Kanye West made a surprise appearance at the 2022 BET Awards on Sunday to honour the show's Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, Sean 'Diddy' Combs.
The Stronger rapper appeared onstage at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles wearing a zipped-up black hoodie, black sunglasses, black baseball cap and a black stocking over his face.
Speaking from under his disguise, Kanye heaped praise on his "favourite artist" Diddy for inspiring many of his life choices.
"Back then there was so many rules to hip-hop and he broke all of them and broke down all the doors. And understood contracts in a way a lot of us still don't," he said. "Understood money in a way a lot of us still don't. I go to him for advice to this day. He inspired so many of my choices. So many of my life choices."
He then chuckled as he made reference to his divorce from Kim Kardashian by saying, "My wife choices. And here we are. Thanks for that, Puff."
Kanye continued, "You know, I took a little hiatus. I said, 'I want to just like declare myself legally dead for a year.' Nobody missing me. You know, I just want to be off the grid. Puff is pretty persistent. But I had to think.
"Any of us in this room, if Puff ever need us, we need to jump and be there. This man has been through and survived a lot of stuff and broke down a lot of doors so we could be standing. I know for me, that I could be here today. He broke down so many doors of classism, taste, culture, swag. Puff, if I never told you, I love you. You're my brother."
Kanye's speech followed a medley performance spanning Diddy's career starring Diddy himself, Mary J. Blige, Jodeci, Lil' Kim, Busta Rhymes, Bryson Tiller, Faith Evans and others. The honoree dedicated the first half of his 1997 single I'll Be Missing You to his longtime partner Kim Porter, who died in 2018, as well as its original subject, The Notorious B.I.G.
Jay-Z also gave a tribute to Diddy via video and Kenneth 'Babyface' Edmonds delivered a speech before Kanye took to the stage.
