Gawker has obtained what they're calling an alleged leaked audio clip of Kanye West ranting, the rapper justifying his interruption of Taylor Swift's speech during the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, complaining about not being able to perform at the ceremony when pop star P!nk was allowed to, and saying that his late mother, Donda West, "died for this fame s**t."
The audio was supposedly recorded secretly while West dined with friends after leaving Radio City Music Hall that night of the '09 VMAS, at the Corner Bistro in NYC's West Village. West was drunk at the time he got on stage to interrupt Swift and declare Beyonce's video "one of the best of all time," an infamous incident that angered and amused many and created a ripple in our pop culture lexicon. If this audio recording is in fact really him, he was likely drunk then as well.
Its not just the tone and timbre in the voice of the rant, Gawker says, but the content and loose connections the speaker makes.
Before the ceremony ended on that fateful night, West posted an apology in all-caps on his since-deleted blog: "I'M SOOOOO SORRY TO TAYLOR SWIFT AND HER FANS AND HER MOM. I SPOKE TO HER MOTHER RIGHT AFTER AND SHE SAID THE SAME THING MY MOTHER WOULD'VE SAID. SHE IS VERY TALENTED! I LIKE THE LYRICS ABOUT BEING A CHEERLEADER AND SHE'S IN THE BLEACHERS!"
The next day it was deleted and replaced with a much simpler apology, "I feel like Ben Stiller in 'Meet the Parents' when he messed up everything and Robert DeNiro asked him to leave...That was Taylor's moment and I had no right in any way to take it from her. I am truly sorry."
The nominations for this year's VMAs were announced Wednesday, and many are talking about the infamous 2009 incident between West and Swift.
For this year's VMAs, Swift responded to her nomination with a cheeky reference to the incident that many argue helped launch her career:
Two VMA nominations!! If you vote and get us one, I promise to keep a firmer grip on the mic this time ;) https://t.co/nK9rhV95RP
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) July 17, 2013
Click here to hear the full leaked audio post, and read Gawker's transcript below:
"I'd rather just let the [inaudible] speak for itself. You know, it's like, I was happy to be in a situation where people couldn't say, oh, I was trying to promote my own song. For the times that I've, like, defended myself... [Tape break] I'm pushing the envelope! I wrote my f**kin' 'Run This Town' verse for a f**kin' month! When I heard Eminem's verse on the Drake sh**t, I went back and rewrote my shit for two days. I canceled appointments to rewrite! I f**kin' care! You know what I'm saying? And that's what I'm saying. Because I did that, Taylor Swift cannot win over Beyoncé! Because I wrote my verse in two days, Taylor Swift cannot beat Beyoncé. As long as I'm alive! And if I'm alive, kill me then! Kill me then! As long as I'm alive, you gon' have to deal with it. 'Cause there ain't gonna be no more motherf***ing Elvises with no James Browns.
[A female voice asks, "Why are you so angry? What's the anger?"] Because my mother got arrested for the f**kin' sit-ins. My mother died for this fame s**t! I moved to f**kin' Hollywood chasing this s**t. My mother died because of this s**t. F**k MTV.
It ain't no love. What the fuck was Pink performing? Don't nobody know that song. Pink performed twice! Two songs? How the f**k Pink perform two songs and I didn't even get asked to perform "Heartless." "Heartless" is the biggest song of the year! It had the most spins of the first quarter! I don't know that Pink song! But I noticed that she's pink! They put me in a f**kin' room and [inaudible - maybe "projected it"].
[A male voice asks, "How the f**k did Eminem get the Best Hip-Hop song in 2008?"] Eminem won Best Video! Rap Video! Yo, when he wont that s**t, I was so happy. I was so happy I [unclear - "ran all this s**t," maybe]. I said, "N****, I'm gon' do this until y'all put a bullet in my head. I'm runnin' up to y'all, put a..." [tape cuts]."
