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Lauryn Hill was honored with the Living Legend Icon Award as well as a very robust all-star performance featuring Doechii, Nas, Doja Cat, SZA, Common and Queen Latifah, among many others, at the BET Awards 2026.
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Cube introduced the megawatt tribute by giving Hill her flowers. “One of the greatest voices in Black music history,” he said, “She achieved the depths of her complexity that defined her artistry.” Thus began an epic tribute to Hill, first with a significantly personal tribute to hill from the War & Treaty. They sang “His Eye Is on the Sparrow,” which the group’s Tanya Trotter duetted on with Hill in the film “Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit,” back when she went by Tanya Blount. She sang it directly to Hill, who was taken aback by the powerful rendition.
The hits kept coming. SZA and Doechii took the stage along with a big band for Fugees’ “Ready or Not,” passing it off to Tierra Whack and Tems for “Fu-Gee-La” followed by her daughter Selah to sing the title track off “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.” Doja Cat came next with “Superstar” and brought out Nas, who revisited their hit “If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)” with Doja on the chorus.
YG Marley sang his late father Bob Marley’s verse on the Hill duet “Turn Your Lights Down Low” while Lizzo threw it back to the fashion Hill wore in the video for “Doo Wop (That Thing),” singing the classic tune with Rapsody. Zion Marley emerged to the tune of Hill’s tribute to him, “To Zion,” segueing into his song “Marching.” Alexia Jayy then sang “Killing Me Softly” and handed it over to Queen Latifah and Common to wrap up the tribute with “Lost Ones.”
After a commercial break, Hill took the stage to perform “Ex-Factor,” telling the audience she wasn’t supposed to perform but heard that someone had bowed out of the tribute. Ice Cube then returned to the stage to present her with her well-deserved award.
“I have always cared about the expression and the representation of the dignity of our people,” said Hill during her acceptance speech. “So we put ourselves sometimes as artists, we put ourselves in situations to say things that aren’t always comfortable, but we understand that people will understand later. I fight for y’all. Everybody might not know about it, but I fight for y’all. And fight for y’all, it’s fighting for me.
“We’re not going to let institutions, we’re not going to let traps stop us from arriving at that destination because that’s our inheritance,” she continued. “We may not always agree all the time, but I’m rooting for you and I’m grateful that you root for me sometimes too. All of our differences, all of our uniqueness, that’s the beauty, ya’ll. We don’t have to sound the same, we don’t have to be the same, we don’t have to look the same. That’s the beauty. I love you.”
Hill then closed the BET Awards with a rendition of “Everything Is Everything.” Other musicians to receive special awards at the BET Awards 2026 included Teyana Taylor, who was presented with the Icon of the Year award by Janet Jackson, and music executive Sylvia Rhone, who was honored with the Ultimate Icon Award as presented by Kelly Rowland.
