On Monday night, VH1 aired their annual Hip Hop Honors ceremony, paying tribute to the artists and movements that have defined and influenced hip-hop culture to date. Last year’s ceremony paid tribute to the ladies of hip-hop, and this year’s event saluted the “90’s Game Changers,” paying homage to that era of hip hop, television, and film. Honorees include Martin Lawrence, Mariah Carey, Jermaine Dupri, Master P, and director Hype Williams.
While performers like Fat Joe, Remy Ma, Missy Elliott, Fabolous, The Lox, Ty Dolls Sign, and more all took the stage to perform and pay homagee to some of the greats before them, one of the more memorable moments from the night came from Pharrell, who got on his “Jon Snow” shit and delivered a “woke” speech to the audience & viewers about our social climate.
Skateboard P urges fans & viewers watching to “open their eyes” and see what’s happening in our society. “If you look like I look, then you know how we got here. But we’re here and we’re not leaving, so what are we gonna do.”
Further addressing social injustice & racism in the country, Pharrell added: “For everybody else in this country…don’t think because they’re coming at the African-Americans and the Jewish community and the Hispanics that it can’t be you too just because you look like them,” he warns. “You should understand ’they’ can change their minds and it might not be about Black, white, big, skinny or small. It could be about facial features. It might be about hair color. Don’t act like they didn’t do that before.”
On his “Jon Snow Shit,” Pharrell later mentioned that we need justice for ALL, and not just some.
“This is where we are right now. Me, Im just a tiny tiny tiny tiny little musician. Like little small tiny musician, but Im African American. African means that’s what in me, American means thats where I am right now. So if this is where I am and this is America, it’s for liberty and justice for all,” P said.
Check out the woke speech in its entirety (below).