Kanye West made his first public appearance since his controversial online outbursts toward ex-wife Kim Kardashian and her partner Pete Davidson at the 2022 BET Awards.
The 'Jesus Walks' rapper delivered a heart-warming speech as he presented Sean 'Diddy' Combs' with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday night (26.06.22).
The appearance came after the hip-hop icon was banned from performing at this year’s Grammys due to his "concerning online behaviour", which also saw him temporarily banned from Instagram.
He began his speech: “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...”
Kanye - who legally changed his name to Ye - continued: “This is my favourite artist.
You see what I’m saying? Favourite artist—everything—specifically, production, drip. You know, back then, it was so many rules to hip-hop. And he broke all of them and broke down all the doors and understood contracts the way a lot of us still don’t, understood money the way a lot of us still don’t.”
The 45-year-old rap legend - who has North, eight, Saint, six, Chicago, four, and Psalm, three, with SKIMS founder Kim - then quipped that the 'I'll Be Missing You' hitmaker, also known as Puff Daddy, is the reason why he chose to marry the 41-year-old reality star in 2014.
Ye went on: “He inspires so many of my choices, my life choices, my wife choices.
“And here we are. Thanks for that, Puff.”
He added: "You might know him as Diddy, Puff Daddy, Sean Combs. But when it’s hitting a certain point, I thought at the end of it, all is love — all of it. All we have is love. In Jesus’ name, bring out Love."
Following Kanye's well-received introduction, the likes of Mary J. Blige, Nas, Lil’ Kim, Busta Rhymes, Bryson Tiller, Faith Evans, and the Maverick City Choir honoured Diddy with a career-spanning performance, before the man himself came out.
