BET Hip Hop Awards 2022: Kendrick Lamar Is Competing Against His Cousin Baby Keem in 1 Category
The 2022 BET Hip Hop Awards will honor some of the best and brightest in the world of hip-hop today. Kendrick Lamar, who has been honored by BET several times throughout his career, is nominated for eight awards at the 2022 ceremony. And in one category, he’ll be competing against his cousin Baby Keem — and even himself.
Kendrick Lamar has won 19 BET Hip Hop Awards
Kendrick Lamar was first nominated at the BET Hip Hop Awards back in 2011 for Best Mixtape for Section.80. He won his first BET Hip Hop Award in 2012 for Lyricist of the Year, and took home the Lyricist of the Year award six more times in a row from 2013 to 2018.
Lamar has also taken home other BET Hip Hop Awards over the years, including Album of the Year for good kid, m.A.A.d. city and Damn, Best Live Performer, Best Hip Hop Video for “Alright” and “Humble,” and Best Collaboration for his A$AP Rocky, Drake, and 2 Chainz collab “F***in’ Problems.”
In total, Lamar has won 19 BET Hip Hop Awards over the past decade.
He’s going against Baby Keem (and himself) at the 2022 BET Hip Hop Awards
Lamar is poised to take home a few more trophies at the 2022 BET Hip Hop Awards. He’s nominated in eight categories: Best Hip Hop Video, Best Collaboration, Impact Track, Lyricist of the Year, Hip Hop Artist of the Year, Hip Hop Album of the Year, and Video Director of the Year. His collaboration with his cousin Baby Keem, “Family Ties,” is up for Best Hip Hop Video, Best Collaboration, and Impact Track.
In the Impact Track category, Lamar is nominated twice: as a soloist for his single “The Heart Part 5” and for his Baby Keem collab “Family Ties.” It wouldn’t be surprising to see Lamar take home the award, given his good history with the category and the fact that he comprises two of the seven songs nominated.
Baby Keem is nominated for 6 BET Hip Hop Awards
Baby Keem, who released his debut album The Melodic Blue in 2021, is nominated for six BET Hip Hop Awards this year himself, three of those being with his cousin for “Family Ties.” Keem is also up for Breakthrough Hip Hop Artist, Lyricist of the Year, and Producer of the Year.
Despite their family connection, neither Keem nor Kendrick talk much about their relationship. Keem admitted in a June 2021 interview with Apple Music that he sometimes goes to his cousin for advice.
“Whenever I need anything regarding, like, life, and if I need some wisdom, then that’s who I go to,” Keem said. “That’s one of the first people I look towards.”
In a May 2021 episode of The Rap Pack, Keem explained that he and Lamar connected as adults because of a personal tragedy.
“It was an unfortunate situation that happened in my family, and then I guess we kind of just connected through that,” he said.
Keem also kept his budding music career on the down-low for a while before he knew it was what he wanted to pursue. “He didn’t really know until later later,” he said. “We just got cool on, like, that aspect first. On a regular aspect. He didn’t know I made music for a while. He was like, ‘What do you wanna do?’ I was just like, ‘I just wanna go to college bro.’ … I wasn’t even 100 percent sure I was even good at music.”
