During Migos’ performance at last night’s BET Awards, Cardi B announced her second pregnancy with Offset, her husband of three years, with whom she reunited last fall, one month after the duo filed for divorce. In what might be interpreted as an ode to the cycle of life and rebirth, she trotted out of a giant diamond chrysalis, wearing a jewel-encrusted jumpsuit, to rap her verse of “Type Shit” while visibly pregnant. Not one to let a belly get in her way, she managed to drop into a squat not once but twice, proving there are truly no limits to what the female body can do. The evening was rife with nods to Beyoncé, the originator of the awards-show pregnancy reveal (among other things): Zendaya stepped out in a retooled version of the dress Beyoncé wore to perform “Crazy in Love” at the 2003 BET Awards. No wonder Beyoncé rarely shows up to these things—her influence is presence enough.
Cardi wasn’t the only one who had a few tricks up her sleeve. Lil Nas X, fresh off his trip to hell via pole slide, performed “Montero (Call Me by Your Name)” in an ancient Egyptian–themed getup (complete with a cool choreographed homage to Michael Jackson’s aesthetic in “Remember the Time”), making sure to slip in a little makeout sesh with one of his (also shirtless) backup dancers. It was, to put it lightly, sultry.
The show closed out on a more somber note, with an emotional and powerful tribute to DMX, which featured performances by Busta Rhymes, Griselda, Method Man, The Lox, Swizz Beats, and members of the Ruff Ryders. The biggest reveal, though? An a cappella rendition of “Slippin’,” by Michael K. Williams, who may have inadvertently also locked in his next biopic role, thanks to the almost startling way in which he embodied (and resembled) the late rapper.