From Blender Magazine’s December 2003 issue:

“The VMAs were so…so vanilla. So safe, so predictable, no edge. Apart from Madonna, Mary J. Blige and myself, I cannot think of another female performer who had her mic switched on. That is very disappointing to me…”

“I’d much rather just wash my hands of the whole nonsense, actually. These people aren’t artists, they’re just performers-fake and superficial, like the entire event. I’m very disappointed with MTV…”

Fast-forward five years. Ohhh how things have changed.