Fat Joe is promising an “unforgettable night” when he hosts the 2022 BET Hip Hop Awards on Sept. 30.
BET announced Tuesday the New York rapper has been booked to host the show.
“Fat Joe is hip-hop royalty. He has represented the artform and the Bronx, the birthplace of hip-hop, throughout his outstanding musical career. He is a treasured friend of the network and we’ve loved seeing and supporting his evolution to becoming the superstar he is today,” said Connie Orlando, executive vice president of specials, music programming & music strategy at BET.
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Fat Joe is best known for the singles “Lean Back,” “What’s Luv,” “Make It Rain,” and “All The Way Up.” In a statement, he said the awards will be hip and hot.
“This will be the BIGGEST award show in history,” said Fat Joe. “It’s truly an honor to host and produce the BET Hip Hop Awards and I can’t thank Connie and the entire BET family enough for this opportunity. We’re going to celebrate music, culture and entertainment, honor the biggest and brightest stars in the world and make this an unforgettable night full of laughs and surprises. Always remember that yesterday’s host is not today’s host.”
The awards will be taped at Atlanta’s Cobb Energy Center on Friday, Sept. 30, with the show set to air Tuesday, Oct. 4, at 9 PM ET/PT on BET.
Fat Joe recently made headlines (and stirred debate) when he said hip-hop music was originally created by Black and Latino artists.
According to Hot New Hip Hop, the rapper fired up music fans on Aug. 26, when he took to Instagram to thank Latino pioneers for their contributions to hip-hop music. He posted a 45-second video tribute that listed the names of Latino artists and DJs and included the caption: “Thank you Thank you Thank you for your contribution to HIP HOP.”
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The post immediately sparked backlash, with some social media users calling Fat Joe a “culture vulture” and worse. The rapper fired back at his critics during an Instagram Live session, basically telling the “haters” to GTF out of his mentions.
“Lately, they’ve been talking about, ‘Latinos wasn’t in rap.’ These guys are f–king delusional,” he said. “We’re from the Bronx, New York. Sh-t happens. This is where hip-hop started. It’s Latino and Black, half and half. But they going at me ’cause I’m like the only Spanish dude with a big voice… I don’t know what the f–k is up with these people. They don’t know their facts!”
You can watch Fat Joe’s response to his critics in the video below at the 51:40 mark.
The back-and-forth should make for an interesting BET Hip Hop Awards.
