“Imma let you finish but…” When Kanye West crashed Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, he ignited one of the most compelling and complex music rivalries ever. More than a decade later, their feud continues to captivate because it’s multi-faceted. It’s a discussion of an older man publicly disrespecting a talented younger woman — but it’s also a discussion of white privilege and how people of color are treated in the United States. Over the years their public personas have swung from victim to oppressor, idol to pariah. The beef explores the fickle nature of public tastes, the weaponization of social media, and the way “reality culture” impacts our actual reality. And it also examines some of the biggest hits of the 2010s.

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