Having only wrapped up a few hours ago, the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards are still sending aftershocks throughout the music world. There were displays of dominance (Lady Gaga's eight wins, including the prize for Video of the Year for "Bad Romance"), hair-raising surprises (Rihanna dropping in on Eminem's performance of "Love the Way You Lie" after she said she wasn't going to make it) and some truly exceptional performances (including the aforementioned Eminem show-opening number, as well as the new song by Taylor Swift and the three-way between B.o.B, Paramore and Bruno Mars). But one of the show's most thrilling (and strangest) moments came right at the end, when Kanye West debuted his brand new song "Runaway." (You can watch all of Sunday night's excellent performances here.)
West opened his performance by himself on stage, his electric red suit creating an eye-popping contrast with the white set surrounding him. He played with a keyboard and a sampler for a while before letting the beat drop in and hitting the first verse. The song's chorus — "Let's have a toast to the douchebags/ Let's have a toast to the a--holes" — instantly ended up on the lips of everybody in the room (including host Chelsea Handler). And just when you thought Kanye had raised the bar as high as it would go, he went back to the sampler while Pusha T from the Clipse made his way on stage to spit a killer verse that topped the song off perfectly. West's new album was always going to be hotly anticipated, but this performance reminded everybody why he became such a superstar in the first place.
The Moonmen have all been handed out and the stars have gone home, but there's plenty of 2010 MTV Video Music Awards news, interviews, behind-the-scenes scoop, party reports and more still to come, so keep it locked on MTVNews.com.