One would think four years would be long enough to finally forget the MTV Video Music Awards beef between Kanye West and Taylor Swift that made “Imma let you finish” practically a household catchphrase. But after a snarky Twitter jab from Swift and the freakishly coincidental release of an audio rant West allegedly made following the award show, it looks like deja vu for the two industry titans.
The leaked tape, posted on Thursday by Gawker — which could not confirm the recorded voice is in fact West’s — was reportedly secretly recorded hours after West’s VMAs interruption, at the Corner Bistro in New York’s West Village. From the audio, the rant is directed not only towards Swift, but also toward the singer Pink. The alleged West questions why the star had two performance, while West was not asked to perform any hits from his then-recent release, “808s & Heartbreaks”.
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“Don’t nobody know that song,” the speaker says. “How the f*** Pink perform two songs and I didn’t even get asked to perform ‘Heartless,’ ‘Heartless’ is the biggest song of the year.”
Lapses in the audio make some of the speaker’s stances unclear about certain topics, but he has some unkind words for MTV and the industry that he claims is responsible for the death of his mother: “My mother died for this fame s***,” West allegedly says. His mother, Donda, died from heart disease and other factors following plastic surgery.
The timing on the leak is questionable: it comes as Swift teased the four-year-old incident in a call for fans to vote for her in this year’s categories. Swift wrote on Twitter that if she wins for either of her two nominations, she’ll be sure to “keep a firmer grip on the mic,” a witty remark that continues to stoke the flame of what was one of the most memorable award show moments “of all time.”