Kanye West Was Once Upset That ‘Touch the Sky’ Wasn’t Nominated at the VMAs
Kanye West is no stranger to controversy when it comes to the Video Music Awards. At one point, the Grammy-winner asserted that he was disappointed his ‘Touch the Sky’ video wasn’t even nominated.
Kanye West spent every last dime on the music video for ‘Touch the Sky’
In 2006, Kanye West released the music video based on his song “Touch the Sky” off his 2005 album Late Registration. The video also featured fellow rapper Lupe Fiasco and adopted a very 1970s aesthetic and was partially inspired by legendary stuntman the late Evel Knievel.
West is often known for taking certain artistic liberties with his music videos, and “Touch the Sky”
was no exception. In fact, the business mogul was so determined to complete his vision for his music video that he paid out of pocket for it. But this was because the Grammy-winner didn’t like the video his record label at the time, Def Jam, produced for the song.
In an interview with Def Radio Podcast (via DJ Booth), “Touch the Sky” producer Just Blaze recalled the situation.
“I remember him pulling me to the side when we were on the ‘Touch The Sky’ video set and being like, ‘Yo, I spent my last dime to re-film this video.’ Def Jam paid for a ‘Touch The Sky’ video that nobody has ever seen,” he said. “He came back after the fact and specked out this whole movie deal that we know with the cannon and the Evel Knievel thing and whatever. And I want to say that was something like 700, 800 thousand dollars.”
Kanye West was disappointed that ‘Touch the Sky’ wasn’t nominated at the VMAs
West has often had a controversial history with the VMAs. His frustration with the Video Music Awards can go back all the way to 2006. In that year’s awards ceremony, ‘Touch the Sky’ failed to pick up any nominations. The “Gold Digger” singer felt this was a mistake given the video’s popularity.
“It didn’t get any nominations, but it’s one of the most memorable videos of the year for me,” he once told The Associated Press (via Today).
This wasn’t the only awards show on MTV that West felt slighted his work. In that year’s MTV Europe Awards, his video was nominated, but it didn’t win for Best Video. Given the video cost $1 million and featured Pamela Anderson, West couldn’t believe it didn’t pick up the win.
“If I don’t win, the awards show loses credibility,” he said.
Lupe Fiasco didn’t want to be in Kanye West’s ‘Touch the Sky’ video
Although both Lupe Fiasco and Kanye West were from Chicago, Fiasco asserted that he and West didn’t frequent the same groups. While Fiasco was on the rise, he was walking a different path than the veteran rapper.
“I never met him through any Chicago connections,” he once said in an interview with Dash Radio. “He was always in a different world. He was in a Hyde Park, Common, backpacker world.”
Because of their different styles, Fiasco shared that he didn’t initially want to be a part of West’s ‘Touch the Sky’ video.
“We never really clicked up tough until maybe ‘Touch the Sky.’ That was even through my partner. I didn’t even wanna do ‘Touch The Sky.’ I didn’t wanna do that,” Fiasco continued. “That wasn’t my piece. It was like, ‘I’m over here, I don’t do that.’ My partner was like, ‘Nah, you gotta trust me. You gotta do this.’ Then from there on we kind of clicked up and kept it moving up until this day.”
