Lil Wayne honoured Kobe Bryant with a special performance at the 2020 BET Awards on Sunday. The rapper paid tribute to the tragically deceased NBA superstar; with a video that highlighted some of his greatest moments on the court and backed with Wayne’s 2009 track named for Bryant.
Wayne included a tribute to Bryant on his latest album Funeral, which came out just days after the NBA pro’s death. Referencing the MVP’s two NBA jersey numbers, Wayne had a 24-second moment of silence on the eighth track of the album.
Wayne added some special lyrics to the end of the song he performed:
This is Black power status/
Two fingers for the Mambacita/
I’m screamin’ Black Mamba matters/
My heart goes out to Vanessa and the whole Black Mamba family. Rest in power/
Let’s hope for peace/
Black lives matter, facts.
Before the death of Kobe Bryant, Lil Wayne had always admired him. In an interview with MTV’s Fresh Out Live, he said:
“What I admire the most is how [his legacy] evolved. We knew him as the kid phenom straight from high school. He hit the league and murked it, then he became a champion. It’s very hard to become a champion. He did it again and then again.”
Bryant died in January along with 13-year-old daughter Gigi and seven other people in a helicopter accident. He was 41. Bryant is survived by wife Vanessa, 37, and daughters Natalia, 17, Bianka, three, and Capri, one.
