Lil Wayne honored the late Kobe Bryant at the BET Awards 2020, Sunday (June 28) night. In memory of the NBA All-Star, the Young Money boss memorialized his legacy with a performance of his 2009 track titled, “Kobe Bryant.”
In January, Kobe, 41, along with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, tragically died in a helicopter crash, along with seven others and the world was truly devastated. The talented basketball star left behind his three daughters and wife, Vanessa Bryant.
In their memory, a montage of illustrious Kobe sports clips rolled as the Grammy Award-winning rapper led into the song “Kobe Bryant,” which was written after Kobe and Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Denver Nuggets in six games at the 2009 NBA Western Conference.
Donning his signature, pitch-black sunglass, the multi-platinum selling rap star did an energetic set behind a jumbotron illuminated with “KOBE” and “MAMBA” spelled out.
“Kobe doin’ work / two, four on my shirt. He the greatest on the court / And I’m the greatest on the verse,” Weezy rhymes on the track.
As the song closed out and more clips of Kobe and Gianna went on, Wayne effortlessly freestyled bars such as “This is Black Entertainment / is Black power status/ Two fingers for the Mambacita/ I’m screamin’ Black Mamba matters” and “Heart goes out to Vanessa and the whole Black Mamba family,” he continued. “Rest in power/ Let’s hope for peace/ Black lives matter, facts.”
The New Orleans rapper, who previously dismissed the Black Lives Matter movement, signed off his rap saying, “Let’s hope for peace / Black Lives Matter, that’s facts.”
On Lil Wayne’s recently released studio album Funeral, the rapper also honored the legendary Lakers star with the track “Bing James. The song includes 24 seconds of silence at the end, a clear nod to Kobe’s jersey number 24.
Watch Lil Wayne’s BET Awards 2020 performance honoring Kobe Bryant below.