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Kanye Talks Bush, Taylor Swift, Matt Lauer at NY Show

Posted Nov 24th 2010 12:15PM by Steven J. Horowitz
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Kanye West Ben Hider/Getty Images

Kanye West took over New York City's Bowery Ballroom for a surprise show to commemorate the release of his fifth album 'My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,' dazzling audience members including Lyor Cohen and Questlove with reconfigured renditions of his tracks.

But the highlight of the gig wasn't just guest appearances from Nicki Minaj, Rick Ross, Ryan Leslie, Pusha T and more. 'Ye finished up with a heated nine-minute speech, doting on everything from Taylor Swift and President Bush to his first-week album sales.

Kanye began by sharing his estimated first week numbers. "To do an album after the year I had, [...] and to come back and do 100,000 the first day digital alone and to be slated to do 600,000 in the first week," he said. "I usually don't talk about the numbers, but what that number says is that people want me to keep making music and not give up. No radio singles. No number one record. No top 10 record. They had to reorder. They sold out in Chicago. They sold out in Best Buy on 14th street tonight."

He also touched on the Taylor Swift incident where he crashed the stage at the 2009 MTV VMAs. "When you do things like what happened last year, it's disrespectful to everyone that's creative. It's a slap in the face to everyone who tries to do something real. If I wasn't drunk, I would have been on stage longer. Am I the only one who's not crazy here??"

Speaking on how his haters turned into fans after his comments on George Bush's response to Hurricane Katrina, he drew a parallel between his and Taylor Swift's handling of the incident. "Just as Taylor never came to my defense in any interview and rode the wave, just the way I rode the wave of the Bush comment. It's not about popular opinion. It's about when you look in your heart and know what's right and wrong."

'Ye also touched on his heated interview with the 'Today' show's Matt Lauer, saying he was sure that Lauer was "a good guy." West put emphasis on how much he values his words, and how he would have worded his Bush comments differently. "I am very particular with my words and the emotion that I felt at that time wasn't worded exactly right," he said. "And the whole time I'm thinking in my mind, that's not exactly what I wanted to say. But I rode it."

He capped his tirade by thanking those for supporting him in spite of the controversy. "People stood up for me this week. 600,000, coming off being the most hated person this time last year," he said. "I can't be your role model, I can't be your savior, your Antichrist. I don't know what the fuck the Illuminati is. I like clothes and I still like girls, I don't give a fuck what you think. And on that note, I love y'all and all my family that came out to help out with that album."