After last week’s announcement of the nominees for the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, Chicago rapper Kanye West took it upon himself to share his thoughts on the list of nominees during his “Yeezus Tour” stop in Phoenix, Arizona yesterday (December 10).
Clad in his signature Margiela mask, Kanye seemed less than pleased with his two Grammy nominations, which included nods for Best Rap Album (Yeezus) and Best Rap Song (“New Slaves”). He also drew attention to the fact that he has a total of 21 Grammys to his name, but has never won a Grammy when faced against a white artist.
“They try to trivialize my words and try to make it seem like my importance as a musician is less important than what it is,” ‘Ye said. “I mean, we can even take a look at some recent nominations that came out. Now I’m 36-years-old and I have 21 Grammys. That’s the most Grammys of any 36-year-old. Out of all those 21 Grammys, I’ve never won a Grammy against a white artist.”
Following comparisons to Michael Jackson and the late singer’s struggle to break into the mainstream, Kanye said, “fuck those nominations,” in regards to his Best Rap Album and Best Rap Song nominations.
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“So, when the Grammy nominations come out and Yeezus is the Top 1 or 2 albums on every single list, but only gets two nominations from the Grammys,” said the rapper. “What are they trying to say? Do they think that I wouldn’t notice? Do they think that some way that I don’t have the power to completely diminish all of their credibility at this moment…People come to me and they congratulate me on those two nominations. Fuck those nominations.”
Joining Kanye in the Best Rap Album category are Drake (Nothing Was The Same), Kendrick Lamar (good kid, m.A.A.d city), Jay Z (Magna Carta Holy Grail) and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (The Heist). In addition to Kanye’s “New Slaves,” other songs nominated for Best Rap Song include A$AP Rocky’s “F***in’ Problems,” Jay-Z’s “Holy Grail,” Drake’s “Started From The Bottom” and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis “Thrift Shop.”
Kanye is currently in the process of winding down his “Yeezus Tour,” which is scheduled to make stops in Anaheim, California; Detroit; Chicago; and other cities before the end of the year.
Video from Kanye’s tour stop in Phoenix can be found below (via 2DopeBoyz).
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