\n\tKing performed two of her Billboard Hot 100 hits from the \u201980s: \u201cI\u2019m In Love\u201d and \u201cLove Come Down.\u201d The latter song was sampled on the 1997 track \u201cCalm Down\u201d by Capone-N-Noreaga featuring Nas. The evening\u2019s lineup also featured spirited performances from openers Belly Gang Kushington and YKNiece followed by Real Boston Richey, Miles Caton,\u00a0Tone Stith and Tiana Major9. Large Professor closed the ceremony with a DJ mix of Nas\u2019 biggest hits.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tExplore\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n See latest videos, charts and news<\/p>\n \n\tIn presenting the award to Nas, Babyface \u2014 a prior icon honoree \u2014 noted, \u201cHe\u2019s not an ordinary rapper. He\u2019s a poet and a philosopher.\u201d After thanking both Babyface and King for being important inspirations, Nas said, in part, \u201cEvery one of the artists who were appreciated tonight, I appreciate you more. I\u2019m going to stream you more because your genius inspires me, and your genius inspires the whole globe.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tPrior to the icon presentation, BMI\u2019s CEO Mike O\u2019Neill, executive vp & chief revenue & creative officer Mike Steinberg and vp, creative\/Atlanta Catherine Brewton welcomed the evening\u2019s additional award winners to the stage. Kicking off that drumroll was the rights organization\u2019s recognition of the top producers and songwriters of the previous year\u2019s\u00a035 most-performed R&B\/hip-hop songs\u00a0in the U.S. \u2014 which included 63 first-time winners.<\/p>\n \n\tFrom there, BMI revealed the winners of its other prestigious awards. Kendrick Lamar was named R&B\/hip-hop songwriter of the year for co-writing six of 2025\u2019s most-performed songs including \u201c30 for 30,\u201d \u201cSquabble Up\u201d and \u201cLuther.\u201d The latter, which spent 23 weeks atop Billboard\u2019s Hot R&B\/Hip-Hop Songs tally, was also recognized as BMI\u2019s R&B\/hip-hop song of the year.<\/p>\n \n\tProducer O Lil Angel was named R&B\/hip-hop producer of the year. The honor stems from his collaborations with Drake and PARTYNEXTDOOR (\u201cSpider-Man Superman,\u201d \u201cSomebody Loves Me\u201d) plus production credits on the Drake albums Habibti,\u00a0Made of Honour\u00a0and\u00a0Iceman as well as the hits \u201cWhat Did I Miss,\u201d \u201cWhich One\u201d and \u201cJanice STFU.\u201d Named as top producers were D\u2019Mile, Michael \u201cFinatik\u201d Mul\u00e9\u00a0and\u00a0Isaac \u201cZac\u201d De Boni\u00a0of\u00a0FNZ\u00a0and\u00a0Jahaan Sweet. During a special moment, the late songwriter\/producer Tay Keith\u00a0was remembered. His sister and uncle were on hand to accept Keith\u2019s 2025 BMI R&B\/hip-hop songwriter of the year award, which was announced at last year\u2019s ceremony.<\/p>\n \n\tSony Music Publishing rounded out the winners\u2019 circle with its award for R&B\/hip-hop publisher of the year. The company represents 27 of last year\u2019s most-performed songs. Among them: \u201cLuther,\u201d\u00a0\u201c<\/strong>Timeless,\u201d \u201cLike Him,\u201d \u201cYukon\u201d and \u201c25.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAhead of the awards, the inaugural BMI Foundation Babyface Award was given to songwriter and producer\u00a0Rijah Banerjee. This competitive grant and mentorship program focuses on emerging songwriters and composers of R&B, hip-hop, soul and other music of the African diaspora.\u00a0For the complete list of winners for the 2026 BMI R&B\/Hip-Hop Awards, visit the organization\u2019s site<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cNever in a million years did I think I would be partners with BMI. It just shows you…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":659870,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[264],"tags":[4648,254111,18,117,5266,22921,19,17,337],"class_list":["post-659869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-awards","tag-bmi-awards","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-genre-hiphop","tag-genre-rb","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-music"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117169462284224647","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=659869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/659870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=659869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=659869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=659869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-billboard-2021\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n