Jay-Z covers the February issue of Interview, which includes a wide-ranging interview with noted film critic Elvis Mitchell on everything from influences, longevity in the industry, the price of fame and even the Kanye West-Taylor Swift VMA incident:
I just think the timing of what he did was wrong, and that, of course, overshadowed everything. He believed that “Single Ladies” [by Jay-Z’s wife, Beyoncé] was a better video. I believed that. I think a lot of people believed that. You can’t give someone Video of the Year if they don’t win Best Female Video. I thought Best Female Video was something you won on the way to Video of the Year. But, hey, I guess it wasn’t—and that’s a whole other conversation about awards shows and artists.
And then, back to the original point, his passion kicks in and he takes things too far . . . He doesn’t realize that that girl, Taylor Swift, is just like him. That was her moment. It wasn’t her fault. She didn’t do anything. It’s not her awards show. So he just did the wrong thing to the wrong person at the wrong time.
@ Judah
My notes are clear. I remember what you said about the people of Haiti.
You said that the earth quake was an act of GOD. As opposed to being a Natural Disaster like what happened in Katrina. Let me be clear that with Katrina it was more man made in terms of help AFTER and precautions BEFORE. But the Hurricane did set things off. It was a Natural Disaster. I don’t have a problem with your description because it was an act of GOD in a way but it was not in the context of your statement. Your statement was more about an act of Punishment for sins the people of Haiti made.
Judah….you were very hard on the VICTIMS and the Efforts that people wanted to make to help those in distress. You said that the people of Haiti were being punished for practicing Witch Craft and making a deal with the devil. You did not seem to care very much about the people and you mocked entertainers like Wyclef who has raised over 1 million Dollars to help with relief efforts. Sure there are issues and problems with some types of relief efforts like with Katrina for example but that does not mean you do nothing when something of this scale happens. You mock people so much and try to come off as some “superior” when you are anything but. Your comments were not far off from Pat Robertson’s if you want to know the truth.
Compassion and helping others are virtues that more people need to have but your cynical attacks are the type of “thinking” that keeps people powerless and inactive when it comes to humanitarian issues. Complaints don’t change anything.
@ Anonymous
Uhm, Beyonce let Taylor have her moment so stop acting like she agreed with Kanye and was extremely arrogant bout the whole situation.
@ sali, did beyonce say she invented it? i recall her clearly saying she was inspired to make that video…wow, some of you just talk with so much confidence, even when you’re clearly INACCURATE! smh
@ msblknasty1, seriously, are you still going on about the whole ‘jay z loves rihanna’ bs…stfu! even her stans have grown up and stopped talking such rubbish…you should try it…and how the f*ck do you know he was with her that night? Such a foolish statement…..
I agree with Jay Z…i think it’s cute how he’s sticking up for his wife BUT he shouldn’t make up excuses for Kanye….what he did was wrong. End of Story….yes Beyonce should have won but she’s can’t win everything each time…besides, she won the biggest award of the night
@ danger, aww…you were trynna be funny. FAIL! Go worship hoeanna and gtfoh
judah lady in red dam that is some deep shit. Taylor must be omething cause god knows she is not talented at all, and gay z needs to shut his mouth about herbie hancock who creates music and just doesnt sample like these pitch death fools. aka gay z. Nas already spanked that azz. and kayne was right taylor didnt deserve the award bey did.
@Kim
Your dumb ass responded… so my comment got somewhere.
I worship myself, try it sometime and maybe you wouldnt feel the need to be ignorant.
People really act like Beyonce is apart of their broken family…. I mean you speak her name and others get confused as if your referring to them. smh
—–@CLOUS
—–Exactly. I don’t even get into who’s talented and who isn’t, but that cave woman
—–has no talent whatsoever lol. It’s just interesting how hyped black people get when
—–they see a black person stand up for another black person in denigration of a
—–white woman. It’s rather amazing. Gives insight on why black people have such
—–an inferiority complex. If they’re that concerned about a white woman who was not
—–even a “crossover artist” prior to that event, one can imagine what they would
—–teach their child in regards to caucasian superiority. In addition to that, the
—–backlash against Kanye is a macrocosm of how irate some black women get
—–when a black man has a strong mind. As contrived as this theatrical event was,
—–it sheds much light. Just the fact of who the players were that they chose to
—–orchestrate this nonsense shows that the goal is the empowerment of the female,
—–the separation of the black female from the black male by making her think that
—–she is “in league” with the white race, and the perpetuation of the black male
—–image as the “buffoon”.
@ danger: uhm, a broken family? really? LMAO….hoeanna’s post is below this one…make your way there….smdh to you too! LOL….hilarious!
@Kim
get a life, I mean really. lol
I guess its suppose to hurt me that your calling a stranger names, I could care less. No one was even addressing you but you felt the need to respond because Beyonce has that much power over you. Break free!!! Your feeling are so hurt because of what I said about a stranger, that shouldnt be. Im done… you can keep addressing me and keep my thoughts in your head.
MY MAN IS SO SWAGGALICIOUS!
YAS! YAS! YAS!
@Sali how so? bee didn’t create the term bootylicious. i saw it on “a different world” and that was YEARS ago so basically she can’t claim any originality lol
doesn’t change the fact that her vid was better than taylor’s b/c it started a movement whereas taylor’s was your everyday, average vid. but taylor’s actual song was better than single ladies which was absolute sh*t and was only saved by the vid so it was up for grabs. now gaga’s vid was hot (not as good as bee’s) and had a good pop song (better than single ladies) so she could’ve won that too
All you people need to relax.
What some of you need to understand is that he is defending Kanye in one way and discrediting him in another. To all the fools who clearly didn’t make it past Junior High considering you are unable to comprehend his words..he’s basically saying that Kanye was right about Beyonce’s video deserving the award because it was better. HOWEVER he DOES NOT believe that Kanye should have approached it in that way. So yes he agrees with what Kanye had to say but had it been him, he wouldn’t do it in that way. Got It?
Well it doesn’t matter Beyonce won the Biggest Award of the nite Video of the Year so you when some you lose some. Beyonce has won more MTV Awards than any female Artist so who cares
BEYONCE SINGLE LADIES VIDEO WAS NOT ALL THAT IT WAS VERY PLAIN ALL THEY DID WAS STOOD IN ONE PLACE AND MOVE AROUND, ANYBODY CAN DO THAT AS YOU SEE THE WHOLE WORLD DID IT!
@65 Neon
But who made it a world wide term and put it in the dictionary? Beyonce. How do you know Beyonce saw “a different world”? Fact is, you don’t.
The one thing I don’t like about some of you bloggers is that you intentionally or at least try to make your OPINIONS come forth as FACTS. Who are you to say Taylors song was better than Beyonce’s? Everyone in the world can say it was better but it would STILL be an opinion.
Question, how can a video be nominated as a BEST FEMALE VIDEO but lose, and then win BEST VIDEO OF THE YEAR? That makes NO sense WHATSOEVER.
There was so much more discussed in the interview…I find it ridiculous that CL chose to give the “Taylor incident” shine, that’s is soooo played out now!
However, Im glad Jay recognized the talents of his counter-part Nas by giving credit where it was due. Nas wrote Illmatic at 19 which speaks volumes about how knowledgeable he was at that age. 19 year olds now days are making garbage ass songs, with garbage ass lyrics!
CALI
The MTV Award that Taylor won was not voted on by the Public. But by MTV STAFF.
The SAME STAFF that voted for Beyonce to win the awards she won.
And like another person said. White people support Beyonce that is why she is such a huge star so stop trying to make this racial. Jay-Z does not have issues with Whites he counts many of them as his friends.
This is about people being gracious and mature.
AGAIN Beyonce showed great form and said it the best. “Taylor deserved her moment” and to not to have that spoiled by a grown man who had nothing to do with the Award process. PERIOD!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I agree, but I don’t know about the Beyonce gracious thing now since Beyonce made the comment that Kanye was standing up for ART even though she added the Taylor deserved her moment thing in there. I thought art was subjective? But I guesss not depending on who you ask. I think both Jay and Bey have stood up for him and his comments even though they won’t blantantly admit that he said what they were thinking.
And I LOVE Kanye and believe that he is one of the best rappers out there, but when he did that immature, self-fish, egotistical act on that girl I was purely disgusted with him. I can forgive him because he hasn’t committed a crime on anyone, but I will NEVER make excuses for his behavior that night.
And yes neither Jay , Bey , nor Kanye would be as successful if they weren’t mainstreamed pop artist so Black/White should never come into the argument because it’s about having respect for, and “standing up for ART”and artists and having the graciousness and maturity to be thankful for what has been given to them.
@ Taylor Swift, Voting for Best Female, Pop Video, Video of The Year, ect., were all open to the public to vote on. The only categories you couldn’t vote for were the technical categories.
I don’t understand the confusion. This issue is gonna be beat into the ground.
I understand why Bey wasn’t give ‘Best Female Video’ cuz they gave her a higher award. They (MTV) was saying Beyonce didn’t have the best video among females…she had the best video PERIOD. I don’t see why two smart ppl like Jay and Kanye can’t understand that…that’s just like someone winning second place…the judges are saying we recognize you for being good Taylor but Bey trumps all contestants. Stop talking about this Jay…move on!
It’s just business people!!! Taylor Swift had a huge fan base before the VMA’s and now she’s even bigger because of the incident, but some of you are so stuck on this Black thing and so-called “Black” music, you didn’t know that she was one of the top selling artist before all this mess with Kanye. She has the same target audience as Miley Cyrus, Cheetah Girls, and all that other teeny-bopper mess. She’s on top of her game. Why can’t we respect her for that. It’s time we as Black people stop accusing others for blocking our shine. That’s not what our ancestors did. They fought for what they believed in. You people spend alot of time on these blogs talking about nothing. Go out and do something constructive!!!!1
Cosign with #74, my kid likes Taylor and THANKFULLY, doesn’t find coochie popping in a video art!
thank you #73 and #74. Sometimes Jay just needs to keep his mouth shut, there is nothing wrong about being competitive but that is just arrogance. He takes himself way to seriously just like Alicia Keys, and the whole Lil Mama incident proved that. Nobody who votes for the VMAs (fans staff or otherwise) is checking for JayZ like that. Kanye, yes. JayZ, no.
Single ladies Video was not all that, thats why beyonce didn’t win
taylor Swift can’t sing for the life of me i don’t know why she won that award but she did. let it go and move on DAmn
Nice cover! Go Jay-Z!
Thank you Jay for speaking nothing but the truth. I totally agree with you on the Taylor Swift incident. I had never even seen her video until that night and the world has seen, mocked and replayed Single Ladies video….the new Chipmunk movie has the girl group doing the Single Ladies. That was a VMA gone wrong.
And the saddest part is that Taylor Swift now actually think she is the best and can’t sing very well. No compairson to Beyonce.
can I have a post on AALIYAH plz ?
Judah is so damn ridiculous i cannot BELIEVE IT.
ALL every last post you have made on this site,
IS NEGATIVE. SOMEONE HASSS to be engaged into something dark, planned, and evil
Are you THAT stupid???
I bet if they post something about a child saving a cat out of the well…you’d come with some s**t about how the cat was possessed and led into the well or the child pushed it in and wanted to get on tv…
stfu judah.
They both wore red…now really?? Shakira and Pink wore the SAME DAMN DRESS now what? Did the moon align and they danced around a mystical fire to gain fame on twitter?!?!
You are so blind. You have NEVER ONCE stated what you believe in only what OTHERS believe in. You are so gullible. You Fail. So quick to judge and assume.
If Beyonce hadn’t given Taylor a chance to talk…then “we” the black people would be known as selfish and conceited and blah blah. But she gave the girl a chance to talk because she knows what it’s like to be stepping into music at an early point where not much people know you. You go and make it seem as though “Oh, she’s worshipping the white people by letting her shine” WAT IS YOUR PROBLEM
you ARE SAD judah. You are SAD. I believe in one God. You can take your darkness somewhere else.
FORGET JAY-Z, ROCAFELLA AND WHOEVER ELSE…..AALIYAH’S BIRTHDAY IS TOMORROW….SHE DESERVES THE WHOLE DAMN WEBSITE DEDICATED TO HER….I THINK LAST YEAR YOU HAD A BACKGROUND…IT WAS NICE. GET CAMEL OFF THE FRONT AND PUT UP THE BEAUTIFUL AALIYAH!
86…
ME>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>HERE<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<YOU
WE WANT AN AALIYAH POST DAMNIT! LOLLLL
fuck jayz and his beard her video was garbage…and beyonce aint no tina turner or chaka chan to think that she should win every award that she’s nominated for.
^^^ YES AALIYAH CAN HAVE HER POST BUT DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DESERVES A F*CKING POST TOO! I CAN’T BELIEVE HE DIDN’T GET A POST EVEN ON HIS BIRTHDAY.
WITHOUT HIM THERE WOULD BE NO JAY-Z, BEYONCE, KANYE, AALIYAH.
CL YOU LOSE MAJOR POINTS FOR SUCH LACK OF RESPECT.
Womp!!!!
@74 Lisa – Exactly.
I agree with post #34 to the fullest, well said.
It’s funny I bet half of you dip shits didn’t even read the article. Yet you comment anyways.
Public schools are not doing their jobs.
BTW like it or not Beyonce vid was EPIC, and is already going down in history.
Stay in school kids, and some adults on here please go back to school. Thanks make America proud.
I can’t believe many of the idiotic comments on this post! Jay-Z is dumb as rocks and makes no sense! He gave Taylor a backhanded compliment. Beyonce’s video for “Single Ladies” was probably one of the most boring and cheap videos of all time! I really don’t understand why people act like it was so great! It sucked, the dance moves were off and stupid… all she did was shake her a**! Jay needs to keep his mouth shut and the only reason why he’s in the position that he’s in is because he’s been with Beyonce. Before he was with Beyonce, the white Hollywood media had no clue who he was! Anyway, don’t play the race card, Taylor deserved that award because her fans made her win that award.
Jay z is a fake and a sell out..
I agree with Jay 200%!!! Dayum right. He was on point with it! Bey did her thing for real on that video…. I don’t see babies dancing to Taylor Swift’s video!!! lol!
So why does everyone think that Beyonce deserves every award made by man. Its so annoying that people expect her to always come out on top. She’s been in the industry long enough and new artists deserve their shine too. I think it is unfair that jay Z is being so damn biased because she’s his wife. Does the world revolve around beyonce?
I don’t care how talented she is, other people have talent too. Does that mean that other artists talents shold be overlooked and overshadowed by her ,every year? Do we seriouosly need her to dominate every award show like she does already? This is just mere favouritism.
AALIYAH!!!! plz do a post on her
Jay-Z just great. if you dont respect him, Get the f**** outta here. Jays the KING! Respect this mens hustle. He made it from Marcy to MSG.
Cant wait to see him on tour!
Which better was better is a matter of opinion. ugh…opinions are like azholes..we all got one. I wish people would stating that like its a matter of fact. I didn’t like the beyonce video…my opinion…i didn’t like the Taylor swift vid either….which one was better…i could take the bey vid. My opinion.
All this is Jay-z sticking up for his boi, and yes he is tryna excuse him. This whole thing was never about who’s vid was actually better, whether bey was robbed of award…it was about decency, respect and some common sense. Maybe i thought i should of been valedictorian, homecoming queen, etc….I don’t run up during the winners sppech and let everyone know that i thought i was a better pic. smh. All he did here was try to excuse kanye’s behavior because he thinks kanye was right. He knows good n well that had that been pink or some other artist….kanye wouldn’t of ran up there
WHO CARES ABOUT JAY-Z.. HE DOESN’T CARE ABOUT US!!! HE JUST A HUMAN BEING LIKE YOU AND I!!!
***************************ATTENTION********************************
PEOPLE HAITI IS GREAT NEED OF YOUR HELP MANY VICTIMS ARE DYING, AND STUCK UNDER RUBBLES AND THEY ALL NEED YOUR HELP!!! PLEASE DONATE TO YELE HAITI BY TEXTING “YELE” TO 501501 $5 OR DONATE TO THE RED CROSS BY TEXTING HAITI TO 90999 $10
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People are forgetting the the mtv awards were voted by the fans for the past three years
If Beyonce stan wanted her to win the award they should had voted for her.
@ danger
So it’s ok for you to judge me and claim i’m from a broken family and also indirectly call Beyonce dumb BUT when i decide to call rihanna what i please….you’re moaning bout how i’m calling a ‘stranger’ names?! Practice what you preach…
damn he ugly same pose same glasses
Thanks J Dakar
This is crazy. Do u people not remember that when it happened Jay-z was backing his boy. He voicedhis opinion, he felt it was ok. Jay Z is an ass. He is so hypocritical. He has beef with Chris Brown for wat happened to Rihanna, but I guess him bustin a chick in the head with a heinekin bottle here in North Carolina is ok. Get real!! Kanye fills that Micheal Jakson’s death was better than Patrick Swayzes. Just admit it, he is a loose overrated turd. He is not the first artist to feel they should be appreciated more than another,and he wont b the last. Maybe if he humbles hisself he will be rewarded. Jay-z figure out how u can match ur wife and be an equal partner in ur marriage instead of a hanger on!!
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Jay-Z is a very smart person, I think he was being truthful in
saying that Kanye West attack on Taylor wasn’t right. I think
Jay-Z knows that Beyonce would have won that but there was
no category for Country Singers. Jay-Z wasn’t even there, and
what’s up with these Black Believer’s who Follow this illuminati
crap trying to influence a demonstration on Jay-Z . CornBalls