This week, West, 33, releases his fifth album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. “They said I was the abomination of Obama’s nation / Well, that’s a pretty bad way to start a conversation …”

West said his friend Mos Def told him, “You can’t make it in America right now. Seemingly everyone weighed in, including President Obama, who called West a “jackass.” Others accused him of being a bully and a racist. The moment was debated on blogs, Twitter, and cable news for days, months-it’s still being debated. In an instantly YouTubed moment, West proclaimed, “Yo, Taylor, I’m really happy for you and I’ma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time. On September 13, 2009, in a drunken act of misguided gallantry, West rushed the stage of the MTV Video Music Awards and grabbed the microphone from then-19-year-old country-pop singer Taylor Swift, who was about to accept the award for Best Female Video.

They appear in a defiant song called “Power,” which debuted in May, nine months after Kanye West almost derailed his career with a bratty, very public stunt.

“Screams from the haters, got a nice ring to it / I guess every superhero need his theme music …”Ĭonsider those lyrics a salvo.

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