London [U.K.], June 27 : Chance the Rapper took home the Humanitarian award at the 2017 BET Awards for "positively impacting both local and national communities," making him the youngest recipient of the honour to date.
According to The Independent, the American rapper was presented the Humanitarian Award by Michelle Obama, via a video-conferencing.
"Barack and I are so sorry that we cannot be there with you tonight in person, but please know that we are with you in spirit, and we are so incredibly proud of you, Chance," she said.
Michelle also called him an "outstanding role model and an inspiration to people who care about our next generation." Taking to the stage, Chance gave a powerful speech calling the U.S.
Government into action. He began by saying, "To be receiving something like this at my age, it feels a little early to get something like this but my God doesn't make mistakes and I like to think that he's putting this enormous pressure on me to see how I react." Chance then went on to call out the Government in the U.S., taking aim at the justice system and how twisted it is that they can legalise weed while still keeping people locked up for petty possession charges.
He shared, "And I had plans originally to try and tell the world and everybody watching how to make it a better place.
To tell everybody in this government that y'all need to let everybody out of jail for selling weed before you start making it legal for people to sell it and make capital off of it." "I want to be more involved outside just my community of Chicago.
I want to travel overseas and help out people all over the world. And like I said, being 24 and getting something like this, it doesn't feel deserved yet. But like I said - my God is putting the pressure on me so I can become who I'm supposed to be," he added.
The 'No Problem' rapper has actively campaigned against gun violence, to promote racial justice and in March, Chance donated 1 million USD to Chicago Public Schools and additionally raised more than 2 million USD for the public schools through his Social Works organisation.
Chance's speech earned him standing ovation from the audience and from social media, with commentors calling him a "beautiful soul" and "black excellence," and even asking him to run for president.
The rapper also took home the award of Best New Artist at the star-studded ceremony..
Source: ANI
