On Sunday night, former first lady Michelle Obama made a virtual appearance at the BET Awards, introducing and singing the praises of hip-hop star Chance the Rapper for his snagging of the Humanitarian Award. Michelle’s intro ushered in a speech from Chance focusing on social justice.
“Chance is showing our young people that they matter, that they have something inside of them that is worthy of being expressed, and they have so much to contribute to their community and our country,” Michelle told the BET audience.
Chance, who is the youngest recipient of the award at 24-years-old, is also a Chicago native. As noted by The Hill, the hip-hop star gave a $1 million donation to the Chicago Public School system and raised over $2 million for Social Works, his nonprofit.
“I can think of no better legacy to leave, and I am thrilled to celebrate you here tonight, and honored to call you my friend,” the former first lady added.
Taking the stage after Michelle’s video, Chance went on to rail against the criminal justice system, the Chicago Public School system, and “n****s” (cops) getting off for alleged police brutality.
“I’m 24 and to be receiving something like this at my age, it feels good as hell,” started the musician. “I love this. I love black people, ya’ll.”
He continued, “I had plans originally to try and tell the world and everybody watching how to make it a better place, to tell everybody in this government that ya’ll need to let everybody out of jail for sellin’ weed before ya’ll start makin’ it legal for people to sell it and start making capital off it. I was going to tell the Chicago Public School system not to take out a loan from Chase Bank when they know that our schools are plannin’ on failin’ in our district. I was gonna tell those judges that we just need a conviction when you know these n****s wrong for doing this.”
We have to “work on ourselves before we work on the world,” Chance added, before declaring he’ll become a better father and citizen of the world.
The rapper is a longtime former Barack Obama supporter who apparently launched an entire clothing line honoring the former president.
Michelle Obama’s introduction:
Chance the Rapper’s acceptance speech: