Busta Rhymes is remembering the late MTV VJ Ananda Lewis months after her death.
While accepting the inaugural Rock The Bells Visionary Award at the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards for his contributions to hip-hop on Sunday, the rapper gave Lewis a special shoutout.
“I want to thank — and I think we all need to acknowledge — the incredible woman that loved us very much when we came to MTV during the ’90s,” Rhymes said onstage at the UBS Arena in Elmont, New York. “An incredible woman that loved me, and she loved us, and she loved the culture. She lifted us up.”
The record producer added: “I love her very much. I miss her very much. The late great, incredible royal empress Ananda Lewis.”
Rhymes, whose real name is Trevor George Smith Jr., went on to thank Lewis’ family, including her mother, father and sister Lakshmi Emory.
