Fat Joe is hosting the BET Hip Hop Awards for the second year in a row. Since this is also a celebration of the genre’s 50th anniversary, he wanted to surprise fans with a performance from one of its biggest names: Will Smith a.k.a. the Fresh Prince. Unfortunately, the Oscar-winning actor is busy with the latest Bad Boys movie and couldn’t make it to the show, but Joe is still excited to be back at the event, which airs Tuesday, Oct. 10 at 9 p.m. on BET.
“Overall it’s a dream come true for me,” Joe told People. “It’s the second year I’m doing the Hip Hop awards, but I always think back to being in junior high and doing the talent shows and then Apollo Theater Amateur Night and it all leads to this. And so it’s an honor for me.”
With performances from GloRilla, Sexyy Red and DaBaby, a So So Def 30th anniversary tribute featuring Jermaine Dupri, Bow Wow, Ludacris and Da Brat, as well as special honors for Marley Marl, Timbaland and Swizz Beatz, Joe is looking forward to this year’s celebration of the past, present and future of hip hop. Mentoring up and coming artists is something that’s very important to the “Lean Back” rapper. He doesn’t want to be like the “haters” he encountered when he was starting out.
“Whether I like the music or I don’t, I always encourage the youth to do better, to keep rocking, to uplift the hip hop community, to hire more people, take care of their kids,” he told CNN. “That’s what I’m about. I don’t really throw shade on the youth.”
The lack of chart-topping singles this year has led to a lot of discussion about the current state of hip hop. Joe sees it as a natural maturation of the artform. “With age comes wisdom and so you learn how to move differently, you learn how to make music differently. You learn how to talk about different things,” he said.
Whether you’re all about the nostalgia of the classics, or you like where things are going right now, there will likely be something you want to see on the big show. Full disclosure, it already took place Oct. 3 in Atlanta, so if you want to find spoilers, they’re readily available on social media.
The BET Hip Hop Awards air Oct. 10 at 9 p.m. on BET.