Kendrick Lamar took home the award for Best Male Hip-Hop Artist at tonight's BET Awards. The Compton MC has had a hell of year over the past 12 months, winning his first Grammy Award for "i," releasing his sophomore album, To Pimp A Butterfly (which became his first-ever No. 1 album on the Billboard 200) and generally dominating the conversation in hip-hop of late.

K.Dot also opened the show with an electrifying performance of "Alright" and "King Kunta," rapping on top of a cop car and making a statement with his showpiece that was bigger than just songs on an album. Kendrick beat out the rest of the nominees for the title this year, which included Common, Big Sean, J. Cole, Wale and last year's winner Drake, all of whom dropped big albums of their own in the past 12 months. This is Kendrick's second win in the category after taking home the honor in 2013 as well. In fact, he and Drake have traded the award back and forth ever since Drizzy's victory in 2012, which was his second in the category. Nicki Minaj, predictably, took home the Best Female Hip-Hop Artist honor for the sixth year running.

Congrats to Kendrick! Check out the full hip-hop winners list right here and all of the performances right here.

More From XXL