A touching tribute.
The 2020 BET Awards were brought to a standstill when rapper Lil Wayne paid homage to the late NBA legend, Kobe Bryant by singing “Kobe Bryant” from his mixtape Tear Drop Tune 2.
Following a touching in memoriam segment that remembered stars who have passed such as Huey, Juice WRLD and more, Lil Wayne stood in front of a glowing number 24 (Bryant’s jersey number) to sing, adding new verses to his 2009 song that shouted out the BET Awards and offering support to Bryant’s wife, Vanessa Bryant with new lyrics, “Heart goes out to Vanessa and the whole Black Mamba family.”
The tribute came just five months after the 41-year-old icon and retired Los Angeles Laker was killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California, along with his daughter, 13-year-old Gianna Bryant—who Lil Wayne also paid tribute to in his new verse—and seven other people.
A Lakers superfan, Lil Wayne has found numerous ways to pay tribute to Kobe in the months following his death. On the rapper’s latest studio album Funeral, he left a 24-second-long silence to honor the basketball superstar’s number when he played for the Los Angeles team.
