Kanye West Blasts Bush

Kanye West unleashed an anti-Bush tirade at NBC's A Concert for Hurricane Relief Friday, ignoring the teleprompter and proclaiming, "George Bush doesn't care about black people."

The Grammy-winning rapper said, "I hate the way they portray us in the media. If you see a black family, it says they're looting. See a white family, it says they're looking for food."

West did acknowledge the efforts put forth by the American Red Cross but declared that government authorities are purposefully dragging their feet on aiding the ravaged Gulf Coast. "They've given them permission to go down and shoot us," West said without specifics. The camera cut away to comedian Chris Tucker shortly thereafter.

The special, hosted by Today show's Matt Lauer, also featured performances by Lousiana natives Tim McGraw, Aaron Neville and Harry Connick, Jr., as well as Mississippi native Faith Hill. Singer-actress Lindsay Lohan was among the featured speakers, which included Hilary Swank, Glenn Close, Richard Gere, Eric LaSalle, Leonardo DiCaprio and John Goodman.

West will take part in "ReAct Now: Music and Relief," a concert to aid the victims of Hurricane Katrina, on September 10th on MTV, VH1 and CMT. The relief concert will be staged simultaneously in New York, Los Angeles, Nashville and Atlanta, and will feature a mixture of taped and live performances, as well as messages from more than thirty artists. Viewers will be encouraged to phone in donations to the Red Cross.

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Song Stories

“Help Me”

Joni Mitchell | 1974

Joni Mitchell wrote and recorded this song for her album Court and Spark, but she had to switch from her regular band to make the song sound exactly the way she wanted. "I had attempted to play my music with rock & roll players," she told Rolling Stone. "They’d laugh, 'Awww, isn't that cute? She's trying to teach us how to play.'" Mitchell switched to a jazz band, Tom Scott’s L.A. Express, and scored the biggest hit of her career in the process.

More Song Stories entries »

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