Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Kanye West Clarifies His 'Respect Artistry' Comment Concerning Beck

Larry Busacca / Jason Merritt, Getty Images

Not even 24 hours after Kanye West gave his passionate take on Beck winning a Grammy Award for Album of the Year, the rapper is clarifying his bold statement that the singer needs to “respect artistry.”


TMZ caught up with the ‘Only One’ creator at a New York airport Monday morning (Feb. 9) and asked him to further explain his claims.


“Kanye when you said Beck needs to respect artistry, are you implying that he’s not an artist?” a man asked.


“No, I wasn’t saying Beck. I was saying the Grammys,” Ye explained. “Beck knows Beyonce should have won, you know that. I love Beck but he didn’t have Album of the Year.”


Besides addressing his sentiments, the ‘Bound 2′ rhymer approached a young man who was wearing a pair of red, high-top Nikes and asked him if he would rather wear the new Yeezys instead. “The time is coming. There will be no more of those. You know that,” Kanye said, pointing to the guy’s sneakers. “Ask this man what would he rather have? What would you rather have between these and these? If I could give you these right now would you throw those in the trash right away?”


Ye then told the youngster that he’d get his information and send him a free pair of the newly released kicks. Lucky kid.


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