When Beck claimed his Grammy for Best Album last night, everyone laughed as Kanye West faked an outburst in the same vein as his “I’ma let you finish” moment with Taylor Swift in 2009.
Turns out he wasn’t kidding: during a post-Grammys show on E!, Yeezus revealed that he thought Beck should give his trophy to Beyoncé.
“I just know that, the Grammys, if they want real artists to keep coming back, they need to stop playing with us,” West said. “We aren’t going to play with them no more.
“‘Flawless.’ Beyoncé’s video. And Beck needs to respect artistry,” Kanye continued. “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.”
Mild-mannered Beck seemed pretty shocked to be taking the trophy home in the first place after already winning Best Rock Album. As he took the stage, Yeezy makes a beeline behind him, pokes his head into the camera shot as Beck is about to win, then “lets him finish,” as it were.
Noticeably missing from Kanye’s rant is any legitimate reason that Beck wouldn’t be considered an artist.
Considering that he singlehandedly wrote, performed and produced Morning Phase by himself over a course of years, it’s safe to say that he was completely deserving, and that Kanye was right to sit down.
When asked about his moment onstage with Yeezus in an interview with Us Weekly, Beck brushed it off.
“I was just so excited he was coming up. He deserves to be on stage as much as anybody,” Beck said, praising the rapper’s work.
All in all, the Boston Calling headliner seemed too thrilled about the win to worry about anything else, though he admitted he though Beyonce was deserving of Best Album as well.
“I thought she was going to win,” he admitted. “Come on, she’s Beyonce!”
[h/t The Daily Beast]
