Kanye West-Taylor Swift: Kanye West Back To Action: ‘I just said what everybody else was thinking’
In his first concert since the February launch of The Life of Pablo, Kanye West commented about his controversial “Famous” lyric.
After performing the track at a show in Manila, Philippines, Saturday evening, West telephoned the night he interrupted Swift’s acceptance speech for Best Female Video at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards “the beginning of the end of my life,” but also stated that he “just said what everybody else was believing.” (On “Famous,” West sings “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why? I made that bitch famous.”)
“This is the song that broke the writer’s block for me, because it’s something I wanted to say so bad,” West said. “So if I get in trouble for saying the truth, what’s being said the rest of the time? And I had to fight every day of my life, with the whole world turned against me, for saying out loud what everyone else felt. But that’s the job of an artist, of a true artist: not to be controlled by their finances, not to be controlled by perceptions, but only to be controlled by their truth.”
West included that he “fought” to make “Famed” Pablo’s first single and that it was “really overwhelming” to play the song live for the very first time. Then he performed the song another time.
In the times following Pablo’s release, West claimed that he desired “the best for that man and that Taylor Swift” was not “ dissed by him.” Swift addressed Kanye and the song in the Grammys during her Album of the Year acceptance speech, saying, “There will be folks across the way that will attempt to undercut your success or take credit for the achievements or your acclaim.”
The 38-year old rapper recently released an updated version of Pablo on major flowing services — a move that helped the record claim the top position on the Billboard albums chart.
