From rising stars to certified greats, a litany of the world’s biggest hip-hop and R&B artists took the stage at Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater to celebrate Black musical excellence at the 2024 BET Awards Sunday evening (June 30).
And in case you missed it, every single one of those musicians brought the fire — in some cases, quite literally. After Megan Thee Stallion kicked off the show, Will Smith made his comeback by rapping his new song “You Can Make It” while standing in the center of a fearsome ring of flames, while Ice Spice’s twerk-filled performance of “Phat Butt” got so heated, her Y2K gas station set went up in a blaze.
In between awards, GloRilla, Victoria Monét, Latto, Sexyy Red and Heiress Harris also all delivered show-stopping musical numbers, as did Lauryn Hill with help from YG Marley and Tyla in partnership with Gunna and Skillibeng. Plus, Tanner Adell and Shaboozey brought a little bit of country to the ceremony following their breakthrough Cowboy Carter collaborations with Beyoncé earlier this year, with the former singing “Buckle Bunny” and “Cowboy Broke My Heart” and the latter performing “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” with J-Kwon.
And though an honorable mention definitely goes to host Taraji P. Henson for opening the broadcast by impersonating Kendrick Lamar’s viral “Not Like Us” performance at his Juneteenth concert, the Usher tribute medley toward the end may have stolen the show. Ahead of the R&B icon accepting his lifetime achievement award, Childish Gambino, Keke Palmer, Coco Jones, Summer Walker, Marsha Ambrosius and more all covered songs from his extensive catalog, with the highlight being Monét and Teyana Taylor recreating his and Bey’s legendary “Bad Girl” choreography.
Though it may be hard to choose, Billboard wants to know which performance at the 2024 BET Awards was your favorite. If you need a refresher or missed the show, watch the sets here and see our own ranking, then vote below.
