Kendrick Lamar takes top honour at BET Hip-Hop Awards

Kendrick Lamar is celebrating again after winning his fifth consecutive Lyricist of the Year title at the 2016 BET Hip-Hop Awards on Saturday night (17Sep16).

The Alright hitmaker beat out the likes of Chance the Rapper, J. Cole, Drake and Kanye West for the honour, which he has won every year since 2012.

Other winners at the Atlanta, Georgia prizegiving included Fat Joe and Remy Ma, whose All the Way Up hit was named Track of the Year, DJ Khaled, who also hosted the event, was presented with Hustler of the Year, and Chance the Rapper won Best New Hip-Hop Artist.

Lamar was also on stage to present his friend and mentor Snoop Dogg with the I Am Hip-Hop honour, noting the veteran rapper "paved a way into many hearts," and is considered a "god" to many MCs.

Meanwhile, the event featured politically-charged appearances by the likes of T.I., who performed We Will Not, a song he was inspired to write in the wake of the numerous deaths of African-Americans at the hands of police officers. He was joined onstage by people sporting dark clothes, holding up "Black Lives Matter" signs.

Other stars who took the stage included Desiigner, DJ Khaled, and the recently incarcerated rapper Gucci Mane, who was released in May (16) following nearly two years behind bars.

For the third consecutive year, Drake led the nominations with an impressive 14 nods, but the entire list of winners will not be revealed until the show airs on the BET network on 4 October (16).