It's been a good year for Kanye West and Lady Gaga. The stars were named MTV's Man and Woman of the Year on Friday, after major successes for each in the past 12 months.

West managed to re-brand his image after his disastrous appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2009. MTV awarded the controversial rapper their annual award for his creativity with his fifth studio album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, which was released to great critical acclaim in November.

"Inspired and turning over a new collaborative leaf, [West] made waves with his 'Good Friday' project, releasing free weekly remixes that a hungry public couldn't get enough of. And while his antics on Twitter left no doubt that he still had a taste for drama, there's no denying that Kanye came into his own as an artist this year with his deeply personal, visually creative video work and 'dark, twisted fantasy' of an album," MTV News said in its announcement of the honor.

Though Lady Gaga did not release an album in 2010, she did release a few jaw-dropping music videos. The "Mother Monster" was rewarded for her artistic vision, according to MTV. "The performance artist, activist, and fashion icon blew our minds with her incredible videos for 'Telephone' and 'Alejandro,' earned a record-breaking 13 nominations at the VMAs, topped one billion views on her YouTube channel, won a Billboard award for Artist of the Year and rocked the red carpet in a dress made out of meat."

With both artists on top of their respective games, this won't be the last MTV honor for either of them. —NATT GARUN

Leave a comment

Read more about: