Kanye West made a surprise appearance at the 2022 BET awards last night. Held on June 26th and featuring performances from Lizzo, Chance the Rapper, Jack Harlow, and others, the BET Awards presented Diddy with the Lifetime Achievement Award via West’s surprise appearance.
Babyface brought on West to introduce Diddy before presenting him with the award together. In his speech, West said: “How do we crown our kings? How do we appreciate our kings? To think how far we could just make it off of inspiration, to hear the way somebody chopped a sample in,” West said, recalling repeatedly listening to the original version of ‘It’s All About The Benjamins’.
He continued, “To see Puff in real life at the ‘Missing You’ video, just like me tapping, free like a little kid, like, ‘I just need to meet this man. This is my favourite artist.’ You see, I’m saying favourite artist. Everything. Not specifically production, the drip. Back then, there was so many rules to hip-hop, and he broke all of them, and broke down all the doors, and understood contracts in a way a lot of us still don’t. Understood money in a way a lot of us still don’t.”
West revealed, “I go to him for advice to this day. He inspired so many of my choices. This man has been through and survived a lot of stuff, and broke through a lot of doors, so we could be standing… He broke down so many doors of classism, taste, culture, swag.”
He concluded with the sweet sentiment, “Puff, if I never told you, I love you. You’re my brother.” Hearing West speak about his achievements and his place in the industry, it’s clear that this is an award that’s well-deserved.
If you want to hear Kanye West’s full speech from his surprise appearance at the awards ceremony, you can find it linked down below.
