Kanye West shared his thoughts on his relationship with Kim Kardashian, his new music, and how he’s come to live without regret, stating that he feels interrupting Taylor Swift at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards only lead him to bigger and better things.
In a (un)surprisingly candid interview with The New York Time , West the self-proclaimed “nucleus” of culture, spoke about the incident in which he took the stage during Swift’s acceptance speech for Best Female Video to say that Beyoncé deserved the award instead.
“It’s only led me to complete awesomeness at all times,” West said in defense of his “instinct” to question accolades given to other musicians. “It’s only led me to awesome truth and awesomeness. Beauty, truth, awesomeness. That’s all it is.”
When questioned as to whether his experience with Swift lead to regret, the “Mercy” singer said its not something he feels, or that fans and readers should expect him to feel.
“If anyone’s reading this waiting for some type of full-on, flat apology for anything, they should just stop reading right now,” West said, saying that his later apology to the “Red” singer was the result of peer pressure.
“It’s such a strong thing, and people have such a strong feeling about it. “Dark Fantasy” was my long, backhanded apology,” West explained. “You know how people give a backhanded compliment? It was a backhanded apology. It was like, all these raps, all these sonic acrobatics. I was like: ‘Let me show you guys what I can do, and please accept me back. You want to have me on your shelves.’”
In the immediate aftermath of West’s bold proclamation, Swift chose to take the high road and not engage with the rapper. The New York Daily News reported that then 19-year-old Swift told reporters backstage, "I don't want to start anything because I had a great night," when asked to fire back.
To relive the infamous interruption, check out the video below (Swift’s name is called at 1:10 and West takes the stage at 2:04).
Image: NBC