Snoop Dogg
Snoop Dogg and Drake were among the big winners at Saturday's (27Aug11) BMI Urban Awards in Hollywood.
The Gin and Juice hitmaker was celebrated with the BMI Icon prize, which was handed to him by Dr.Dre, who paid homage to the rapper with a special performance at the Pantages Theater.
After accepting the award, Snoop thanked Dre and Death Row Records honcho Marion 'Suge' Knight, telling the crowd, "We built Death Row, we built a sound and you can't take that away.
“And I'm thankful to both of them because wasn't nobody (sic) from Long Beach rapping then. But I can do 20 more years of this; it ain't over yet."
Drake picked up the Songwriter of the Year title, and B.o.B, 22, became the youngest songwriter to be honoured with the Song of the Year crown for his Bruno Mars track Nothin' On You.
Universal Music Publishing Group was awarded the BMI Urban Publisher of the Year, and was honoured by stars including Warren G, Nas, Wiz Khalifa and Akon, who performed a musical tribute to the company.