Kanye West on Jay Leno Show

(Leno interviews West re: Swiftgate incident) NBC's Jay Leno couldn't have asked for a more perfectly-timed guest for his new show as he kicked off his new primetime series. On Monday night controversial rap star Kanye West was on the Jay Leno Show, just one night after West interrupted Taylor Swift on stage at the MTV Video Music Awards. The interview was a last minute thing, as West was there to perform with Jay-Z and Rihanna for the Blueprint 3 hit song "Run this Town". Jay Leno didn't have too many laughs during the interview, but earlier in the night joked that maybe President Obama would invite West and Swift to have a "root beer summit" with him and patch things up. Speaking of the pres, Obama called Kanye West a "jackass" in an off the record talk during an interview, when asked about the incident. As for Kanye, the rapper noted that he wants to take time off to reflect on his life and figure out how to improve. He apologized again, after issuing an apology earlier on his blog. "So many celebrities, they never take the time off," he said. "I've never taken the time off to really -- you know, just music after music and tour after tour. I'm just ashamed that my hurt caused someone else's hurt. My dream of what awards shows are supposed to be, 'cause, and I don't try to justify it because I was just in the wrong. That's period. But I need to, after this, take some time off and just analyze how I'm going to make it through the rest of this life, how I'm going to improve." The emotional moment of the Leno interview came when Jay asked Kanye what his mother would think about what he did at the VMA's. West paused for several moments and eventually agreed with Leno that she'd probably give him a lecture for what he did. Check out footage of the Kanye West Jay Leno interview below: Meanwhile, it appears that female pop stars continue to rally in support of Taylor Swift and to denounce Kanye. The latest to jump on the bandwagon, Kelly Clarkson, who said she likes her "a--hole cheating ex more than Kanye" according to the Huffington Post. This comes after singers Pink and Katy Perry posted not so nice comments towards West on their Twitter pages. Related Entries: Kanye West Blog Apology to Taylor Swift Kanye West's Swift VMA Entrance

Kanye West Blog Apology to Taylor Swift

After last night's MTV Music awards 2009 Kanye West Taylor Swift incident, the rapper issued an apology to Taylor Swift, her fans and mother. Since there's no official Kanye West Twitter page (Ye hates the site), he used the next best thing, his blog. From Kanye's blog: "I'm so 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! I'm in the wrong for going on stage and taking away from her moment! Beyonce's video was the best of this decade!!! I'm sorry to my fans if I let you guys down!!! I'm sorry to my friends at MTV. I will apologize to Taylor 2mrw (tomorrow). Welcome to the real world!!! Everybody wanna boo me but I'm a fan of real pop culture! No disrespect but we watchin' (watching) the show at the crib right now cause...well you know!!! I'm still happy for Taylor!!! Booyaa. You are very very talented. I gave my award to Outkast when they deserved it over me. That's what it is! I'm not crazy yall (y'all), I'm just real. Sorry for that! I really feel bad for Taylor and I'm sincerely sorry!!! Much respect!!!" The stage-rushing incident came early on in the show, moments after Madonna had made a speech remembering Michael Jackson, and then a tribute performance was done on stage with Jackson dancers, and the late singer's sister arriving out to perform "Scream". Taylor Swift had just won the Best Female video VMA and while she was on stage with her moon man award statue, West interrupted, yanking the mic from her hands to proclaim Beyonce's "Single Ladies" as one of the best videos of all time. After West left the stage, Swift stood in silence stunned. She began her speech but the MTV people chose to start showing a video skit on the big screen featuring Tracy Morgan, which cut her off. Later in the show, Beyonce won Video of the Year, and in a moment of true grace, she invited Swift back on stage to have her award-winning moment. Many are now praising Beyonce for her move, while Kanye continues to get the not so friendly treatment. Fans and celebs alike were buzzing and downright mad about Kanye's interference, as singers Pink and Katy Perry sounded off on Twitter. It's unlikely we'll see any Pink, Borat, or Katy Perry collaborations with West anytime soon. Now will Lil' Mama please make a public apology to Jay-Z & Alicia Keys for jumping on stage to pose with the duo? Related: Kanye West's Swift VMA Entrance 2009 (Story Source: Fox40.com)

Jay-Z & Alicia Keys at 2009 MTV VMA's

(Lil' Mama on stage with Jay-Z, Alicia w/ the WTF?) Whether Jay-Z was fashionably late or it was just part of the show, the rapper closed out the strange, controversial and interesting 2009 MTV VMA's with a hardcore rap performance. Jay-Z took to the stage after MTV continually announced he was on his way to the venue several times. Possibly to build hype, or he really was late for the show. Still it was a spirited and boisterous performance by the duo of Jay's Blueprint 3 hit song "Empire State of Mind". Jay's wife Beyonce bootylicious self was shown dancing front row to the track. Jay-Z - New Music - More Music Videos Empire State of Mind Lyrics - Jay-Z feat. Alicia Keys Question: What was Lil' Mama doing up on stage at the end of Jay-Z's performance? Notice in the video and pic above, Alicia Keys is wondering what the hell she's doing there. I'm sure she got a talking to later on. The one-hit wonder of "Lip Gloss" fame showed up to pose next to Jay and Alicia Keys following their triumphant performance on stage. Many fans and reviewers of the show believe maybe Lil' Mama was high, but more likely she just wanted her 15 seconds of fame as she isn't relevant right now. Even with last night's stunt, she still was less talked about than Kanye West. More 2009 MTV VMA's Coverage: Kanye West blog Apology to Taylor Swift Kanye West Taylor Swift MTV VMA 2009 incident

Kanye West's Swift VMA Entrance 2009

(Kanye interrupts Swift's award moment, MTV VMA 2009) Another year, another controversial MTV live awards show goes down in history. And yet another MTV VMA's where awards were given to recognize music videos rarely even seen on MTV. But as of September 13th and beyond, the internet will continue to buzz about the MTV VMA Awards show 2009 edition, including "What did Kanye West do?" and "Who is Russell Brand?" It didn't take rapper Kanye West long at all to get himself in hot water at yet another MTV awards show. This time around, West wasn't even griping about himself losing an award. Instead, he rushed the stage to interrupt Taylor Swift's award acceptance for Best Female video, and basically proclaimed that Beyonce had been robbed of the award. Beyonce had a stunned reaction in the crowd, and the audience eventually turned against Ye with boos. It was also reported that various celebs were not happy with Kanye, including Pink who gave him a disgusted look as she walked by. MTV Shows All was not lost though, as Beyonce later won Video of the Year for "Single Ladies" and during her acceptance invited Taylor Swift back on stage to have her moment. Beyonce claimed she knew what it was like to win for the first time when she won with Destiny's Child a while back. Taylor graciously thanked all the fans, and her little brother's high school for allowing them to film the video. The impressive opening moment of the show saw Madonna come out at the opening to pay tribute to Michael Jackson. Madonna recalled a story of when she tried to get to know the shy superstar. She also brought up how they grew apart, and how a "witch-hunt" began for Michael. Madonna talked of Jackson being unique and rare, but also a human being who we unfortunately had to lose to appreciate more. From there they launched into a tribute to Jackson, with classic videos playing on the big screen and dancers on stage recreating the moves while decked out in classic MJ costumes. The opening bit also saw a surprise performance from the late Michael's sister, Janet as she exploded out onto the stage to do her part from "Scream" while the black and white spaced out video played behind her. Jermaine and Joe Jackson were in the house to see the unveiling of concert footage from a Michael Jackson movie that will be released at a later date. Still wondering who the host was? It was British actor Russell Brand of Forgetting Sarah Marshall fame who hosted the fast-paced show which lacked comedic punch. Wale performed with a house band in various segments to the side of the stage. The post show seemed to lack anything special as they analyzed the "Tweets" from Twitter regarding the show. To make things even stranger, MTV correspondent and personality Sway tried to call his brother on his new LG phone to get his opinion of the show. Fortunately for Sway and MTV, it went to voice mail. Regarding the Kanye stage crash, there were some unhappy Twitterers from the VMA's, including Katy Perry, Pink & Borat: @PINK: "# Kanye west is the biggest piece of s--t on earth. Quote me.about 4 hours ago from UberTwitter " "# My heart goes out to taylor swift. She is a sweet and talented girl and deserved her moment. She should know we all love her. about 4 hours ago from UberTwitter " "Beyonce is a classy lady.I feel for her, too.Its not her fault at all, and her and taylor did their thing. And douche bag got kicked out. HA" @Borat: "# I would like to skull f--k kanye west until his jaw breaks for what he did too taylor swift.about 3 hours ago from Power Twitter " Katy Perry: "# F--K U KANYE. IT'S LIKE U STEPPED 0N A KITTEN.about 3 hours ago from UberTwitter " "# Vma's we're amaze sack but why every1 gotta go ruin the top & bottom of it all, Kan** 2 Lil M*** get OFF DA STAGE IT AIN'T YO TIME 2 SHINE! about 1 hour ago from UberTwitter " Apparently, based on Katy Perry's tweet, Lil' Mama somehow snuck onto the stage and was present at the end of Jay-Z's performance of "Empire State of Mind" to pose with Alicia Keys & Jigga...What a show. More MTV VMA's Coverage: Kanye West blog Apology to Taylor Swift Jay-Z & Alicia Keys 2009 MTV VMA's Performance - Empire State of Mind Related Entries: Taylor Swift's Thug Story Rap lyrics

Details About Kanye's 4th Album

After unveiling an interesting new song at the MTV Music Awards, fans have been abuzz about the new project Kanye West will be bringing. VIBE.com has details about Kanye's 4th solo album, which surprisingly won't be called "Good Ass Job" as had been previously rumored. From VIBE.com: According to BET.com blog, Sound Off, Kanye West’s fourth solo album will be released on December 16 and is entitled, 808’s & Heartbreak. It was always believed Kanye’s fourth album would be entitled Good Ass Job to keep with theme of his previous three releases – College Dropout, Late Registration, and Graduation. Sound Off is also reporting Kanye will be utilizing the Auto-Tuner throughout much of the album. This is the same device Kanye used on his verse for Young Jeezy’s “Put On” and more recently, “Love Lockdown” the new single Kanye premiered this past Sunday on the MTV Video Music Awards. Source: VIBE.com

Kanye West's 2008 VMA Performance - Love Lockdown

Kanye West unveiled another new and experimental song at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards. The song is entitled "Love Lockdown" and the new jam closed out this year's MTV show. Kanye took the mic but not as a rapper, this time around he decided to croon a bit, similar to Cee Lo and Andre 3000. Check it out below! View the live VMA performance here at MTV.com! Looks like Kanye is bringing even more experimentation for his next record release. He's already graduated, so he's sure to take us to some higher learning on the next album! What do you think of the new Kanye style? Hit or miss? Should Kanye stick to rapping?

MTV's VMAs Keep Deteriorating

Back in the day MTV was all about the music videos. It was a bigtime novelty and over the years that novelty has gradually eroded into a channel which features shows about dating, rich kids who party, celebrity homes and other short attention span programming. The Video Music Awards are a "time-honored" annual tradition on MTV, as they pay tribute to the most innovative and creative music videos in various music genres. The show used to have a big name host such as Dennis Miller, or Chris Rock, or the Wayans Brothers. It also used to have structure with musical performances and various comedy bits. It seems that just like the MTV channel itself, the awards show has now given way to an ADD-style program with no rhyme or reason. The 2007 event was yet another example. This year's VMA's seemed all over the place, with no real organization. Performances were being held all over Las Vegas, which is fine, but many performances were shown briefly and then cut off. Award winners were either shown stuck in the middle of a mass of people in the crowd, or they had to try to make their way through a maze of tables to go get their moonman. The categories themselves often made no sense as well; a "Quadruple threat" category was added to honor musicians who had clothing/fashion lines and other business ventures going on. Not sure in the slightest how that relates to the music video. The VMA's continue to deteriorate as evidenced by the above, by the opening performance by Britney Spears, other scattered performances/presenters and by the fact that various celebs were just allowed to rant on the microphone. One highlight had to be Justin Timberlake when he did accept his award in a crowd as he said something to the effect of "lets encourage MTV to play more videos". Amen to that. In another interesting closing note, Kanye West said he will never return to MTV after the VMA's. Read the story here.

VMA Rapper Nominees

The MTV Music Awards are coming on September 9 at 9PM EST. Various hip hop acts/videos have been nominated this year. For 2007 Video of the Year, the contenders are: "What Goes Around Comes Around" - Justin Timberlake "Umbrella" - Rihanna f/Jay-Z "Stronger" - Kanye West "Irreplaceable" - Beyonce "DANCE" - Justin "Rehab" - Amy Winehouse This should be an interesting competition. Being a bit biased here, I'd take the Stronger video to win, because its got a unique, ultra-futuristic stylish look and feel plus is a great song. And if it doesn't win, Kanye might crash the party. Kanye has a radio interview with Tim Westwood on YouTube, where he discusses how he thinks DANCE might beat out his video. Ye' also discusses is how much he spent on the "Touch the Sky" video and more. Check out MTV'com's VMA section here. You can also vote for best new artist.