Kanye West to Receive Artist of the Year at Webby Awards
Kanye West is about to take over the Webby Awards. The hip-hop visionary will be honored as Artist of the Year at the 2016 ceremony, celebrating excellency on the Internet.
According to the Webbys, West has changed “the cultural paradigm of how music is shared, released, presented, and consumed” thanks to his latest album, The Life of Pablo. The project was reportedly streamed more than 250 million times during its first 10 days of availability, exclusively through TIDAL.
Later, when it was finally released through other streaming platforms, Pablo became the first No. 1 album to reach the top spot with mostly streaming-equivalent albums.
The #Webbys just got BIGGER. @kanyewest will be honored with Artist of the Year on May 16th: https://t.co/Je2PKetz2i pic.twitter.com/J0ofKh7Q9I
— The Webby Awards (@TheWebbyAwards) May 4, 2016
West is slated to attend the May 16 awards show, where Krysten Ritter will receive the Best Actress trophy for her work on Netflix and Marvel’s “Jessica Jones.”
“Kanye West and Krysten Ritter are two standouts who have successfully leveraged the immense influence and addictive elements of streaming media to drive innovation on the Internet,” said Webby Awards’ Executive Director David-Michel Davies.
But Mr. West is just getting started. He is plotting a tour for September and is planning to unleash two more albums this year, including Turbo Grafx 16.