015 Grammys came when Beck, the mild-mannered singer/songwriter/Scientologist formerly known as Bek David Campbell, surprised the world by taking home the Album of the Year Grammy for his comeback album, Morning Phase.
Kanye West seemed in good spirits. The Yeezus performer had reunited earlier in the evening with his onetime nemesis Taylor Swift, even going so far as posing for a photo with the pop songstress. Then, when Beck won, Kanye made a beeline for the stage to seemingly reenact his snafu at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards when he crashed Swift’s Best Female Video win with the now-classic line, Ima let you finish, but…, before seguing into a speech championing Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” over Swift.
As Kanye marched toward the stage, a look of horror spread over pal Jay Z. But it was all for naught. He got halfway there only to march back to his seat sporting a big ol’ smile on his face. Well-played, ‘Ye.
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But Kanye wasn’t done. After the Grammys broadcast was over, E! caught up with him and wife Kim Kardashian backstage, first asking Kim what was going through her hubby’s mind during his march. “I think he should have walked up on stage,” Kim said.
And then West let it rip:“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.”
Well... he’s not exactly wrong. Even Beck seems to agree. When Us Weekly caught up with the 44-year-old musician at a Grammys afterparty, he came to Kanye's defense.
“I was just so excited he was coming up. He deserves to be on stage as much as anybody,” Beck said when asked about West stage-crashing. “How many great records has he put out in the last five years right?”
Even though he said Beyoncé should have won? “Absolutely,” said Beck. “I thought she was going to win. Come on she's Beyoncé!”
He added, “You can't please everybody, man. I still love him and think he's genius. I aspire to do what he does.”
