R&B/Hip-Hop

Kendrick Lamar‘s “Not Like Us” may have been a clear favorite of the audience inside the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, CA last night (June 30), but the 2024 BET Awards were more concerned with highlighting that different types of “us” that make up global Blackness.

Between the world-stopping Kendrick Lamar and Drake beef, a Black country boom led by Beyoncé and Shaboozey and rap touring renaissance featuring Travis Scott, Nicki Minaj and Megan Thee Stallion, 2024 has been stacked with defining moments in contemporary Black music.

Megan Thee Stallion kicked things off with a bombastic medley of tracks from her newly-released Megan album, including “Boa,” “Where Them Girls At” and the Billboard Hot 100-topping “Hiss.” Thee Hot Girl Coaches fiery performance set the tone for several memorable female rap moments, with Sexyy Red, Latto, Ice Spice and GloRilla all delivering strong performances. GloRilla — who performed her reigning summer anthems, “TGIF,” “Wanna Be” (with Megan Thee Stallion) and “Yeah Glo!” — began her set suspended in the air before parachuting down to flawlessly execute her funky choreography.

Obviously, Usher was one of the biggest touchpoints of the night, with both his lifetime achievement award acceptance speech and tribute sparking scores of discourse across social media. Featuring Childish Gambino, Keke Palmer, Chlöe, Tinashe, Summer Walker, Coco Jones, Marsha Ambrosius, Victoria Monét, Teyana Taylor and Latto, Usher’s lifetime achievement award tribute performance highlighted not just the current dominance of women across mainstream R&B, but also the “Burn” singer’s seminal impact across dance and music.

As usual, a bulk of the awards were handed out off-screen. The Knowles-Carter household brought home a pair of trophies thanks to Beyoncé’s Viewer’s Choice victory for “Texas Hold ‘Em” and Blue Ivy Carter‘s YoungStars Award win for her performances on her mom’s blockbuster Renaissance World Tour. Nicki Minaj took home best female hip-hop artist for a record-extending eighth non-consecutive year, Kendrick Lamar won best male hip-hop artist for a record-extending seventh non-consecutive year, Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese reigned as Sportswoman of the Year and ¥$ (Kanye “Ye” West and Ty Dolla $ign) was crowned best group.

Here are the 7 best moments of the 2024 BET Awards.

Childish Gambino Calls Out BET

Usher accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2024 BET Awards Sunday night (June 30) at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, but the audio cut out for a good chunk of his speech for those watching from home.
“It is great to see him get the flowers while the garden is still growing, so keep growing them flowers,” said Terry Lewis at the beginning of the segments. While he and Jimmy Jam mentioned they produced one of Usher’s biggest records that was part of his tribute performance — “Bad Girl” from his 2004 magnum opus Confessions — they enlisted two other influential men in the R&B superstar’s life to present him with the prestigious honor: L.A. Reid and Babyface. And while the gentlemen honored Usher’s mother, Jonnetta Patton, for bringing him into this world and being the “original momager,” Babyface added that they “were part of your musical birth, and you are worthy of this prestigious award.”

Usher took the stage for his approximately 12-minute acceptance speech, but about four minutes of it were largely inaudible for those not in the theater with him. (Billboard has reached out to BET for comment about the audio during Usher’s speech.)

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“Getting here has definitely not been easy, but it has been worth it. … I didn’t write anything because I wanted this moment to be exactly what it was: present. In this moment, how I am feeling and the appreciation that I have for each and every person that had anything to do with this moment tonight as well as the 30-plus-year career that I celebrate. … I don’t know, man, is it too early for me to receive it? Because I’m still running and gunning and I still love this s–t like I did when I was eight years old,” he began.

He later explained how he initially had a hard time making sense of his birth name, which Usher said was given to him by a man who didn’t stick around or love him. “Or at least, that was my perception of it, because I had to live long enough in order to understand you have to have a forgiving heart in order to understand the true pitfalls and hardships of a Black man in America,” said the eight-time Grammy winner. “And my father, he was a product of that. He made a lot of decisions, he made a lot of choices and the one that probably hurt and helped me at the same time was to stay away. But that’s part of the reason why I say this is the year of the father, where all the fathers gotta stand up for their sons and daughters and be the man that they need them to be for them.”

While praising Jam, Lewis, Reid and Babyface for how they helped shaped his successful career, Usher described them as “the men who motivated me, who speak to me, who have spoken to me, who have been solid no matter how f–ked up it may have been — sorry, I’m cursing to let you know how I really feelm” while “f–k” was censored but a subsequent “s–t” wasn’t. Almost four minutes into his speech, Usher’s speech starting cutting in and out for almost four minutes straight.

But according to a Billboard reporter inside the awards show, Usher said “f–k” and “motherf–ker” once, while barely swearing throughout his speech that didn’t contain any salacious subject matter.

When the sound was restored, Usher shouted out his eldest sons Usher “Cinco” Raymond V and Nayvid Ely Raymond, who were in the front row, as well as his son Sire Castrello Raymond and daughter Sovereign Bo Raymond, who were at home. “It is 100% all about my children and making certain that you understand that your dreams can come true if you truly committed, if you are committed to it, if you’re dedicated to something and you find passion and you stay committed to it, this could potentially be you. This could be your moment. Not on this stage, because I’m the only one that’s gonna have this one,” he joked.

Usher is receiving his flowers this year. The R&B icon was the man of the hour at the 2024 BET Awards Sunday (June 30) as this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award recipient.
Ahead of Usher receiving the award, BET set up the moment with an epic tribute medley performance featuring a plethora of artists giving their best Usher impressions, running through anthems from the 45-year-old’s decorated discography.

While Usher may not rock the sandals and white linen fit Childish Gambino lined up, the multi-hyphenate did the R&B legend’s 2002 smash “U Don’t Have to Call” justice with a smooth cover before Keke Palmer joined him on stage. Palmer took it back to 1997’s “You Make Me Wanna…,” which landed on Usher’s sophomore My Way album. The Illinois native put her dance skills to the test and finished off undressing from her white kicks, bedazzled jeans and Braves cap.

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Summer Walker notched a guest appearance on Usher’s 2023 Coming Home album, and delivered her steamy verse to their sultry “Good Good” collab, which also features 21 Savage. Sans Savage and with Usher watching from the front row, Summer and her team of dancers in black corsets and matching combat boots held down the fort.

Performers came from the crowd as Coco Jones surprised the crowd at Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater, running through Usher’s “There Goes My Baby.” The emerging singer seductively danced in front of Jennifer Goicoechea (Usher’s wife), and then had the 45-year-old luminary stand up before she returned to the stage.

“Superstar” is a fan-favorite off Usher’s 2004 Confessions classic, and Marsha Ambrosius stepped up for the tender cover. Chloe Bailey joined the party, singing “Good Kisser” in a shiny white leotard.

With “Nasty” shooting up the charts, Tinashe fittingly made a cameo, reimagining Usher’s “Nice & Slow.” Nashe put her own spin on the My Way classic and added a dance routine that the singer himself seemed to be in approval of.

Next up, Victoria Monét and Teyana Taylor worked a tag-team collaboration, performing “Bad Girl,” which had the camera doing flips while trying to keep up with the gymnastic acrobatics from the duo.

Latto closed out the tribute performance with the massive “Yeah!” sans guest appearances from Lil Jon and Ludacris; the topped the Billboard Hot 100 for 12 consecutive weeks in 2004. Big Latto even tweaked some of the lyrics to fit more of what she’s bringing to the table. “Big butt and some double-Ds,” she raps.

Watch the medley performance honoring Usher at the 2024 BET Awards below.

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The Beyoncé Effect is real. Shaboozey followed fellow country star Tanner Adell with 2024 BET Awards‘ second performance highlighting the genre on Sunday (June 30). His set featured dancers in a saloon line dancing as he performed his hit song “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” — a flip of J-Kwon’s own 2004 hit “Tipsy.” Boozey’s version […]