Lauryn Hill Tribute at BET Awards 2026 Is the Most Joyful Thing

Jun 29, 2026 - 07:15

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Lauryn Hill Tribute at BET Awards 2026 Is the Most Joyful Thing

Lauryn Hill, 51, was honored with the Living Legend Icon Award by three of her kids, Ice Cube, Queen Latifah, Doechii, Doja Cat, Lizzo & more at the 2026 BET Awards June 28 at L.A.'s Peacock Theater.

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Just how joyful, joyful were the feelings in the room when Lauryn Hill was honored at the 2026 BET Awards?

Queen Latifah, Common, Doechii, Doja Cat, SZA, Lizzo and more teamed up for a special medley—which started with a moving take on the spirited climax of Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit, which signaled in 1993 that Hill was a luminous talent to watch before she broke out as a premiere hip-hop artist with The Fugees—ahead of the 51-year-old being presented with the Living Legend Icon Award at the June 28 ceremony that took place at Los Angeles' Peacock Theater.

And just when you thought the tribute couldn't get any more buoyant and emotional, her sons Zion Marley—as in her ode "To Zion" off of her groundbreaking 1998 solo album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill—and YG Marley, as well as daughter Selah, joined the celebration onstage. (Zion is the eldest of the five children Hill shares with ex Rohan Marley.)

While The Fugees only released two albums, one of them was the smash hit 1996 LP The Score, featuring their oh-so-memorable cover of Robert Flack's "Killing Me Softly With His Song," featuring Hill's velvety vocals.

And then she may have only put out that one solo LP, but the aftershocks are still rippling across the culture to this day from the groundbreaking effort that was The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, the first (and still only first of two) hip-hop release to win the Grammy for Album of the Year.

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Hill continued, "But also, I have always cared about the expression of and the representation of the dignity of our people."

Noting that sometimes artists are put in places to say things that "aren't always comfortable," she added, "we understand that people will understand later."

See all the stars who came out to experience this and so much more at the 2026 BET Awards:

Hill continued, "But also, I have always cared about the expression of and the representation of the dignity of our people."

Noting that sometimes artists are put in places to say things that "aren't always comfortable," she added, "we understand that people will understand later."

See all the stars who came out to experience this and so much more at the 2026 BET Awards:

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Queen Latifah

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Janet Jackson

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Teyana Taylor

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Jamie Foxx

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Kehlani

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