BET took it back to the Roc-A-Fella days on their ‘Honors’ broadcast
Though the show was taped weeks ago, last night, BET broadcasted their “BET Honors” award show, which featured Kanye West being presented with the Visionary Award by his former mentor and colleague, Damon Dash. Dash is notorious for being the brilliant business mind that helped to catapult Jay Z to international stardom, and helping usher the preppy, socially conscious Kanye West into a Hip-Hop landscape thoroughly obsessed and dominated by gangster rap–made by the very gangster rapper West himself produced for in previous years.
When asked why he allowed Dash–with whom Kanye has had friction with in recent history, including Dash referring to West as disloyal–to present him with such an important and prestigious award, West’s reply was simple: because he introduced me to the world. While the former Roc-A-Fella architect introduced West’s award, he spent a considerable amount of time reminding the crowd and everyone watching just how much he had to do with Kanye’s ascent, and even ended off his introduction with this soundbite: “I invested well. Invest back.”
Awkward.
Kanye West did little to break the ice, often staring blankly into the microphone or the crowd, presumably trying to find the least abrasive way to express himself, and eventually took the easy way out, reminding everyone that “the human race” is where Hip-Hop, and humanity should be focusing its efforts. Obviously, a good and unanimously positive point, but it didn’t appear that he meant to end the speech off with that bullet point.
Either way, it’s good to see these guys on good terms again–reports recently surfaced that they’re getting back into business together as well–no matter how scaly their relationship appears to be to the naked eye.
