(don’t) go west, young man!

you know what’s kinda off?

even though i’m unemployed, i still find myself watching most of my tv on dvr, including the VMA’s this year…

…and something happened i thought might be an annual event or something. see, this time last year i was between tv providers – still warring with time warner about some bullshit charges they wouldn’t reverse, pre-direct tv, so i didn’t see the VMA’s last year (2008). the VMA’s are special for people my age ’cause it harkens back to the first award shows that really seemed like they were for OUR generation. the grammy and oscar telecasts are cool, but there was as much for our parents as there was for us – but the VMAs were all us, and remind us of back when the “M” in “MTV” stood for music, not “Moderately annoying ‘reality’ show”.

so when kanye jumped up on stage to interrupt poor taylor swift’s best female video speech early in the broadcast i thought it was just something he now did EVERY year. i could see that. while the reactions of both taylor and beyonce seemed genuine, i figured maybe everybody knew it WOULD happen, just not to WHOM it would occur.

turns out that wasn’t the case.

kanye, president bush didn’t hate black people…but probably did hate you.

in researching this i pulled an article that gave a timeline of kanye tirades. what was funny was the article was put out BY MTV and done in the wake of his bullshit at the 2007 awards (and 2006, and 2005 AMA’s, and…) – it wasn’t even about this one.

for all who missed it here’s the short version – teenage country sensation taylor swift won best female video, got to say “thanks…”, and the mic was snatched out of her hand so kanye west could announce that beyonce had made “the best video of all time”. needless to say this kinda shattered her, and her speech was a stumble of a sentence or two and we cut to commercial. later in the show, after several great performances (including a really stellar subway station/train/street performance by swift) beyonce won the video of the year (one of the NINE awards she was up for and in the pre-show said was the only one she REALLY wanted). instead of the traditional speech she mentioned how cool it was to win her first one as a teenager with destiny’s child, and that it was a “real moment”, adding, “and i want taylor to have her moment”. swift walked back out, was handed the mic, and allowed to give her speech (after her “let’s try this again…” joke).

when she was done beyonce didn’t even reach for the mic – she let the moment be all taylor. that’s a level of class and professionalism seldom seen in the music industry today and beyonce, if i ever bump into you at a bar, the first round is SO on me for being that fucking cool.

as for mr. west, he needs to be banned for life from the VMA’s. he’s had his share of good performances and moments, but he’s stepped on too many fucking toes. fuck that – not just the VMA’s – keep him out of award shows PERIOD. if he’s gonna be a fucking child about things, keep his ass at home with a babysitter.