It helps to have the biggest name in music on your side, especially if you’ve managed to piss off millions of people on national television. Luckily for Kanye, his longtime friend and RocNation President, Jay-Z, is standing up for him. While still riding high on breaking Elvis’s record for most number 1 albums in history, Jigga puffed his chest out and defended Ye on Britain’s BBC Radio One ‘Jo Whiley Show’. According to Jay, Ye’s not crazy, he’s just “super passionate.”
“He’s just a super-passionate person, and of course it was rude because it was Swift’s moment, but that’s the way he really felt. He’s been that passionate from his first record.”
“He used to jump on tables …I was trying to make the first Blueprint, he’s jumping on tables, rapping, and I’m like, ‘Yo, not now.’ That was just him. He’s always been that passionate.”
Feeling incredibly comfortable and candid with the radio host, he described what happened the day after the infamous outburst when they performed “Run This Town” with Rihanna on the ‘Jay Leno Show’. While millions of viewers saw Ye nearly break down talking about his mother, what they didn’t see was the lecture he received from Jigga moments before. He says he told him he was “rude” and that what he did was “inappropriate.”
“I told him I think it was rude, and that he has to watch his passion. At the end of the day, we’re going to celebrate him for his passion more than vilify him for it. Because his passion, which caused him to make Graduation and all these great records, is the same thing that causes him to step out of line sometimes. So as he grows, he has to learn how to balance that. And he’ll learn that in years to come. That passion right there … that wasn’t fake or staged…it was how he really felt, and it was just inappropriate. It wasn’t fair to Taylor.”
Although he admits that his friend was wrong, he does not place all the blame on him. The history making MC made it a point to also point out that the media has over hyped the situation and he thinks the whole thing’s been blown out of proportion saying that “he didn’t kill anybody.”
“I mean, it’s an awards show, really, and I think it’s a bit blown out. He’s on the cover of every paper, he didn’t kill anybody. Nobody got harmed. I don’t think he should lay low, I think he should go on tour and have a brilliant career. It’s an awards show.
No he did not talk about Lil Mama.
For the full interview you can listen to audio from the ‘The Jo Whiley Show’ here.
