*Busta Rhymes delivered an emotional speech while honored with the 2023 BET Awards lifetime achievement award on June 25.
“So, I’m gonna wear it on my sleeve. I do wanna cry,” the hip-hop star began as he recalled his humble beginnings as a member of Leaders of the New School, People reports.
“My oldest child was a 3-year-old in the ‘Woo-Hah!!’ video back in ’96. He’s 30. He’s right here,” Busta said while noting that five of his six kids were at the awards show.”
He added: “I went on, and I had five more kids after that. So, I got six beautiful children. Five out of the six of them is here, T’ziah, Mariah, Cacie, T’khi, Trillian and the young boss who’s home.”
The Grammy nominee also recalled getting “kicked out” of Leaders of the New School four years before releasing his debut solo album in 1996.
Busta recounted moments from his early days in hip-hop when he would bring marijuana to recording studios and post up like he was supposed to be there.
“I knew all of the receptionists that worked at the studios, and I would call them — ‘Who’s working in there tonight?’ And they would tell me, and I would go to this little weed spot,” Busta said.
“I would act like I was working in those studio rooms the night before and I forgot something in there.
‘Y’all, I left my rhyme book. I gotta get something. I gotta look for something. Good to see y’all. Can I come through?'” he shared.
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Elsewhere in the speech, Busta Rhymes addressed the beefin’ in hip-hop.
“We gonna stop these little petty beefs that we be doing in rap,” he said. “Y’all messing up the bag. Y’all messing up the energy. I don’t like when I talk to these dudes that run these streaming platforms and (they’re) talking about, ‘You know, we turning the consumer off because there’s so much little this and little that going on with you rappers.’ We’re gonna stop that. We’re gonna love each other, and we gonna get to this money.”
Busta also called on his peers to show more love and kindness to each other.
“I see so many people in here that I’ve known and I’ve grown with for a long time, and y’all watched me grow, and I love y’all, and I know y’all love me. But I’m a real giver of love. Sometimes I know I might overwhelm you. I wanna hug you, and I won’t let you go. I shake your hand,” he said. (Scroll up to watch his full speech via the YouTube clip above.)
READ MORE: Complete List of Winners of the BET Awards 2023 | PicsVideos
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