Busta Rhymes was overcome with emotion when he was presented with the Lifetime Achievement honors at the 2023 BET Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday, June 25, 2023.
The rapper who was born Trevor George Smith Jr. 51 years ago in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York, had to pause several times before even starting his acceptance speech as the crowd went wild with appreciation.
“So, I’m gonna wear it on my sleeve. I do wanna cry,” the rapid-fire rhymer finally said before he had to hit the pause button again to gather himself and wipe away tears.
Busta was with five of his six adult children who accompanied him to the Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles and he made sure to shout them out before and during the telecast.
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“My oldest child was a 3-year-old in the ‘Woo-Hah!!’ video back in ’96. He’s 30. He’s right here. I went on, and I had five more kids after that. So, I got six beautiful children. Five out of the six of them is here, T’ziah, Mariah, Cacie, T’khi, Trillian and the young boss who’s home.”
The man who is considered one of the greatest spitters the genre has ever produced conveyed how remarkable it is to find himself in the position he is today after getting kicked out of Leaders of the New School.
“I ain’t like the responsibility of making a full song. I’m good with the getting to the 16 bars, busting everybody’s a– and getting up out of here,” said Busta. “So, I got kicked out of the group, and I was scared.”
Busta gave love to the many people in the industry who helped him along the way. And he also encouraged today’s rappers to “stop these little petty beefs that we be doing.”
“Y’all messing up the bag. Y’all messing up the energy. I don’t like when I talk to these dudes that run these streaming platforms and they talking about, ‘You know, we turning the consumer off because there’s so much little this and little that going on with you rappers.’ We’re gonna stop that. We’re gonna love each other, and we gonna get to this money.”
