Lil Wayne, Missy Elliott and Dr. Dre honored by Black Music Collective – The Hollywood Reporter

A vulnerable Lil Wayne and a tearful Missy Elliott accepted the Dr. Dre Global Impact at the Recording Academy and Black Music Collective — which was renamed Thursday night as they also honored Dr. Dre.

Lil Wayne, who signed his record deal at 12 and turns 40 in September, won over the crowd with a touching and authentic speech that ended the evening.

“I want you all to know that I’m not honored,” he said at the Hollywood Palladium as singers, rappers, producers, songwriters, label executives and other industry players cheered him on. “Where I’m from, New Orleans, you shouldn’t do that.”

“I walked into my mother’s room when I was 14. She asked me for a child because my father was killed. And her son had just graduated and started his first tour. When I got home, she said, “Son, I can’t live alone in this house. We’re going to have to figure something out,’” Lil Wayne recalled.

“I would like to thank Antonia Johnson,” he continued, speaking of the mother of his first child, “for thinking with me and my mother and my life. I would like to thank each of my children and each of their mothers.”

Lil Wayne has won five Grammys, received more than 150 RIAA-certified plaques, and is one of the most sought-after collaborators in music, completing more than 700 tour dates. It also launched the careers of Drake and Nicki Minaj.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I don’t know who you all are tonight. We are being disrespected again,” he said. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I am nothing without you.

DJ Khaled introduced Lil Wayne, saying, “I grew up listening to you and I’m bigger than you.” In video messages, Drake and Deion Sanders honored the rap veteran, while 2 Chainz, Swizz Beatz and Tyga performed Lil Wayne hits to close out the event.

“Good evening, Grammy. Well, I haven’t been allowed to say that since 2016,” said Drake, who in recent years has refused to perform his music at the awards show.

“Lil Wayne… I love you so much,” he continued. “I know I’m probably getting annoying when I say how much you mean to me and my family, but I think I speak for everyone when I say that our careers, our beats, our tunes, maybe our face tattoos or clothing us or our solutions would not generally be the same without your natural gift of simply being yourself.

Elliott also captivated the audience with a heartfelt speech. She paused several times, fighting back tears as the crowd cheered her on.

“I’ve won a lot of awards and I feel the same way — anyone who knows me knows I’m always crying,” said Elliott, who was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and received the MTV Video Vanguard Award at the 2019 MTV VMAs .and recently became the first female rapper to earn a nomination for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – receiving the nod in her first year in office.

Epic Records CEO Sylvia Rhone, who has been a top music executive since her career began in the 1970s and a champion of hip-hop, also received the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award, originally called the Recording Academy Global Impact Award. Elliott thanked Rowan for helping her launch her career.

“I was in a girl group and Sylvia Rhone dropped me, then signed me as a solo artist,” she said. “She saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself… She never said no to us. She never told me, “You need to lose weight.” She never told me, “You need to change your records.”

R&B singer Chlöe channeled Aaliyah and performed “One in a Million” — which Elliott co-wrote and produced with Timbaland — and also sang Elliott’s “One Minute Man” in honor of the genre-bending artist. Elliott’s protégé Tweet performed their 2002 hit “Oops (Oh My),” while Ciara sang and danced to her Grammy-winning collaborations with Elliott, “Lose Control” and “1, 2 Step.” Busta Rhimes also owned the night as he honored Rowan with performances on stage.

But the liveliest performance of the night came from Snoop Dogg, Kurupt and Ty Dolla$ign, who all paid tribute to Dr. Dre. The trio performed “Ain’t No Fun (If the Homies Can’t Have None),” which Dre produced.

“My musical journey started with me wanting to find something I could be good at just so I could earn enough money to buy a decent pair of shoes just to wear to school,” said Dr Dre. “I was in junior high school when I first heard hip-hop. I could hear mixing and scratching and couldn’t get enough of that sound. And once I got hold of the turntable, I knew I had found my wings and I was determined to learn how to fly.”

“I fell in love with the idea of ​​manipulating sound and taking these different sounds and putting them together like a puzzle to make a song,” continued Dre, who has produced his own hits as well as hits for Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, Mary Jay Blige, Jay Z, 50 Cent, Gwen Stefani and more. “I studied engineering for years and years and years and from there I realized that I could take or hear a snippet of sound and use it to create something entirely new. And then boom – I became a producer.