Last night, BMI paid tribute to the best in R&B and Hip-Hop at its 2025 R&B/Hip-Hop Awards held at Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles, CA. T-Pain received the BMI President’s Award, the evening’s highest honor, and GloRilla was presented with the BMI Impact Award. She was also named BMI’s R&B/Hip-Hop Songwriter of the Year in a three-way tie along with Tay Keith and Mike Dean. BMI’s R&B/Hip-Hop Song of the Year, Producer of the Year, Top Producers, Publisher of the Year and BMI’s 35 Most-Performed R&B/Hip-Hop Songs in the U.S. of the previous year were also announced. The private event was hosted by BMI’s EVP and Chief Revenue & Creative Officer Mike Steinberg and BMI’s Vice President, Creative, Atlanta, Catherine Brewton.

The evening featured high-energy performances from BigXthaPlug, who kicked things off with “The Largest,” and his BMI Award-winning song “Mmhmm,” followed by BossMan Dlow, who hyped the crowd with “Mr Pot Scraper” and his BMI Award-winning song “Get In With Me.” Additional performances included a Know Them Now segment designed to uplift and highlight emerging songwriters and artists in R&B/Hip-Hop. Eli Derby gave a soulful performance of “Cadillac Dream,” TA Thomas performed “Preach,” and Lekan sang “Always.”

Since joining BMI in 2005, T-Pain has earned 28 BMI Awards, received the BMI Songwriter of the Year Award three times, and was named BMI R&B/Hip-Hop Producer of the Year. While accepting the President’s Award, T-Pain said, “Every journey has a beginning, a middle and an end…. Don’t let anyone dictate your time or how fast you get to the finish line. Let yourself be your own time measurement.” He now adds the President’s Award to his collection of honors which includes several awards and nominations from the GRAMMY Awards, BET Awards, MTV Video Music Awards, The Streamer Awards, Soul Train Awards and more.

T-Pain joins previous President’s Award recipients, including benny blanco, Luis Fonsi, Noel Gallagher, Ellie Goulding, Imagine Dragons, Jay Kay of Jamiroquai, Ludacris, P!nk, Willie Nelson, Pitbull, Taylor Swift, Brian Wilson, and Dwight Yoakam, to name a few.

Earlier in the evening, the BMI Impact Award was presented to GloRilla for “leading the way for female hip-hop artists” and her “inspiring talent and vision that is influencing the future of music.” Upon receiving the honor, GloRilla encouraged up and coming artists to “keep your foot on the gas,” and while pointing to her award, shared, “don’t let anyone tell y’all what you can’t do because a lot of people told me what I can’t do.”

Since joining BMI in 2019, GloRilla has earned five BMI Awards and multiple GRAMMY® nominations. She also received several nominations and awards from the BET Awards, BET Hip-Hop Awards, Billboard Music Awards, iHeartRadio Music Awards, MTV Video Music Awards, and more, and was named the “Hottest Female Rapper of 2024” by Billboard. Earlier this year she was recognized with the Powerhouse Award at Billboard Women in Music in honor of her incredible year where she cemented her status as one of the premier rappers of today.

In receiving this honor, GloRilla joins previous BMI Impact Award recipients, Tito Double P, Ice Spice, Edgar Barrera, Arlo Parks, RAYE, P2J and Tems, among others.

GloRilla also shared the title of BMI’s R&B/Hip-Hop Songwriter of the Year along with Mike Dean and Tay Keith for each co-writing three of the 35 Most-Performed Songs of the Year. GloRilla for co-writing “TGIF,” “Wanna Be,” and “Yeah Glo!;” Dean for his work on “One Of The Girls,” “Popular” and “Type Shit;” and Tay Keith for “First Person Shooter,” “Get It Sexyy” and “MELTDOWN.” Tay Keith was previously named BMI’s R&B/Hip-Hop Songwriter of the Year in 2018 and received Producer of the Year in 2019, 2023 and 2024, and Dean was a co-writer of BMI’s 2011 R&B/Hip-Hop Song of the Year, “Super Bass.”

Over the course of the ceremony, BMI recognized the top producers and songwriters of the previous year’s 35 Most-Performed R&B/Hip-Hop Songs in the U.S., leading up to the prestigious Song of the Year, which went to “Not Like Us,” performed and written by Kendrick Lamar along with the late Ray Charles, Sean Momberger and Sounwave. The massively successful track debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 in May 2024 and spent 53 consecutive weeks on the chart, becoming the longest-charting rap song in the chart’s history.

Multiple GRAMMY-winning hitmaker Sounwave was named BMI’s R&B/Hip-Hop Producer of the Year for the breadth of his work, including with longtime collaborator Kendrick Lamar on hits such as “Euphoria,” “6:16 in LA,” and the BMI R&B/Hip-Hop Song of the Year “Not Like Us.” He also has producing credits on Taylor Swift’s Lover and Midnights and Beyonce’s The Lion King: The Gift and Cowboy Carter, among others. Additionally, Carter Lang, Metro Boomin, Sean Momberger and MTech were also named top producers during the ceremony.

Sony Music Publishing was named BMI’s R&B/Hip-Hop Publisher of the Year for representing 23 of the previous year’s most-performed songs, including “Agora Hills,” “Not Like Us,” “MILLION DOLLAR BABY,” “Mmhmm,” “On My Mama,” and “Saturn,” to name a few.