Usher, Tyla & More Record Setters at 2024 BET Awards
Usher had a big night at the 2024 BET Awards, which were presented at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday (June 30). In addition to receiving a lifetime achievement award, Usher won best male R&B/pop artist for the fifth time.
Usher is second only to Chris Brown for most wins for best male R&B/pop artist. Brown has won the award seven times. Usher first won in the category 22 years ago, giving him the longest span of wins in any BET category.
Usher, 45, is the second-youngest recipient of the BET’s lifetime achievement award. Only Whitney Houston, the inaugural recipient in 2001, was younger – 37 at the time.
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Tyla and Victoria Monét each won two awards. Tyla won best new artist and best international act. The South African singer is just the third winner for best new artist who was not born in the U.S. She follows Nicki Minaj, who was born in Trinidad, and Sam Smith, who was born in England. In January, Tyla’s breakthrough hit, “Water,” reached its No. 7 peak on the Billboard Hot 100. In February, that track won the inaugural Grammy Award for best African music performance.
Monét’s “On My Mama” won video of the year and the BET Her award, which honors motivational and empowering songs by women artists. She won both awards for “On My Mama,” which received Grammy nominations for record of the year and best R&B song. The video, directed by Child., also won in that category at the Soul Train Music Awards in November.
Killer Mike’s Michael won album of the year. The album won best rap album at the Grammys on Feb. 4. Killer Mike was arrested following the Grammys premiere ceremony that night following a dispute with what he characterized as an overzealous security guard. Killer Mike alluded to that arrest in his BET acceptance speech.
Michael peaked at No. 58 on the Billboard 200, lower than all but one of this year’s BET nominees in this category, which included three albums that reached No. 1 – Drake’s For All the Dogs, 21 Savage’s American Dream and Nicki Minaj’s Pink Friday 2.
SZA won best female R&B/pop artist for the second year in a row. She’s the first artist to win back-to-back award in this category since Beyoncé won six years in a row from 2014-19.
Kendrick Lamar won best male hip-hop artist for a record-extending seventh time. He beat Drake, who has won four times in the category. On most scorecards, Lamar also beat Drake in this year’s diss track battle.
Nicki Minaj won best female hip-hop artist for a record-extending eighth time. Missy Elliott is in second place with five wins in the category.
Ye and Ty Dolla $ign won best group. This is the second time that Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, has won in this category. In 2012, West and Jay-Z won as The Throne. Drake has likewise won in this category twice, with two different collaborators, alongside Future (2016) and 21 Savage (2023).
Beyoncé won the viewer’s choice award for the record-extending fifth time for “Texas Hold ’Em.” She previously won in this category for “Formation,” “Sorry,” “Savage (Remix),” a Megan Thee Stallion track on which she was featured, and “Break My Soul.” This raises the distinct possibility that this track (or its accompanying video) could win both a BET Award and a CMA Award. This year’s CMA Award nominations are expected in early September.
Tems’ “Me & U” won the Dr. Bobby Jones best gospel/inspirational award. Bailey co-wrote the song, which received a Grammy nomination earlier this year for best R&B song.
Bob Marley: One Love won best movie. It beat American Fiction, which was nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards in March. Bob Marley: One Love, which was released on Feb. 14, will compete at next year’s Oscars. In the 14-year history of this BET category, just one film has won at both shows – Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave in 2014.
Denzel Washington won best actor for a record-extending fourth time. Will Smith is second with three wins in the category. Washington’s only 2023 film was The Equalizer 3.
Regina King won best actress for the third time, a total matched or equaled only by Taraji P. Henson, with six wins, and Halle Berry, also with three wins. King starred in Shirley, a biopic of Shirley Chisolm, who was the first Black woman to be elected to the U.S. Congress and who made a longshot bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972. John Ridley wrote and directed the film, which had a brief theatrical run prior to its Netflix debut in March. The film’s tagline: “Fearless. Fierce. First.”
Angel Reese, power forward for the Chicago Sky basketball team, won sportswoman of the year for the second year in a row. Jalen Brunson, point guard for the New York Knicks, won sportsman of the year.
