By Erika Norton | Echo
At the 57th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday night, our favorite rapper and self-proclaimed god decided to "pull a Kanye"-again.
When Beck went to accept his award for Album of the Year, Kanye West walked up with him. The audience panicked. It appeared he was about to recreate the infamous 2009 VMA awards incident, where West interrupted pop singer Taylor Swift's acceptance speech to voice his disdain toward her win.
"Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time," West exclaimed. Poor T-Swift stood there dumbfounded and embarrassed.
But on Sunday, in what one can only hope was a moment of clarity, West left the stage, poking fun at himself.
The problem is West wasn't completely kidding. In a post-Grammy interview with E!, West said that Beck was undeserving of the award.
"Beck needs to respect artistry, he should have given his award to Beyoncé," West told the E! hosts. "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."
He justified this opinion by claiming he's just fighting for creativity.
My question is, what makes Beyoncé more creative than Beck? Are only artists that Kan likes allowed to be creative?
When asked about the incident by Us Weekly, Beck was extremely gracious, saying, "He (Kanye) deserves to be on stage as much as anybody. How many great records has he put out in the last five years, right?"
"Even though he said Beyoncé should have won?" Us Weekly asked him.
"Absolutely," Beck said. "I thought she was going to win. Come on, she's Beyoncé!"
Even when asked about West's remarks, Beck's response was incredibly mindful.
"You can't please everybody, man," Beck said. "I still love him and think he's genius. I aspire to do what he does."
He humbly responded, but I think Beck needs to give himself more credit. Let's compare Beyoncé's self-titled album to Beck's "Morning Phase".
Besides Beyoncé, 24 writers worked on her album. How many writers contributed to "Morning Phase"?Just Beck.
Look at how many instruments each artist played on their respective albums. Along with his vocals, Beck played 14 instruments, including the organ, the dulcimer, the celesta, the charango. (If you don't know what most of those are, that's because they are not common instruments these days.) Not to mention, Beck had the soaring orchestration conducted by his father.
What instruments did Beyoncé contribute? Just her voice.
It's a powerful and beautiful voice, don't get me wrong. And just because you only sing and have other writers on your album does not mean you are a less talented artist. But let's just recognize the amount of skill and thought Beck put into his album. He's a musician and a singer/songwriter.
Plus, it's not like Beyoncé hasn't gotten any love from the Grammys. Queen B is the most nominated and second most honored woman in Grammy history with 20 awards and 53 nominations. She definitely does not need Kanye to defend her.
What it comes down to is R-E-S-P-E-C-T-something West doesn't have.
Nine-time Grammy winner John Legend, one of West's close friends, said it best when asked about West's remarks.
"Beck is indeed a true artist's artist," Legend told Us Weekly. "He's a multi-instrumentalist, a creative and unique singer-songwriter whose music I have bought and enjoyed over the years. While his win may have been a surprise to many, it's not because he's not a great artist deserving of recognition. All of the other nominated artists, including Beyoncé, are incredible in their own right, and arguments could be made for any of them deserving to win."
That's what an artist should sound like. They should sound respectful of other artists-like Beck is of Kanye. While certain music may not be your taste and you may disagree with the Grammy Awards' decision, this doesn't give you the right to be disrespectful.
"It's just Kanye being Kanye" isn't a good excuse.
