Lil Wayne Wins The ‘I Am Hip-Hop’ Award At The 2018 BET Hip-Hop Awards

Lil Wayne took to the stage with his mother Jacida Carter and his daughter Reginae Carter. UGK’s Bun B helped deliver an awesome introductory speech for Weezy, who was presented the award by Bun and DJ Khaled. Lil Wayne delivered an emotional acceptance speech to follow.

Lil Wayne gave thanks to all of his fans, friends and family who’ve supported him over the last several years, which have been tumultuous ones for the rap superstar. He also gave thanks to a man he calls Uncle Bob, who Wayne says saved him after his suicide attempt years ago.

“I must give this award to the people who refused. What I mean by that [is] the people who refused to stop supporting me during all the…you already know. The people who refused to see me as haven’t put an album out in six years, four years. You guys respected me, you guys supported me. You came to every show. You respected every album, every feature. My family. My family refused, refused to stop motivating me. To stop treating me as if I am not the man. As if I am not the father who I am. As if I am not the person who I am. They refused to let me feel anything less. Please give it up to my family.”

Wayne turned to the man that saved his life, Uncle Bob. Tunechi recalled the story of the day Uncle Bob saved his life after he attempted to shoot and kill himself at the age of 12.

“When I say, ‘refuse,’ there’s a man in New Orleans, his name is Uncle Bob,” Weezy begins in the early stages of a memorable anecdote. “He came into an apartment one day. He bust in the door, guns drawn—he saw nobody. He saw legs on the floor. It was my legs. He saw blood everywhere. Bunch of police hopped over me. He refused to do so. I never knew, I talked to him the other day, I never knew EMS was on the scene. He said EMS tried twice and they told him, ‘There’s nothing.’ He refused to let that die.”

Weezy continues, “He told his somebody, ‘Come drive this car. Forget a ambulance.’ He brought me to the hospital himself. He refused to wait, he kicked in the doors. He said, ‘You get whatever you gotta do and you make sure this child make it.’ Not only that, that day, Uncle Bob was a homicide detective. He was off on detail. He just heard the call and came. Not only did he refuse to sit, not only [didn’t] he give me to the doctors and leave, he refused to leave, he stayed and made sure that I made it.”

Watch the entirety of Lil Wayne’s acceptance speech for yourself below.