Ok, so Kanye West almost acted ridiculously, again, at the Grammys on Sunday. That much of the question is answered, strongly, in the affirmative. Now, the second part: is it really as much of a big f#*$ing deal as the general census is making it? Consider the following before deciding.
One, Kanye has a history of this behavior. Obviously, there is no need to remind anyone that he hijacked Taylor Swift's acceptance speech once before. But maybe there is need to refresh our memory of the details. In that instance, Kanye voiced his disapproval that T. Swift won the Best Female Video for "You Belong with Me" over Beyonce's "Single Ladies" video. Six years later, a lot of us still vividly recall the latter, but the former has hardly stood the test of time. As asinine as as Kanye's form of expression was, it could almost be considered a fact that he was right. Even the VMAs agreed, apparently, as Beyonce went on to win the Video of the Year Award. Why did everyone seem to ignore so easily the completely illogical fact that Beyonce won Best in Show without first winning Best in Group? Her video was the best of the year overall but not the best by a female artist? To quote Ron Burgundy, that doesn't make any sense.
Second, let's consider this specific incident. Beck beat Beyonce for the Album of the Year Grammy with Morning Phase. I'll start by noting that I am a longtime Beck fan; I think Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime is one of the most criminally underrated songs ever recorded. The album "The Information" is in constant rotation on my mp3 player, and I will not soon forget the genius that is "Odelay." I'm going to admit here, though, that I have not heard Morning Phase yet. I'm sure it's phenomenal, I have very little doubt of its magnificence, but in all likelihood it is not Odelay quality and in case anyone forgot, Odelay didn't win Album of the Year (though it did win for Alternative Album of the Year). So, should Beck have beaten Beyonce out for the Album of the Year Grammy? I'm not qualified to answer having not listened to either album in their entirety. But here's the more important question: since when does anyone believe the Grammys are relevant anymore? Fans of all types of music have decried the awards for years for being completely out of touch with actual musical culture, but suddenly it is a shock to someone that they may have gotten something wrong? Even past winners of Grammys have called out the fact that the Awards may be flawed (I'm thinking of you, awkward/awesome acceptance speech by Bon Iver), say when winning the Best New Artist Award FOUR YEARS after releasing a cult favorite studio album. My point is this: maybe Beck deserved that award, maybe Beyonce did. Fuck, maybe someone else entirely did. But it was not off base of Kanye to call out the Grammys in general for being wrong, as they quite often are. Want further proof? The same night, Paramore beat The Black Keys, Ryan Adams, and Jack White (as well as Beck) for Best Rock Song. Paramore. Best Rock Song. Paramore. "Ain't it Fun?" No, it ain't.
Third, I have heard over the past few days an alarming number of critics label Kanye West a racist person because of this near outburst. Now, what qualifies somebody as a "racist" individual is far from a black and white issue; there are shades of grey and beige and tan. It is a complex issue and it would be hard to say about most persons that they were undoubtedly racist. Obviously, some people blatantly admit that they are and hold extreme views, but the average person does not and the average person probably holds one belief or another that somebody else would label as racially prejudiced. But as far as music goes, no, Kanye is not racist. Oh, he publicly bemoaned twice that a white artist had secured an award over a black artist? Wow! That's proof right there, huh!? Again, no it ain't. First of all, it is not as if Kanye used generalities like "Oh a black artist should have won those awards." Both times, he wanted one specific artist to have won, who happens to be black. That doesn't make him racist; if anything, it makes him President of the Beyhive. Perhaps he just thinks that Beyonce in particular hasn't gotten the award show credit she is due; if anything, deciding that that is a racial issue makes the stone-thrower more racist than anyone else in question. In this more recent case, he believed that a female should have won over a male. How come nobody is jumping to call him that other dreaded label: Feminist? Kanye West has a long history of collaborating with white artists and musicians. Adam Levine, Chris Martin, Mr. Hudson, and Bon Iver have all been featured on Kanye songs; GOOD Music artists Kacy Hill and Ryan McDermott were both signed by Kanye; oh yeah and as I'm sure we've all heard by now, he has been working of late with Sir Paul Fucking McCartney. White enough for you yet? Yes, he has worked with more black artists than white to date, but he certainly seems to appreciate a talented artist of any color and it's ridiculous to claim otherwise.
It basically comes down to this. Kanye West is outspoken and expresses what he believes to be true at all opportunities. This should not necessarily be punished or unwelcome. I for one would rather this than the usual fake celebrity personas put out by musicians with little to no artistic integrity. Call him obnoxious, fine, but then quickly get the hell over it, rather than make everything that comes out of his mouth into a major issue. People made far too big a deal out of his interrupting T. Swift, when that probably did more for her career than any other single move she's made and now six years later they have buried the hatchet to the point where they will allegedly work together. Perhaps instead of whining about his behavior at the Grammys we should just hope it leads to him collaborating with Beck in the future.
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