During his press interviews, ‘Ye held up a large typewritten sign reading “I TOLD YOU SO,” that he hadn’t been able to use during the show because U2 picked up the award he believed would be his.

“It’s all good,” Kanye told reporters, “U2, those are my boys. I didn’t think it was going to happen because of vote splitting.” West was referring to how he and Mariah Carey, who was also nominated for Album of the Year , may have split the votes for urban music fans within the Recording Academy. “I didn’t win it by a technicality, not because I didn’t deserve it. Even [U2 lead singer] Bono was like ‘Come on.’ Everybody knows it.”

West, who has previously toured with U2 and will visit Europe and Australia with them later this year, spoke highly of Bono after the Grammys. “He has taught me a lot about carrying the fame with grace.”

Admittedly, Kanye did appear more humble after the awards, considering that since the release of Late Registration last August, he has been on a campaign for a certain Grammy, even going so far as to say, ” If I don’t win Album of the Year, I’m gonna have a problem with that.”

But Wednesday West attempted to downplay the award and turn the focus toward his jaw-dropping Grammy performance, telling the press, “I would have been more disappointed if I didn’t have a good performance and I had won Album of the Year. The performance, that’s what it’s about, the entertainment and people having a good time. I just want to see the black colleges right now. I just want to go onto MySpace right now and see what people are saying.

Kanye also said he would use the Album of the Year loss as motivation to get back into the studio to work on his next album.

“Now it gives me another goal to go and work on Graduation and show them ‘Yo, I really deserve this album of the year,'” he said. “I’m gonna keep on delivering albums of the year that are so undeniable to the point where you finally let a rapper come up and accept this award.”