Imma let you finish but… History almost repeated itself at the 2016 Grammys on Monday, February 15, when Taylor Swift‘s 1989 triumphed over Kendrick Lamar‘s To Pimp a Butterfly for Album of the Year. Don Cheadle, like some others, thought Lamar was the one to beat — so much so that he was ready to crash Swift’s speech, a la Kanye West at the 2009 MTV VMAs, to say so.
Cheadle, who was in the audience at L.A.’s Staples Center and introduced Lamar’s powerful performance earlier in the show, lamented the “These Walls” rapper’s loss after the ceremony.
I almost Kanyed tonight. #Restraint #Temperance @kendricklamar #AlbumoftheYear !!!!
— Don Cheadle (@DonCheadle) February 16, 2016
West, 38, didn’t show quite the same self-control back in 2009, when he interrupted Swift’s acceptance speech for Video of the Year to praise Beyonce‘s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)” masterpiece. He later made amends with the “Out of the Woods” singer, 26, but their friendship hit a rough patch last week.
In his new song “Famous,” from his just-released album The Life of Pablo, West name-drops Swift, rapping, “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why? I made that bitch famous.”
West claims he had the pop superstar’s blessing for the lyric, but Swift’s none-too-subtle dig at the rapper during her Album of the Year acceptance speech on Monday suggests otherwise.
“As the first woman to win Album of the Year at the Grammys twice, I want to say to all the young women out there — there are going to be people along the way who are going to try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame,” she said pointedly. “But if you just focus on the work and you don’t let those people sidetrack you, someday when you get where you’re going, you’ll look around and you will know that it was you and the people who love you who put you there. And that will be greatest feeling in the world.”
Lamar, for his part, didn’t leave the Grammys empty-handed. Though he lost Album of the Year to Swift — his collaborator on “Bad Blood” — he won several other awards, including Best Rap Album and Best Rap Performance.
