<p id=”par-1_51″><a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/kanye-west/”>Kanye West</a> has been known to air his grievances with artists even in his younger years, which he first demonstrated <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/taylor-swift-history-vmas-memorable-moments-kanye-west.html/”>by crashing Taylor Swift’s VMA win</a>. Another pop artist, Britney Spears, also managed to get on the rapper’s bad side. However, the “Gimme More” singer received surprising support from 50 Cent.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-50-cent-once-felt-kanye-west-was-wrong-to-call-out-britney-spears”>50 Cent once felt Kanye West was wrong to call out Britney Spears</h2>
<figure class=”wp-block-image size-full” id=”emb-1″><img decoding=”async” src=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Britney-Spears-50-Cent.webp?strip=all&quality=80″ alt=”Britney Spears smiling at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards in a gold dress.” class=”wp-image-3790394″><figcaption class=”wp-element-caption”>Britney Spears | Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic</figcaption></figure>
<p id=”par-2_75″>Spears has had several praised VMA performances throughout her career. But the hitmaker found some of the stunts she pulled at the award show embarrassing <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/britney-spears-wildest-memorable-vma-stunt-so-dumb.html/”>or downright dumb</a>. Her 2007 VMA concert was a particular sore spot for the singer. After Spears took the stage, she received massive criticism for her uncoordinated choreography and mismatched lip-synching during the event. Her actions back then were the result of a mental breakdown she’d grappled with for months.</p>
<p id=”par-3_37″>Incidentally, Spears’ critically panned performance also vindicated West, who felt more deserving of opening the VMAs that year. West’s<em> Graduation</em> record was nominated for several awards. The rapper thought that was reason enough to take the stage.</p>
<p id=”par-4_39″>“Why aren’t you giving me a chance, given that ‘Stronger’ is one of the No. 1 songs right now, give me a chance to give it that type of look,” West once told <em>Z100 Radio Station </em>(via <a href=”https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kanye-britney-and-i-were-exploited/” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>CBS News</a>).</p>
<p id=”par-5_21″>“It’s almost as if they are trying to antagonize me to see if they can create a TV moment,” he added.</p>
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<iframe title=’50 Cent Interview “Shaving My Head Like Britney Spears”‘ width=”925″ height=”694″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/-OKGiardRtA?feature=oembed” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share” referrerpolicy=”strict-origin-when-cross-origin” allowfullscreen></iframe>
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<p id=”par-6_45″>The “Jesus Walks” singer didn’t place the blame squarely on Spears, however. Given Spears’ mental state at the time, West claimed he predicted her catastrophic performance. More importantly, he believed MTV also knew Spears wasn’t in the right frame of mind to open a show.</p>
<p id=”par-7_17″>“They knew that Britney wasn’t ready, and they had her perform, so they exploited her,” West said.</p>
<p id=”par-8_21″>But <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/50-cent-felt-responsible-kanye-wests-career-success.html/”>West’s former rival 50 Cent</a> spoke on Spears’ behalf, explaining why MTV chose the “Hit Me Baby” artist over West.</p>
<p id=”par-9_72″>“Kanye expressed that he felt that Britney shouldn’t be actually opening the show — almost like he forgot that Britney Spears sold 50 million records,” he once said in an interview with <em>Ryan Seacrest </em>(via <a href=”https://www.digitalspy.com/showbiz/a75730/50-cent-defends-britney-spears/” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>Digital Spy</a>). “She did. He is not thinking about her full body of work. She deserved to headline the show better than anybody else that was on it — even in the state that she is in.”</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-britney-spears-set-the-record-straight-on-her-vma-performance”>Britney Spears set the record straight on her VMA performance</h2>
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<iframe title=’Britney Spears Performs “Baby One More Time” | 1999 VMAs’ width=”925″ height=”520″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/nT2NsKhKsYs?feature=oembed” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share” referrerpolicy=”strict-origin-when-cross-origin” allowfullscreen></iframe>
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<p id=”par-10_84″>The world still hasn’t forgotten Spears’ performance years later, which is a testament to how infamous the incident was. As embarrassing as the show might’ve been for her, it was one of the many chapters of her life she revisited in her memoir. <em>Woman In Me</em> took a lot of <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/britney-spears-memoir-is-complete-but-wont-be-coming-out-anytime-soon.html/”>time to complete</a> and delved deeper into her VMA behavior. Like West, Spears herself had a bad feeling about the show. She most likely wouldn’t have done it if it wasn’t for her team.</p>
<p id=”par-11_33″><a></a>“I didn’t want to, but my team was pressuring me to get out there and show the world I was fine,” she wrote. “The only problem with this plan: I was not fine.”</p>
<p id=”par-12_31″>Her attempt to save face backfired, only convincing viewers more that she had gone off the deep end. It didn’t help that the idea of performing alone was physically overwhelming her.</p>
<p id=”par-13_79″>“I hadn’t slept the night before. I was dizzy. It was less than a year since I’d had my second baby in two years, but everyone was acting like my not having six-pack abs was offensive,” she added. “I couldn’t believe I was going to have to go out onstage feeling the way I felt. I was having a panic attack. I hadn’t rehearsed enough. I hated the way I looked. I knew it was going to be bad.”</p>