Kanye West dropped the understatement of the century while accepting his 2016 Webby Award for Artist of The Year. Limited to five words by the ceremony’s own rules, Yeezy said something we’ve all known about him for a while.
“I can’t stand short speeches,” he said after a glitchy, tweet-filled montage of his greatest moments of the year.
Before the festering welt of anger that always accompanies a Kanye win appears, let me ask: Can you think of anyone who deserved to be named Artist of the Year more, considering that the Webbys are all about celebrating online innovation? He re-defined what an album rollout can be and livestreamed the whole messy process on a then-fledgling streaming service and in theaters. He continued to tinker with tracks well after the album was released, highlighting how malleable and ephemeral the dominant form of listening to music is. He absolutely deserved the win.
As for Kanye’s confession, there’s plenty of history to back him up. Remember his speech about why he uses The Pirate Bay? How about his 20-minute long acceptance speech at an awards show for shoes? In fact, it’s a wonder that Kanye didn’t just send in a half-completed first sentence from an hour long webcam rant.
(Via Idolator)
