Lauryn Hill Receives Inaugural Living Legend Icon Award at BET Awards 2026

The BET Awards introduced a new honor in 2026: the Living Legend Icon Award, and placed it directly in the hands of Lauryn Hill. The ceremony dedicated an extended tribute to Hill’s body of work, enlisting a generational cross-section of performers to revisit songs from The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, The Score, and beyond.

SZA and Doechii opened with a take on the Fugees’ “Ready or Not,” while Tierra Whack and Tems reconfigured “Fu-Gee-La.” Doja Cat pulled double duty, performing “Superstar” solo before duetting “If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)” with Nas. The War & Treaty, featuring Tanya Trotter—who sang with Hill in Sister Act 2—delivered “His Eye Is on the Sparrow.” Sets from Lizzo, YG Marley, Selah, Rapsody, Zion Marley, and Alexia Jayy built toward a final “Lost Ones” by Queen Latifah and Common.

After a break, Hill returned unannounced. “I wasn’t even supposed to perform, but I heard somebody wasn’t doing this song,” she said, before leading her backing band through “Ex-Factor.”

Ice Cube presented the trophy, lingering on Hill’s wider cultural footprint. In her speech, Hill traced the impulse behind her work: “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.”

The tribute arrives months after Hill’s rare televised appearance at the 2026 Grammys, where she honored D’Angelo and Roberta Flack with a medley alongside Chaka Khan, John Legend, Wyclef Jean, and Leon Bridges.