Here Are the Performers for the 2024 BET Awards

UPDATE (June 24):Will Smith has been added as a performer at the 2024 BET Awards, which will air live from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday, June 30 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

Smith is set to debut a new original song on the show. BET touts Smith’s performance as an “exclusive” and “a major addition to Culture’s Biggest Night.”

Smith, 55, has a long history with the BET Awards. He and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, hosted the show in 2005. Smith is also a three-time BET winner for best actor – for Ali (2001), Hancock/Seven Pounds (a dual entry in 2009) and King Richard (2022).

“From his start as a rapper to The Fresh Prince to being a box office king as one of the Bad Boys, Will Smith is truly a global icon, and we are honored to welcome him back to grace the BET Awards stage,” Connie Orlando, EVP specials, music programming & music strategy at BET, said in a statement. “We look forward to Will adding to yet another defining night for the culture that is not to be missed.”

PREVIOUSLY (June 13): Ms. Lauryn Hill & YG Marley, Ice Spice and Tyla have been added as performers for the 2024 BET Awards, which will air live from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday, June 30, at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

They join previously announced performers GloRilla, Latto, Muni Long, Sexyy Red, Shaboozey and Victoria Monét. Additionally, Tanner Adell, who guested on a new version of The Beatles’ “Blackbird” on Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter, will perform on the BET Amplified stage. Taraji P. Henson will host the show for the third time. Usher is set to receive the lifetime achievement award. He also has four nominations.

Most of these performers have had stellar years. Usher headlined the Super Bowl halftime show in February, which set a new ratings record. Hill’s 1998 classic The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill was voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and also topped Apple Music’s list of the best albums of all time.

Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” conquered multiple charts. Billboard’s charts team reports this week that “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” is the first song to be rising in the top 25 simultaneously on the Country Airplay, Pop Airplay, Adult Pop Airplay and Rhythmic Airplay charts — which have coexisted for 28 years.

Monét won three Grammys in February, including best new artist. Tyla was the inaugural winner in the new best African music performance category for “Water,” which was a top 10 hit on the Hot 100. Ice Spice didn’t win a Grammy, but she went into the ceremony with an impressive four nominations.

GloRilla has two songs in the top 10 on this week’s Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs chart — “Yeah Glo!” and her “Wanna Be” collab with Megan Thee Stallion. Sexxy Red has one song (“Get It Sexyy”) in the top 10 and another, a collab with Drake (“U My Everything”), in the top 20. Muni Long is also in the top 20 with her soulful ballad “Made for Me.”

If these artists perform these hits on the show, it could not only give the hits a boost, but the records’ Grammy chances, because the audience will likely include Grammy voters who are starting to think of their Grammy choices. (The Grammys’ online entry period runs from July 17 to Aug. 31.)

Henson previously hosted the BET Awards in 2021 and 2022. The Oscar-nominated actress (for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) is one of only two performers to host the show three times (the other being Mo’Nique, who won an Oscar for Precious).

Drake leads the 2024 BET Awards nominations with seven nods, followed by Nicki Minaj with six; J. Cole, Sexyy Red, SZA, Monét and Beyoncé with five each; and 21 Savage, Doja Cat, Megan Thee Stallion, Tyla and Usher with four each.

Voting for the 2024 Viewer’s Choice Award began last week and ends June 30 (at 9:30 p.m. ET/6:30 p.m. PT). Nominees in that category are Doja Cat’s “Agora Hills,” Lil Durk’s “All My Life” (featuring J. Cole), Gunna’s “Fukumean,” Jack Harlow’s “Lovin on Me,” Long’s “Made for Me,” Monét’s “On My Mama,” Drake’s “Rich Baby Daddy” (featuring Sexyy Red & SZA), Chris Brown’s “Sensational (featuring Davido & Lojay), Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ‘Em” and Tyla’s “Water.”

Connie Orlando, BET’s EVP specials, music programming & music strategy,will oversee and executive produce the annual show. Jamal Noisette, SVP, tentpoles & music community engagement, will co-executive produce for BET. Jesse Collins Entertainment is the production company for the show, with Jesse Collins, Dionne Harmon, and Jeannae Rouzan-Clay also serving as executive producers.

Here are the performers for the 2024 BET Awards. (Additional performers may be added. In that event, this list will be updated.)

2024 BET Awards Performers

Ms. Lauryn Hill & YG Marley

Ice Spice

Tyla

GloRilla

Latto

Muni Long

Sexyy Red

Shaboozey

Will Smith

Victoria Monét

Tanner Adell (BET Amplified stage)

This article was originally published by Billboard U.S.