Kendrick Lamar leads BET Awards nominations with 10; Drake, The Weeknd score nods

The Associated Press

· Posted: May 08, 2025 1:59 PM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

Kendrick Lamar extends his ascendant philharmonic reign, entering adjacent month's BET Awards arsenic the starring nominee, with Canadian stars Drake and The Weeknd racking up six and 4 nominations respectively. 

Lamar earned 10 nominations Thursday, including an medium of the twelvemonth for his highly acclaimed task GNX, the web announced. The rap superstar's ubiquitous diss way Not Like Us, emanating from his feud with Drake, received nominations for video of the twelvemonth and viewer's prime award.

One of Drake's shots astatine Lamar successful the infamous feud is besides up for a nomination, with diss way Family Matters up for video of the year.    

Drake volition look disconnected with Lamar successful champion antheral hip-hop artist, viewer's prime grant for Nokia, and medium of year, wherever helium is nominated with PartyNextDoor for $ome $exy $ongs 4 U. He is besides up for champion radical with PartyNextDoor, and champion antheral R&B/pop artist. 

The Weeknd scored an medium of the twelvemonth motion for Hurry Up Tomorrow, arsenic good arsenic nominations for champion antheral R&B/pop artist, video of the twelvemonth and champion collaboration with Playboi Carti. 

Lamar made waves with his Grammy triumph, winning opus and grounds of the twelvemonth for Not Like Us. He followed up with a groundbreaking halftime show, becoming the archetypal solo hip-hop performer to header the coveted slot. He is presently connected the Grand National Tour with SZA.

Doechii, Drake, Future and GloRilla tied for the second-most nominations with six. Metro Boomin pulled successful 5 nods, portion SZA and The Weeknd each scored four.

Tributes expected for 25th anniversary

The awards volition aerial unrecorded connected June 9 from the Peacock Theater successful Los Angeles astatine 8 p.m. ET. 

Kevin Hart is expected to bring the comic arsenic big of the awards show, celebrating its 25th anniversary.    

The comedian-actor, who hosted the BET Awards successful 2011, said successful a connection that this year's ceremonial was a "chance to reflect, cherish and honour life's unforgettable moments."

The BET Awards volition connection tributes to erstwhile fashionable hosts and performances, including the network's once-flagship programme 106 & Park. 

The weekday amusement launched successful 2000 and lasted for much than a decennary earlier it went off-air successful 2014.

"106 & Park was much than conscionable a euphony countdown show; it was the heartbeat of Black younker civilization and 1 of the highest-rated BET programs for implicit a decade," said Scott Mills, BET's president and CEO.

The amusement thrived with a video countdown, interviews and performances.

"From Freestyle Friday to unforgettable unrecorded performances, it launched careers, influenced fashion and became a level wherever voices, style and dependable converged," Mills said. "106 & Park both celebrated and fuelled galore of the astir important philharmonic and civilization evolutions that occurred during its … tenure."

The amusement volition reunite past hosts A.J. Calloway, Free, Julissa Bermudez, Keshia Chante, Rocsi Diaz and Terrence J. The tribute volition diagnostic performers specified arsenic Bow Wow, Amerie, B2K, Jim Jones, Mya and T.I.   

Outside of the euphony categories, there's a competitory database of top-notch actors looking to instrumentality location the apical grant successful their category.   

For champion actor, the class includes: Aaron Pierre; Aldis Hodge; Anthony Mackie; Colman Domingo; Denzel Washington; Jamie Foxx; Joey Bada$$; Kevin Hart; Sterling K. Brown and Will Smith.   

For champion actress, the nominees include: Andra Day; Angela Bassett; Coco Jones; Cynthia Erivo; Keke Palmer; Kerry Washington; Quinta Brunson; Viola Davis and Zendaya.

Stephen Curry, Lebron James, Simone Biles, Angel Reese and Jalen Hurts are among the sports stars competing for awards.