During Vh1‘s Hip Hop Honors Awards show taping on Wednesday in Brookly, New York [click to read], Wale, who last appeared as part of the house band [click to read] for MTV‘s Music Video Awards, gave tribute to Kanye West for his contributions to music. The sixth annual Hip Hop Honors show will also salute the Beastie Boys with a tribute and will celebrate the 25th anniversary of Def Jam Records.
Although Wale‘s dedication to ‘Ye will undoubtedly be a highlight of the night, Vh1 did not mention the performance in the post-show press release. While the release mentioned Eminem, The Roots, and DJ Jazzy Jeff‘s tribute to LL Cool J, Mary J. Blige and Method Man‘s performance of “I’ll Be There For You/You’re All I Need To Get By,” and Ja Rule and Ashanti‘s reunion onstage, it did not make note of the Kanye West tribute. Whether the performance was supposed to be a surprise, or if ‘Ye’s bad press as of late [click to read] is a factor in VH1‘s keeping mum, can only be speculated.
In any case, Wale seemed excited about the performance and took to his Twitter page to let fans know about it: “just did the dopest kanye impersonation…fully equipt drake x kanye arm thingy…lol props to def jam and mr. west!”
Rick Ross, Ludacris, KRS-One, GhostfaceKillah, Fabolous, Eve, GymClassHeroes, DMX, and many, many others showed up to perform at the awards show. Vh1’s Hip Hop Honors will air on Oct. 13.
