When we found out that Kanye West was going to be given four minutes on stage to do whatever he wanted during the 2016 MTV VMAs we knew that we were going to be in for a treat.
Of course, as is always the case when Kanye speaks he did not disappoint and came through with yet another one of his patented all-over-the-place speeches.
As if his new video featuring Teyana Taylor in a thong and NBA player Iman Shumpert naked wasn’t enough Kanye-ness, his speech was definitely the icing on the cake.
In typical Kanye fashion he hit on everything from his own genius (natch), fame, love, gun violence, Beyonce, his “Famous” video, the history of merchant artists (?) and more. He even gave shout-outs to his ex Amber Rose (who put him on blast awhile back), his archenemy Taylor Swift, and the guy who made his wife famous for their sex tape Ray J.
At least he showed the ability to laugh at himself by starting out saying, “Now, later tonight, ‘Famous’ might lose to Beyonce, but I can’t be mad. I’m always wishing for Beyonce to win so…”
Here’s the full transcript courtesy MTV…
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.
So I was speaking at the Art Institute last year, and a kid came up to me and said ‘Three of my friends died, and I don’t know if I’m gonna be the next.’ And it has to, you know you have to think, like, when you’re a senior and it’s the last month and you just don’t feel like doing any more work. If you feel like you seeing people dying right next to you, you might feel like, what’s the point? You know like life could be like, starting to feel worthless in a way. I know times for me, I sit down and talk to older, like, like, rich people. You know, a.k.a. white, you know. And they tell me, ‘Don’t compare yourself to Steve Jobs. Don’t compare yourself to Walt Disney,’ and my friend Zekiah [sp?] told me… they tell me, ‘Don’t compare yourself to these people, right.’ My friend Zekiah [sp?] told me there’s three keys to keeping people impoverished: that’s taking away their esteem, taking away their resources, and taking away their role models. My role models are artists, merchants. There’s less than ten that I can name in history. Truman. Ford. Hughes. Disney. Jobs. West.
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.
Truman. Ford. Hughes. Disney. Jobs. West. Yeah, that seems about right. For Kanye.