Kanye West and the MTV Video Music Awards have a storied history (he famously stormed the stage at the 2009 VMAs when Taylor Swift was awarded with Best Female Video — in case you need a refresher, here’s a video of the incident.)
Sunday night’s 2016 festivities once again shone the spotlight on the 39-year-old by giving him airtime for four (seemingly long) minutes. (You can read West’s full speech below.)
The verbose rapper compared himself to Walt Disney, Steve Jobs, Howard Hughes, Harry Truman and Henry Ford during the rant.
He also described himself as a “thought leader,” gave a shout-out to former girlfriend Amber Rose, and said people stay impoverished when their self-worth, resources and role models are taken away.
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Among his many other musings was that VMA guests like Puff Daddy, Jaden Smith and wife Kim Kardashian, are “undeniably the influencers, the thought leaders,” and that his Famous video – a nominee at Sunday’s show, which shows the nude likenesses of various celebrities including Taylor Swift and Donald Trump – wasn’t really offensive.
“This is fame, bro,” the rapper said, name-dropping Trump, Rose and Vogue editor Anna Wintour.
He also made reference to “calling” Swift, which harkens back to a phone call West says he made to get her permission to use a lyric in Famous: “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex. Why? I made that bitch famous.”
Swift denied the call, but in a video released by West and his wife, it seems like the country superstar is supportive of the lyric’s use.
After his VMA speech, West went on to debut the video for his new video Fade, which focused on Teyana Taylor dancing in a thong and sports bra alone in a weightlifting gym, showering nude and transforming into an animal.
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Twitter was torn about West’s dialogue; some thought it was enjoyable, while others thought it was just another annoying rant.
Here is West’s full speech from Sunday night:
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“I am Kanye West, and that feels especially great to say this year. I came here to present my new video, but before I do that, I’mma talk. Now, later tonight, Famous might lose to Beyoncé, but I can’t be mad. I’m always wishing for Beyoncé to win, so.
But for people to understand just how blessed we are… It was an expression of our now, our fame right now, us on the inside of the TV. You know, just to put… the audacity to put Anna Wintour right next to Donald Trump. I mean, like, I put Ray J in it, bro. This is fame, bro! Like, I see you Amber. My wife is a G. Not a lot of peoples’ wives would let them say that right there. We came over in the same boat. Now we all in the same bed. Well, maybe different boats, but uh.
But if you think about last week, there were 22 people murdered in Chicago. You know, like, people come up to me like, ‘Yeah, that’s right! Take Taylor!’ But bro, like, I love all y’all. That’s why I called her.
Bro. Bro! Tonight, we here to have fun. I’m standing in front of my idol, Puff Daddy. I’m standing in front of my wife, Kim Kardashian West. I’m standing in front of the future: Chance the Rapper, 2 Chainz, Jaden Smith. Bro, we are undeniably the influence, the thought leaders. I’m gonna play y’all a piece of my art, and I just hope y’all have a good time. Play that.”
With files from The Associated Press’ Sandy Cohen
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