LOS ANGELES (Reuters)

Kendrick Lamar was the top winner on Monday at the BET Awards, an awards ceremony honouring Black actors, singers and sports stars.

The “30 For 30″ rapper won the best male hip hop artist award, best album of the year as well as the video of the year award for “Not Like Us.”

Lamar and filmmaker Dave Free also took home the video director of the year award at the event, which was held at the Peacock Theatre in Los Angeles and broadcast on the BET cable channel.

“BET has always made sure they’re representing the culture right and always put me in the midst of the cycle of what we represent,” Lamar said on stage when accepting his award.

Host comedian Kevin Hart opened the ceremony by recognizing the BET Awards’ 25th anniversary and all of the “history that has been made” on the stage.

The ceremony traversed the evolution of Black music, starting with a performance by R&B artist Ashanti that featured a compilation of songs, including her 2002 song “Foolish.”

Additional performances included other 2000s songs “Ballin'” by Mustard, “1 Thing” by Amerie and “Like You” by Bow Wow.

Hart led with jokes while also highlighting the BET Ultimate Icon Award winners of the night, including Kirk Franklin, Mariah Carey, Jamie Foxx and Snoop Dogg.

The special award was given to those that have paid homage to music, entertainment, advocacy and community impact.

Presented by Stevie Wonder, Foxx accepted his award and reflected on his recovery journey after having a stroke in 2023.

“I gotta be honest, when I saw the in memoriam, I was like, ‘Man, that could have been me’,” he said.

Another honour included the best female hip hop artist award for rising rapper Doechii.

“Trump is using military forces to stop protest,” Doechii said in her acceptance speech, addressing the anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles, where the National Guard and U.S. Marines are being deployed.

“I want y’all to consider what kind of government it appears to be, when every time we exercise our democratic rights to protest, the military is deployed against us,” she added.