Sunday's BET Awards were barely about the trophies as performances stole the night.
Don Cheadle dedicated the night to the ailing Nelson Mandela.
Janelle Monae wrapped up with a top-notch performance of QUEEN alongside Erykah Badu. It was one of the night's best performances, which also featured Ciara, Miguel and Justin Timberlake with Charlie Wilson.
Timberlake took a back seat to the soul singer, joining Wilson onstage for a medley of his solo and Gap Band hits.
Stevie Wonder, Jamie Foxx, Pharrell, Snoop Dogg and India.Arie were also part of the tribute to the 60-year-old Wilson, who earned the lifetime achievement award.
"Charlie Wilson is soul music. His impact colours the work of many artists, which is basically my nice way of saying I and a lot of other artists have stolen from him," Timberlake said when presenting Wilson the award.
Wilson's lively stage presence was arguably the night's top moment, though others were on fire.
Ciara echoed Janet Jackson when she danced and sang her R&B hit Body Party. Badu sang with Monae and Kendrick Lamar, who also performed with 2 Chainz. Miguel sang alone, and with Mariah Carey and J Cole, while Nicki Minaj performed with Ciara and Chris Brown. Pharrell helped out Wilson and Robin Thicke, who sang his current No 1 hit, Blurred Lines.
Drake, who didn't attend the awards show, led with 12 nominations, though he won Viewer's Choice.
Lamar tied Drake with three wins, taking home Best New Artist, Best Male Hip-hop Artist and Best Collaboration.
Minaj and Brown picked up their fourth consecutive wins for Best Female Hip-hop Artist and the Fandemonium Award, respectively.
Carey was angelic as she belted - or lip synched - her latest hit, #Beautiful, and an excited R Kelly sang snippets of a dozen of his hits.
Rihanna won Best Female R&B Pop Artist and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis won Best Group.
The night's host, Chris Tucker, sang and danced, too - in tribute to Michael Jackson.
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