Kendrick Lamar had a victorious night at the BET Awards, picking up five trophies.
Held in his native Los Angeles, Lamar was on hand to collect awards for Album of the Year, Best Hip Hop Artist, Best Collaboration Video of the Year and Video Director of the Year, the latter two of which he shared with longtime creative partner Dave Free.
Lamar appeared on the TV broadcast to collect the award for Album of the Year and gave a brief speech to the crowd in attendance.
He said: “I ain’t been here in a long time but I always kept my heart BET. I always made sure they representing the culture right and they put me in the midst of the cycle we represent and that’s real, true, down to earth music that people can feel so I always give my heart to BET.
KENDRICK LAMAR ACCEPTANCE SPEECH AT BET AWARDS,2025 pic.twitter.com/qC4z4BZkmJ
— Hiiipower – TDE News (@hiiipowers) June 10, 2025
“To my folks in the building, to my LA natives in the back, I see you. God first and foremost, my company pgLang, SZA in the crowd, we on tour right now, please come to the show. We gonna keep this thing going, I appreciate y’all.”
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Notably, Drake was completely shut out at the ceremony, picking up zero wins from his four nominations.
The BET Awards went better for Kendrick than the American Music Awards last month where he took home only one award from five nominations.
While the Compton superstar did pick up a win for Favorite Hip Hop Song with “Not Like Us”, he was otherwise shut out at the ceremony.
Lamar was nominated across five other categories including Artist of the Year but was beaten by Billie Eilish.
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Eilish also triumphed over Lamar in Album of the Year and Song of the Year.
The biggest upset came in the Hip Hop categories with Eminem taking home both Favorite Hip Hop Artist and Favorite Hip Hop Album.
Lamar and SZA were also nominated for Collaboration of the Year but beaten by Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga with their smash hit “Die With A Smile”.
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“Die With A Smile” also beat “Not Like Us” to Favorite Music Video.
