Kanye West made a surprise appearance at the 2022 BET Awards on Sunday night to present Sean Combsaka Diddy with the Lifetime Achievement award.
“How do we crown our kings? How do we appreciate our kings? To think how far we could just make if off of inspiration, to hear the way somebody chopped a sample in… rushing to see who could get the Bad Boy mixtape and play back the original version of “Benjamins,” over and over, thinking I was one of the Hit Men,” Ye said. “To see Puff in real life at the ‘Missing You’ video, just like me tapping free like a little kid… I just need to meet this man. This is my favorite artist. You see I’m saying favorite artist, everything, not specifically production, the trip. Back then there was so many rules to hip-hop and he broke all of them.”
He continued, “Understood contracts in a way a lot of us still don’t. Understood money in a way a lot of us still don’t. I go to him for advice to this day. He inspired so many of my choices. So many of my life choices. My wife choices. And here we are. Thanks for that, Puff… I was signed to Puff without him knowing… That statement is not legally binding!”
You can check out Kanye’s surprise speech honoring Diddy down below and watch the Bad Boy Records receive the Lifetime Achievement award up top.
In his acceptance speech, Diddy remembered Kim Porter, who died in 2018, and pledged to donate $1 million to Howard University and another $1 million to coach Deion Sanders and Jackson State University.
Diddy also took to the stage to perform his tracks “I Need a Girl,” “Pass the Cîroc” with Busta Rhymes,” and his new song with Bryson Tiller, “Gotta Move On.” Jodeci, Mary J. Blige, Lil’ Kim, Shyne, and The Lox also performed during the tribute.
You can head here to check out all the people that won awards during the show and here to watch all of the performances that went down.
