Kanye West Breaks Silence on Beck Grammys Diss
"It’s just a little jolt of truth," West said.
— -- Kanye West is not backing down about what he said at the Grammys on Sunday night, calling his comments "a little jolt of truth."
He did follow up his remarks about Album of the Year winner Beck, calling the man whom he said should give his Grammy to Beyonce, one of the "most respected musicians in the game." He also explained that his first instinct was to kind of mock himself and joke about what he's done in the past.
"So the voices in my head told me go and then I just walked up like halfway up the stage. You know, 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 or the time he’s having to talk," he said today while being interviewed for "On Air with Ryan Seacrest." "So I just walked back down because you know, it was kind of a joke like the Grammys themselves."
About Beck, 44, himself, West said he has all the respect in the world for the man.
"Beck is one of the nicest guys and one of the most respected musicians in the game. So, there’s nothing that I will want to do as a fellow musician to disrespect him in any way. And the weird thing is like, and I don’t feel like I have the right to take away from people’s moments, but the reality of it is — and case in point by who came up to me right afterwards —- is it’s almost like a chiropractor. You know, you just get a little crook out like, 'Wow, this crook has been there!' It’s just a little jolt of truth, right?" he added.
In fact, West, 37, said "everyone feels better after the fact, or everyone is way more famous after the fact, or everyone sells way more albums after the fact, and then Kanye just goes on being an a****** to everyone."
He also cleared up his comment that if Beck respected artistry, he should give his award to Beyonce.
"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. But I felt — and this is my opinion and he’s his own man and he’s not wrong ... but I felt that even though the Grammys some times 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. There’s like many of times I gave other people my award, literally made them come up onstage. Maroon 5, when they won best new artist, [Adam Levine] mentioned me because it was the 'College Dropout' and [it had] 10 nominations and all that," he said.
West doesn't think Beyonce would ever say something like this because "she’s a respectful individual."
"But because she is so successful, a lot of times, success disables your ability to communicate exactly what the f*** you want to say!" he added.
On his very strong comments about the Grammys in General after the show on E!, West said when he's given a platform to talk, that's just what he's going to do.
"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. You know, it’s like people take the Grammys for granted in a way because of the commercials, because a lot of the musicians are very rich and everything, but this is our Super Bowl. You know, and someone’s got to be mad that [Marshawn Lynch] didn’t get the ball," he said.
He continued, "It’s not a black or white thing at all. It’s not me always standing up for a black artist. I feel that racism is a distraction to humanity. We are one race. We are the human race, period."
