So I was speaking at the Art Institute past year and one kid came up to me and he said, “Three of my friends died and I don’t know if Ima be the next”. Thankfully, Kanye West made a decision to do something about it.
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To understand Kanye’s speech, it’s important to realize that 2016 has been the most creatively provocative year of his career to date.
West, who famously jumped on stage to interrupt Taylor Swift at the VMAs in 2009, didn’t perform, but instead took the time to explain his controversial music video “Famous”. It was the “Toxic” singer’s first time on the VMA stage since her humiliating 2007 performance when her personal and professional life was falling apart, and follows the release of a new album last week.
The polarising rapper had the audience hanging on his every word as he delivered a speech ahead of the premiere of his video for Fade. I’m standing in front of the future, Chance the Rapper. They here right now, just witnessing this.
Biles wasn’t the only member of the final five to get a close-up with a member of the Kardashian-West clan. When he’s all over the place saying whatever nonsense pops into his mind, he’s still pretty compelling, but he doesn’t make as convincing a case for being the greatest artist of the 21st century as he does when he’s, say, taking over Ellen.
Her second performance, a “dancehall medley”, included “Rude Boy” and her 2016 chart-topper “Work”.
Rihanna opened the VMAs by running through hit singles like “Only Girl in The World” and “Where Have You Been”.
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If you don’t love (or at least respect) what Kanye is doing, you haven’t been paying attention. By Rihanna’s third performance of the night-the one with hip-hop tracks like “Needed Me” and “Bitch Better Have My Money”-her dancers could be seen on the side stairs of the main stage, joking around with one another and whipping their pony tails around like they were a just-discovered source of renewable energy”. In contrast, when Beyoncé’s phalanx of gold-clad dancers started sneaking their way through the arena before her performance, they resembled soldiers in their intensity and stillness.
