Lil Kim was awarded the I Am Hip Hop Award at the 2019 BET Hip Hop Awards, going on to perform a medley of her hits joined by members of Junior M.A.F.I.A., O.T. Gensis and Musiq Soulchild to close the show.
Queen Bee’s performance includes her track ‘Lighters Up’ along with Junior M.A.F.I.A. classic ‘Player’s Anthem’ and her verse on Puff Daddy’s ‘It’s All About the Benjamins’.
It’s the first time Lil Kim has been an presented with a BET award, as she addresses in the acceptance speech.
“Now I’ve come to realise that when you’re the mother, and you have set trends, and people call you mother, when people honour you and give you the name Queen – you get rewarded differently.”
The rapper thanked numerous people in the speech, including the late Notorious B.I.G – who invited Lil Kim to join Junior M.A.F.I.A. back in 1994, and was a key figure in her career.
“I don’t know if ya’ll know what it’s like to have an angel following you all the time, but that’s Biggie,” she said. “I’m gonna always love him and I’m gonna always ride for him. I don’t play about him. That’s just what it is: Brooklyn.”
As Rolling Stone points out, Kim’s first album in nearly a decade and a half, 9, is set for release on Friday, 11th October.
Watch Lil Kim’s acceptance speech and career-spanning set below.
