Kanye’s Struggle to Start
Kanye West is undoubtedly one of the most controversial figures in pop culture today. Whether you agree with his politics, his personal opinions, or are a fan of his music or clothing, he knows how to get attention. In 2015, MTV honored Mr. West with the Vanguard award at the VMA’s, due to his success and innovation in music. After winning the award (who was presented by Taylor Swift), Kanye who is no stranger of the VMA stage, had to give a speech. If you were anyone with a television or computer in 2009, you are probably familiar with Kanye interrupting Taylor Swift as she was accepting her award for best music video. The ongoing issues between the two seemed to have come to a stopping point at this award ceremony in 2015.
In Kanye’s introduction of his acceptance speech for this prestigious award, one might expect Kanye to thank his family, his label, or mention how humbled he is. Of course, Kanye does not do the expected. Instead, he places the award on the ground and goes into thanking Taylor Swift for presenting him with the award. His introduction seems to be a reflection on how he would have redone the night where he rudely interrupted Taylor, if he would have had a daughter at the time. I personally expected Mr. West to say how that event changed him and made him want to be a different type of person, or maybe how it impacted his music from that point on. On the contrary, Kanye mentions absolutely nothing about how he has changed except for the fact that people think he is “not that bad of a person”, and he does not say much about his music or even how he thinks he is deserving of this award.
In my opinion, Kanye’s introduction was a way for people to sympathize with him but it does not outline any points in his speech. For someone who was receiving such an honor, I would have assumed he would have had a thorough speech planned out, but then again it is Kanye West.
