Kanye West's 10 Most "Kanye" On-Camera Moments

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIUzLpO1kxI

This was the incident that turned Kanye from a rising preppy rapper into a polarizing cultural phenomenon. George Bush has called it the worst moment of his presidency. YouTube, then in its infancy, capitalized on people watching Yeezy's condemnation over and over and discussing its meaning in comments and online forums.

The Huffington Post recently ran a stellar piece about "George Bush Doesn't Care About Black People," detailing the multifaceted reactions to Kanye's ad libbed statement and how it's aged over the past ten years. At the time, NBC producers were horrified and embarrassed, but in retrospect--and particularly with the "Black Lives Matter" movement's rise bringing renewed attention to racial biases--Kanye's speech proved insightful and essential to starting a national conversation. Not only did he eviscerate Bush (he later acknowledged that he may have gone too far), but in the somewhat inarticulate and rambling diatribe preceding that more famous remark, Kanye astutely attacked the media's discriminatory tactics. "I hate the way they portray us in the media," he said. "If you see a black family, it says they're looting, if you see a white family, it says they're looking for food." Even Mike Myers, who looked stunned as he stood next to Kanye at the moment of impact, has since said that he is proud to have been there.

Kanye's halting delivery, doubtless a result of his ad libbing and his own nervousness at the enormity of what he was planning to say, lacks a more practiced orator's eloquence, but that makes it all the more sincere. And sincerity has governed Kanye's conduct in the public eye ever since. This was mainstream America's first introduction to Kanye's willingness to express his mind at all times, and though he has since learned to be more guarded, that realness has come to define Kanye--for both the better and the worse.