7 Best Moments From the 2024 BET Awards: Taraji’s Kendrick Spoof, Childish Gambino’s Call Out & More

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.