Ms. Lauryn Hill received the inaugural Living Legend Icon Award at the BET Awards on Sunday. To celebrate, a number of musicians paid tribute to the Fugees member—including SZA, Doechii, Nas, Doja Cat, Queen Latifah, Tems, Tierra Whack, and more—before Hill ended up performing one of her own songs at the last minute.
Artists pulled from The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, The Score, and other cuts from Hill’s career. Among the highlights were SZA and Doechii’s spin on “Ready or Not,” Tierra Whack and Tems’ rendition of “Fu-Gee-La,” and Doja Cat’s double duty singing “Superstar” and, later, duetting “If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)” with Nas. A particularly touching rendition of “His Eye Is on the Sparrow” came from the War & Treaty, whose member Tanya Trotter duetted on the song with Hill back in Sister Act 2. Additional performances by Lizzo, YG Marley, Selah, Rapsody, Zion Marley, and Alexia Jayy eventually led to the final number by Queen Latifah and Common, who closed out the segment with a cover of “Lost Ones.”
After a commercial break, Hill unexpectedly stepped into the role of a performing artist at her own honoring. “I wasn’t even supposed to perform, but I heard somebody wasn’t doing this song,” she said before singing “Ex-Factor” with a backing band.
Ice Cube presented the trophy to Hill, who talked at length about her influence in the culture at large. “I do this because I want y’all to have everything that I experienced,” she said during her acceptance speech. “I had wonderful parents who loved on me, poured into me, and protected me. Once I realized that not everybody got to have that experience, I felt like it was my duty, my responsibility to share as much love and pour into people as music as I possibly could — and music was a way to do that.”