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As awards show season roars on, we continue to see how networks adapt to the modifications made necessary by the current pandemic. While we can’t have live audiences or the huge rooms filled with celebrities like we’re used to, the show must go on, and BET proved how to do so effectively on Tuesday night by putting on their annual Hip Hop Awards.
The night was filled with amazing performances and a ton of firsts, including many artists setting records with the awards they won.
Megan Thee Stallion earned her spot as the top winner of the night, taking home three awards, including hip hop artist of the year. This makes her only the second woman to win in that marquee category in the past three years, following her “WAP” collaborator Cardi B . Nicki Minaj was the first woman to win the category almost ten years ago in 2011.
Meg’s “Savage” (Remix) with Beyoncé reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, bringing home best collaboration last night and becoming the first all-female collab to win in that category.
Women continued to dominate throughout the categories last night, with Rapsody became the first woman ever to win for lyricist of the year. Teyana Taylor marked another major milestone, becoming the second woman in three years to win best video director of the year, following behind Karena Evans.
Other record setters for the night include Roddy Ricch and his album, Please Excuse Me For Being Antisocial, which spent four weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. The project won hip hop album of the year, which marks the first time that an artist’s first studio album has won that award.
Pop Smoke won the honor for best new hip hop artist, which marks the second time in three years that this award has been presented posthumously. XXXTentacion won the award two years ago, an artist who--just like Pop Smoke--was just 20 years old when he was shot to death.
The latest Future and Drake collaboration, Life Is Good, took home the award for best hip hop video. This is Future’s first win in the category, and Drake’s fifth. Drake previously won the award for “HYFR” featuring Lil Wayne in 2012, “Started From the Bottom” in 2013, “Worst Behavior” in 2014 and “Hotline Bling” in 2016. This win also marks Drake’s 20th BET Hip Hop Award, which puts him in a tie with Kendrick Lamar for second place on the all-time winners list. Jay-Z leads the pack with 22 awards.
Congrats to all of the night’s big winners and history makers!