“Free Gunna, free Thugga!” Fat Joe proclaimed as he hit the BET Hip Hop Awards 2022 stage to a rendition of “Hot” by the two currently locked up Atlanta legends.

“They trying to stop our freedom of speech,” he added, while getting the crowd ready alongside the Clark Atlanta University marching band.

As the music died down, The Bronx rapper had a few messages for the audience before the awards got going, including the importance of hiring professional security to keep rappers safer.

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“We gotta be careful everybody,” he said. “Hire real security man, don’t have homeboy security because you’ll be gone to your hitmaker boy.”

Joey Crack also noted during his opening monologue that BET gave him his price to grace the stage and paid tribute to Coolio, who passed away last week at the age of 59.