BMI R&B/Hip-Hop Awards: T-Pain Gets President’s Award; ‘Not Like Us’ Wins Song of the Year

T-Pain

At the BMI R&B/Hip-Hop Awards at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles on Thursday, the spotlight shifted from celebrity to craft. The organization centered the people who decide whether a song lives on — the hook writer, the lyricist, the producer. T-Pain received the President’s Award, a formal nod to two decades of melodic language and digital vocal color that moved from controversy to common practice.

“Don’t let anyone dictate your time … Let yourself be your own time measurement,” he told the room — a plain credo from an artist whose once-debated sound is now shared grammar across rap and R&B.

The pipeline that powers today’s hits was front and center GloRilla accepted the Impact Award and — in a rare outcome — shared Songwriter of the Year with Tay Keith and Mike Dean after each co-wrote three of BMI’s 35 Most-Performed R&B/Hip-Hop Songs of the year. Those credits sketch three lanes: club-built anthems (“TGIF,” “Wanna Be,” “Yeah Glo!”), cross-format studio architecture (“One of the Girls,” “Popular,” “Type Shit”) and Memphis drum design made for scale (“First Person Shooter,” “Get It Sexyy,” “MELTDOWN”).

BMI named “Not Like Us” Song of the Year, crediting Kendrick Lamar along with the late Ray Charles, Sean Momberger and Sounwave. The organization said the track debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100 in May 2024 and spent 53 consecutive weeks on the chart — reported as the longest-charting rap song in the survey’s history. However you feel about the feud behind it, the run shows songcraft meeting moment.

The producer’s chair took a bow, too. Sounwave earned Producer of the Year for a stretch that includes Lamar’s “Euphoria,” “6:16 in LA” and “Not Like Us,” plus high-profile pop work — credits on Taylor Swift’s Lover and Midnights and Beyoncé’s The Lion King: The Gift and Cowboy Carter. Same architect, different buildings.

On the business side, Sony Music Publishing was named Publisher of the Year, representing 23 of the year’s most-performed titles, including “Agora Hills,” “Not Like Us,” “MILLION DOLLAR BABY,” “Mmhmm,” “On My Mama” and “Saturn.” Even in a creator-first era, placement, licensing and long-tail stewardship still determine how far a song travels.

The show balanced established names with next-ups. BigXthaPlug opened with “The Largest” and his BMI-winning “Mmhmm,” followed by BossMan Dlow with “Mr Pot Scraper” and “Get In With Me.” A Know Them Now segment introduced Eli Derby (“Cadillac Dream”), TA Thomas (“Preach”) and Lekan (“Always”). BMI’s Mike Steinberg, EVP and Chief Revenue & Creative Officer, and Catherine Brewton, Vice President, Creative, Atlanta, hosted the private event at the Fairmont Century Plaza.

Taken together, the night argued for a simple order: honor the craft and the culture stays healthy. T-Pain’s toolkit is now the toolkit. GloRilla’s pen, Tay Keith’s stomp and Mike Dean’s engineering show how regional feel, studio detail and melody keep reshaping the mainstream. Sounwave’s trophy underscores the point — producers aren’t background credits, they’re architects.

Key honors
President’s Award: T-Pain
Impact Award: GloRilla
Songwriter of the Year (tie): GloRilla; Mike Dean; Tay Keith
Song of the Year: “Not Like Us” — Kendrick Lamar, Ray Charles, Sean Momberger, Sounwave
Producer of the Year: Sounwave
Publisher of the Year: Sony Music Publishing
Also recognized among top producers: Carter Lang; Metro Boomin; Sean Momberger; MTech

Billboard Ranks Drake, Beyoncé as Top R&B/Hip-Hop Artists of 21st Century

Billboard’s quarter-century recap puts Drake first and Beyoncé second, reflecting cumulative R&B/hip-hop chart performance from 2000 through 2024. (Superthrowbackparty illustration)

In a year when Beyoncé bent stadiums around the world to her will and Kendrick Lamar owned the headlines with “Not Like Us,” Billboard’s receipts say something simpler: over the first 25 years of this century, Drake stacked the most chart points. The trade’s 2000–24 recap names him the No. 1 R&B/hip-hop act of the 21st century — a data-only verdict built from weekly “Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs” and “Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.”

The numbers that power his case are blunt. Inside the 2000–24 window, Drake posted a record 30 No. 1 songs on the R&B/hip-hop songs chart and 15 No. 1 albums on the R&B/hip-hop albums chart, alongside a torrent of top-10 entries that kept him in constant rotation. He did it despite arriving late — he didn’t reach Billboard’s charts until 2009 — which makes the margin feel even more modern: singles that live forever on playlists, features that blur lines between rap, R&B and pop, and projects built to stream long after release.

Beyoncé lands at No. 2 — proof that two different blueprints shaped the era. Drake optimized for the feed: relentless singles, features, and algorithm-proof hooks. Beyoncé recentered the album as an event, from “Dangerously in Love” to “Renaissance,” turning surprise drops, world-building visuals and stadium scale into the new normal. Same scoreboard, different paths.

Billboard’s top tier for 2000–24 also includes The Weeknd, Chris Brown, Usher, Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, Rihanna, Eminem and Alicia Keys — a two-generation snapshot that stretches from the ringtone era to the streaming-services age. Kendrick Lamar, who dominated 2024–25 by any cultural measure, does not appear in this top 10 snapshot. That isn’t a referendum on artistry; it’s how cumulative, week-by-week scoring favors catalogs with longer runways inside the period.

Methodology matters. In 2012, Billboard rewired its genre charts to fold in digital sales and streaming alongside airplay — a rule set that boosted crossover smashes and has been debated ever since. Fans can argue philosophy; the charts track behavior. By the late 2010s, R&B/hip-hop had already become America’s most-consumed music. Within that ecosystem, Drake’s playlist-native strategy was rocket fuel, and Beyoncé’s album-first statements kept ambition at the center of pop.

Read as a time capsule, the list isn’t about “greatest ever.” It documents how Black music became the operating system of pop this century — from Usher’s “Confessions” to The Weeknd’s “Starboy,” from Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” to Drake’s “God’s Plan.” If you want the culture war, social media has you covered. If you want the scoreboard, this one says Drake. And it says the era — albums, singles, tours, memes, playlists — belongs to the whole ecosystem that got him there.

Billboard’s top 10 R&B/hip-hop artists of the 21st century (2000–24)

1. Drake
2. Beyoncé
3. The Weeknd
4. Chris Brown
5. Usher
6. Lil Wayne
7. Jay-Z
8. Rihanna
9. Eminem
10. Alicia Keys

Lil Nas X Freed on $75,000 Bail; Prosecutors Say 3 Officers Injured; Faces up to 5 Years

A video recorded in the early hours of Aug. 21, 2025, shows a Lil Nas X walking in Studio City, Calif. The encounter that followed left three officers injured, according to authorities; a not-guilty plea was entered on four felony counts. (Screengrab)

Lil Nas X pleaded not guilty Monday to four felony charges stemming from his arrest in Studio City last week, where authorities say he injured three officers while they tried to detain him.

The Grammy winner, born Montero Lamar Hill, 26, is charged with three counts of battery with injury on a police officer and one count of resisting an executive officer, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said. A preliminary-hearing setting is scheduled for Sept. 15 in Van Nuys. If convicted as charged, he faces up to five years in state prison.

🔥🚨BREAKING NEWS: Grammy award winning rapper Lil Nas X has been hospitalized after being spotted roaming nearly naked on the streets of Los Angeles at 4AM.

TMZ claims it could be a possible OD. This comes after Lil Nas X reportedly ‘ruined his career’ by intentionally and… pic.twitter.com/pyTHkFMKTo

— Dom Lucre | Breaker of Narratives (@dom_lucre) August 21, 2025

“Attacking police officers is more than just a crime against those individuals but a direct threat to public safety,” District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said in announcing the case. “Anyone who assaults law enforcement will face serious consequences, no matter who they are or how famous they may be.”

Prosecutors say the incident occurred around 5:40 a.m. on Aug. 21 in Studio City. Officers responded to a call and, during the encounter, Hill allegedly assaulted the responding officers, injuring at least three, before he was taken into custody.

New footage of Lil Nas X leaving jail after posting a $75k bail pic.twitter.com/RHrgyIAPIC

— She’s Fishy ➐ (@ShesFishy) August 25, 2025

A judge set bail at $75,000. The court also ordered outpatient drug treatment as a condition of release, according to multiple reports; Hill’s attorney told the court there’s no evidence of drug use.

Video published Monday showed Hill leaving a county facility in Van Nuys wearing a blue jail jumpsuit after posting bond.

Hill rose to global prominence with the hybrid country-rap hit “Old Town Road” and has been recognized for breaking barriers in country and pop — but he remains presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.