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Kanye West was the hottest rapper in the building at Sunday evening’s (June 26) BET Awards. Wearing a jacket, full face mask, dad hat and sunglasses, despite it being 80 degrees in Los Angeles, Ye was on stage to present Sean “Diddy” Combs with his BET Lifetime Achievement Award.
But while making sure to give the man formerly known as Puff Daddy (he started by asking, “How do we crown our kings? How do we appreciate our kings?,”), you knew Yeezy had to make it about himself, at least for a bit, along with some head-scratching commentary.
“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,” said Ye. “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.”
Okay, fair enough. Then, Ye started praising Diddy—who has left a legion of Bad Boy artists bitter about their record deals over the years—for his adeptness with contracts. Ma$e, who was missing from a tribute performance that featured The LOX, Mary J. Blige, Jodeci, Shyne and more, along with plenty of Diddy himself, might disagree.
“[Diddy] 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,” said Ye.
Then he quizzically added, “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!”
Alrighty.
Watch the extended moment below. But we do respect Ye making it to the BET Awards, though.
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