Kanye West accepted the Visionary Award at last night’s pre-taped BET Honors ceremonies in Washington, D.C. Though his speech didn’t quite have the usual sound bytes that grab headlines — often to the rapper’s chagrin — it was still an exceedingly memorable moment for Kanye.
Introduced by former mentor figure Dame Dash in an address that was as honest at it was conflicted (“It’s bittersweet, ‘coz I helped him get there but I’m not getting no more money with him”) and a tribute video that featured peers like Jay Z, Common, and wife Kim Kardashian, ‘Ye took the stage to talk about race. He recounted a story Kardashian told him about her father Robert getting enraged at a scrawled “nigger lover” message on his car. According to West, the elder Kardashian explained to Kim that “one day you may have a black child… and it’s gonna be hard.” He also decried the “slave mentality” that he feels people of color are ensared in, saying “Don’t think that because we can buy a $300,000 car that we’re free.”
Watch the powerful speech above, and check out the intro videos and other speeches from last night’s Honors over at BET.
