BMI’s R&B/Hip-Hop Awards took place Thursday night in Los Angeles, and quite a few stars walked away winners.
SZA was named R&B/Hip-Hop Songwriter of the Year for “Nobody Gets Me,” “Shirt” and “Snooze.” She also took home awards for “Kill Bill,” which won Song of the Year, and made history as the first-ever winner of the BMI Champion Award.
“I have to say songwriting awards mean the most to me because when I started and I needed people to come and write for me, I didn’t have anybody,” she said when accepting the Champion Award. “I’m grateful to be honored today because there’s so many songwriters in here that literally made me.”
Tay Keith won his third award for Producer of the Year for songs including Drake‘s “First Person Shooter” featuring J. Cole and “SkeeYee” by Sexyy Red. Metro Boomin and RIOTUSA were among the top producers, while Universal Music Publishing earned BMI’s R&B/Hip-Hop Publisher of the Year for having 21 of the most-performed songs in 2023, including “Kill Bill,” “Snooze” and Doja Cat‘s “Paint the Town Red.”
The highest award of the night, the BMI Icon, went to Babyface, following tributes from Mac Royals, Tamar Braxton and Mario, who respectively performed Johnny Gill‘s “My My My,” Karyn White‘s “Superwoman,” and Boyz II Men‘s “I’ll Make Love to You” and Tevin Campbell‘s “Can We Talk.”
“I only know that I got here because I love music, and it was the one pure thing that I knew that I could do, and I did it with all my heart. If you do it from the heart, that’s the main thing that keeps you going,” said Babyface, who then performed “Whip Appeal.”
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