Jill Scott, Samara Cyn, Destin Conrad and more were also on hand to accept their awards.
Billboard hosted its 2026 R&B Hip-Hop Power Players event in NYC on Wednesday (Sept. 9). Rap and R&B royalty graced SoHo House as artists, managers, executives, publicists and industry mainstays mingled throughout the night.
The Roots were inducted into the Billboard Hip-Hop Hall of Fame, while Jill Scott was honored with the R&B Hall of Fame award. In addition to honoring the past and giving Ms. Scott and The Roots their flowers, Billboard looked toward the future with a trio of emerging artists.
Samara Cyn accepted the honor for Billboard‘s 2026 Hip-Hop Rising Star, while Destin Conrad was named the 2026 R&B Rising Star and Skippa took home the first-ever Caribbean Rising Star award.
All three artists will be hitting the stage at Billboard‘s R&B Hip-Hop Live 2026 concert on Thursday (Sept. 10) at Brooklyn Steel, which will also feature performances from Lucky Daye, Yung Miami and kwn.
