See Ghostface Killah, De La Soul, Fat Joe Perform at Knicks-Centric ESPYs

The Story

The annual ESPYs kept the Knicks’ NBA Championship celebration going Wednesday with performances by four New York rap legends.

Long Island’s De La Soul first took the stage at the Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater, encouraging the audience of athletes to take their feet during a medley that included snippets of “Stakes Is High” and “Run It Back!!”

DE LA SOUL (LIVE) – ESPYS 2026 🙌🏾 pic.twitter.com/S8vmgig241

Bronx-via-London’s Slick Rick opened his performance in the audience before taking the stage for an abridged version of his classic “La Di Da Di”: Trending Stories Sam Neill’s Cause of Death Revealed R. Kelly Asks Trump to Commute 30-Year Prison Sentence. White House Calls it ‘Random Submission’ Eric Stonestreet Says Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce Created the ‘Normalcy They Deserve’ at Wedding Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ Goes Big — REALLY Big — to Go Home

SLICK RICK (LIVE) – ESPYS 2026 👏🏾 pic.twitter.com/KUl8g5cZSx

Just weeks after Ghostface Killah took part in the Wu-Tang Clan halftime performance that potentially fueled one of the biggest second-half comebacks in basketball history, the Staten Island rapper opened his performance by repping fellow Wu rappers Raekwon (“Ice Cream”) and Ol’ Dirty Bastard (“Shimmy Shimmy Ya”) before launching into his own “Cherchez LaGhost.”

GHOSTFACE KILLAH (LIVE) – ESPYS 2026 🔥pic.twitter.com/3gauV9CtAW

Fat Joe, who was omnipresent during the Knicks’ championship run, closed out the show with his “All the Way Up,” capping an award show that shared in the afterglow of the Knicks’ win: Finals MVP Jalen Brunson won “Best Championship Performance” and “Best NBA Player,” OG Anunoby’s last-second tip won “Best Play,” and the Knicks collectively won “Best Team.”

.@FatJoe closes out The ESPYS with "All The Way Up" 🤩 pic.twitter.com/eXszd1n6GI

Original report

Rolling Stone

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