Kanye WestWe all know what KanyeWest did at the VMAs and it looks like we’ll be talking about it until the Grammys. But shouldn’t we be prepared for this by now?

Kanye has based his career on the unlikely pairing. College student becomes iced-out rapper. Rapper wears sweater vests and horn-rimmed glasses. Prep-school rapper spits rhymes about Jesus and the politics of blood diamonds. Catholic hip-hopper samples Ray Charles for a song about women horny for money. Blues piano samples replaced with electro-house synthesizers and Auto-Tune.

Et cetera.

When he stormed the MTV VMA stage on Sunday, interrupting the sugary acceptance speech of tween country princess Taylor Swift, the event was actually more scripted than offensive. It wasn’t like the time Kanye accepted an MTV Europe award he didn’t win, or refused to accept an award he did win because he felt Outkast deserved it more.

No, it was more of a half-assed display of choreographed ego, just Kanye scoping out the most unlikely character to stand next to and making sure it happened before commercial break. Sure, Kany emay have been upset Beyonce’s video for “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)” lost out to Swift’s beige video for “You Belong with Me”.

But both Beyonce and Swift are making millions and will undoubtedly be remembered as this decade’s roster of leading ladies, so there is much more to Kanye’s outburst than being a sore loser.

Kanye was nominated for four VMAs this year, three for “Love Lockdown” and one for “Paranoid”, both off his late-2008 release 808s and Heartbreak. It’s safe to say no one expected him to win like they have in the past and considering the comebacks and break-throughs crowding this year’s nomination (Eminem and Lady GaGa, to name a few), Kanye hardly stood a chance.

Certainly four nominations is no small feat, and the genre-bending album isn’t one to shirk. But once 2009 arrived and Kanye’s techno treatments were duplicated and redubbed by nearly every pop act out there, both indie and mainstream, Kanye as a soloist drifted into the wings. It’s a trend that actually summarizes most of this year, as any hit out there has been remixed to a blurry, electronic hilt.

Kanye doesn’t like to share the spotlight, though. While he is content to invite Young Jeezy and Kid Cudi to guest on his album, he doesn’t seem to be taking well to his decreased visibility.

In the video for Jay-Z’s “Run This Town”, Kanye spends the first two minutes of the song bobbing uncomfortably next to Jay and Rihanna who undoubtedly steal the show. His verse is nearly forgotten by the time Rihanna’s last triumphant chorus closes out the song.

So what better time to get some attention on his own terms than the star-studded and media-hounded VMAs? Lady GaGa appeared in indecipherable-themed garb and Madonna somehow manipulated a Michael Jackson tribute into a retelling of her personal history, but Kanye will be the one everyone talks about this week.

Because who wouldn’t gape at the sight of Kanye ambushing the slight Taylor Swift, purer than the Jonas Brothers and most recently famous for gushing at the standing ovation she received when she walked on stage to her first Madison Square Garden headlining gig.

It’s natural to wince when a kitten is eaten by a lion, or when an antagonistic rapper in scary sunglasses brashly steals candy from a baby. But even more natural is this trick pulled from Kanye’s bottomless bag of them.

Kanye’s entire career is based on being looked at. He just spent a year very irrevocably in the spotlight.

The third installment to his career trilogy, Graduation, literally smashed the charts two years ago, dishing 50 Cent a large helping of crow following the challenge as to who would sell more records on opening day. (As if it weren’t enough, the albums hit shelves on Sept. 11, 2007.) Following the break-up with his fiancee, Kanye’s mother Donda, who he rapped about and brought to more events than credibility should allow, died in a plastic surgery snafu. Then his Glow in the Dark World Tour sold out nearly every venue.

He was very busy and very famous, even broaching notorious. 2009 has been noticeably slow for West in comparison. Sure, you can blame him for his cruel grasp at spicing things up. Or, you could try to understand.

He feels old, irrelevant and if you can believe it, threatened by the youth of America. Kanye is no spring chicken – at 32, he would have been introduced to the Internet shortly before college and now he is forced to compete with a generation born into it.

He is still graciously steering the careers of most this year’s youngsters by way of trend-magnet Kid Cudi. But for the man who was hyped as one of the top MCs in the game just a few short years ago, Kanye has become the PR guy rather than the hype itself.

The shoe, so far, doesn’t seem to fit and even the most seasoned rock stars aren’t above a temper tantrum now and then.






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