Max B’s stage return anchored a set built on the year’s defining New York rap hit, with a rare awards-show assist from Rick Ross.
The BET Awards stage has hosted louder comebacks, but few with the quiet resonance of Max B’s return. On Sunday night, the Harlem rapper stood beside French Montana at Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater, running through “Ever Since U Left Me (I Went Deaf)” with the kind of ease that erases years of absence.
The track, lifted from their Coke Wave 3.5: Narcos mixtape, has become an unlikely anchor in the year’s rap conversation. Built on a prominent sample of KC and the Sunshine Band’s “That’s the Way (I Like It),” it topped Billboard’s US Rhythmic Airplay chart and earned the duo a Best Group nomination. The performance was straightforward—Max B in all black, a beat switch during his verse, a squadron of dancers—but the weight came from context, not staging.
Mid-set, Rick Ross emerged for “Minks In Miami,” the three artists draped in furs as pyrotechnics flashed around them. It marked Rozay’s first BET Awards slot in over a decade; his last was 2012, when he led a Maybach Music Group medley. The sighting doubled as punctuation for his year-long celebration of Port of Miami’s 20th anniversary, the 2006 debut that launched him from “Hustlin” to southern rap institution.
The moment was less a victory lap than a reminder of how cycles work. A sample from 1975, a debut from 2006, a mixtape sequel, and a stage in 2026—each piece dependent on the one before it.
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ROMBO Editorial Staff
The collective voice behind ROMBO Magazine’s news, reviews, features, and cultural coverage.
