The BET “HIP HOP AWARDS” 2018 brought the heat to Miami, Florida on Saturday, October 6, 2018 for the annual taping of the most prominent hip hop showcase on television. Comedian and Actor Deray Davis hosted hip-hop’s biggest night of the year at The Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason Theater. THE BET “HIP HOP AWARDS” 2018 premiered on Tuesday, October 16, 2018 at 8:00PM ET.
Cardi B reigned supreme with four wins for ‘MVP of the Year’, ‘Hustler of the Year’,
‘Made-You-Look Award (Best Hip Hop Style)’, and ‘Sweet 16,’ for her verse on Migos’ “Motorsport.” The Carters followed closely picking up three awards for ‘Album of the Year’, ‘Best Collabo’ and ‘Single of the Year’ for “Apes**t”. XXXTentacion, who passed away earlier this year, was awarded for ‘Best New Artist.’ Anderson .Paak took to the stage for a tribute to his friend Mac Miller, who also passed away unexpectedly in 2018. Lil Wayne took home the night’s biggest honor, the ‘I Am Hip Hop Award’ for his over two decades of contributions to hip hop culture.
The much anticipated cyphers were hosted by DJ Premier and featured a bevy of emcees dropping hot 16’s including Vic Mensa, Taylor Bennett, G Herbo, YBN Cordae Duckworth, Tobe Nwigwe, Blocboy JB, Casanova, Shawn Smith, Nick Grant, Reason, Armani White, Wynne, Flawless Real Talk, Phora and Big Pale. Erykah Badu jumped on the turntables for a special “ladies only” cypher highlighting some of the hottest “Femcees” including Neelam Hakeem, Chika, Bri Steves and Sharaya J.
The show opened with a spellbinding performance by Lil Pump featuring Gucci Mane performing a medley of “Esskeetit,” “Kept Back,” and “Gucci Gang.” Lil Baby & Gunna kept it sexy with performances of “Yes, Indeed,” “Yosemite,” and “Drip Too Hard.” Yella Beezy brought everyone to their feet with his performance of “That’s On Me.” Over at Club Liv, Cardi B was joined by Pardison Fontaine where they performed a medley of club bangers including “Get Up 10″ and “Backin’ It Up.” YG and A$AP ROCKY got the crowd ready for anything with their performance of “Band Drum.” T.I. took us to an exotic nightclub for his performance “Jefe” and brought out Yo Gotti for a special performance of their single “Wraith.” Young M.A. brought down the house with her performance of “Petty Wap,” before presenting the award for ‘DJ of the Year.’ Flipp Dinero kept the energy going with his performance of “Leave Me Alone.” Lil Duval hit the stage with a much-anticipated performance of his Billboard Chart-topping hit, “Smile (Living My Best Life)” featuring Ball Greezy.
The complete list of 2018 BET “Hip Hop Awards” winners are:
Best Hip-Hop Video
Childish Gambino – “This is America”
Best Collabo, Duo or Group
The Carters – “APES**T”
Hot Ticket Performer
Drake
Lyricist of the Year
Kendrick Lamar
Video Director of the Year
Karena Evans
DJ of the Year
DJ Khaled
Producer of the Year
Pharrell Williams
MVP of the Year
Cardi B
Single of the Year
“Apes**t” – Produced By Pharrell (The Carters)
Album of the Year
The Carters – Everything Is Love
Best New Hip-Hop Artist
XXXTentacion
Hustler of the Year
Cardi B
Made-You-Look Award (Best Hip-Hop Style)
Cardi B
Best Hip-Hop Online Site/ App
Worldstar
Best Mixtape
BlocBoy JB – “Simi”
Sweet 16: Best Featured Verse
Cardi B – “Motorsport” (Migos Feat. Cardi B & Nicki Minaj)
Impact Track
Childish Gambino – “This Is America”
Jesse Collins, CEO of Jesse Collins Entertainment, served as Executive Producer of the BET Hip Hop Awards along with Connie Orlando, BET Head of Programming and Jeannae Rouzan–Clay, Vice President of Specials, Jesse Collins Entertainment.