Cardi B delivers passionate speech while receiving Billboard's 2020 Woman of the Year award
The 15th Annual Billboard Women In Music show was held on Thursday as a virtual event.
Hosted by Teyana Taylor, Cardi B received the night's biggest honor -- woman of the year. Breonna Taylor's mother, Tamika Palmer, presented the rapper with the award.
"One of Breonna's most outspoken advocates over the last nine months has been Cardi B," Palmer said, while introducing the award. "From the start, Cardi has used her platform to spread the truth about what happened to Breonna and to reaffirm that Black women's lives matter. Cardi B's impact reaches far beyond music."
Cardi began her speech by expressing her surprise that "WAP" -- her collaboration with Megan Thee Stallion -- ticked off "a bunch of Republicans for no reason."
"Not only was it an amazing song that broke so many records, but it was just a conversation that I never thought was going to be so big," she shared.
She then delivered an encouraging message saying girls can make their dreams come true with ambition and hard work. "I want to say thank you, everybody, and I want to say to all the girls out there that are just like me -- or just regular girls -- when I came into the music industry, I didn't know if these people were going to accept me," she said.
"Throughout the years, if you listen to my mixtapes and if you listen to my music now, I have progressed because I wanted to progress," she continued. "I want to be the best I can at anything I do and, you know, you got to put your mind to it."
Dua Lipa performed her song "Boys Will Be Boys," a record that details the growing pains of being a girl.
Following her performance, the English singer-songwriter was presented with the Powerhouse award from Sen. Bernie Sanders.
During her acceptance speech, Dua Lipa stressed the importance of gender equality, saying "how far we still have to go" as women in the music industry.
Jennifer Lopez showed nothing but gratitude after her "Marry Me" co-star Maluma presented her with the Icon award.
Chloe X Halle was honored as a rising star after Beyoncé praised the sister group. After a speech in which the duo promised to continue to "blaze a trail" for women and "help pull up our sisters," they performed their song "Baby Girl."
Miley Cyrus also popped in for an appearance to introduce her godmother and country legend Dolly Parton with the Hitmaker award.
