Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for BET
Monie Love, MC Lyte, Lil Kim, and Rapsody perform onstage at the BET Awards 2021 at Microsoft Theater on June 27, 2021 in Los Angeles.
“We are here today to give you your flowers, your long-overdue flowers.” Lil Kim said those words directly to Queen Latifah following a groundbreaking performance in honor of the veteran MC and Hollywood star, who was given the lifetime achievement award at the 2021 BET Awards on Sunday night (June 27).
Queen Latifah was introduced as “a woman who has been creating magic for decades,” and following a highlight reel that included testimonials from stars like Jada Pinkett-Smith, LL Cool J and Megan Thee Stallion, Rapsody took the stage to perform Queen Latifah’s 1989 hit “Ladies First” alongside its original guest star, Monie Love. Immediately after, Lil Kim entered to put her spin on 1993’s “U.N.I.T.Y.,” followed by MC Lyte to send the song home and round out the all-star tribute.
Queen Latifah with a medley of “Ladies First” and “U-N-I-T-Y.”
After their performance,
Click inside to find out what Queen Latifah said…
“Thank you so much, everyone. Thank you, my sisters – y’all my sisters in the name of rap,”
Queen Latifah started. “You always have been. I’m so extremely moved that I don’t even know what to say. Let me just say that I want to thank God because God designed this whole thing to be this way.”
“There is no way that I could have had the parents that I was born to – my father, my mother [who died in 2018], who is still so much in me – my family, I love you – my siblings,” she continued. “My best friends who ride or die with me whether my face is on the dirt or I’m flying in the skies – they know me. And they’re there for me.”
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