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Before the award show frenzy this past weekend fully catapulted, the 2014 BMI Awards, which specializes in saluting the top Hip-Hop and R&B talent annually, was in full effect.

Broadcast Music, Inc.®, (BMI®), the global leader in music rights management, presented the BMI President’s Award to Christopher “Ludacris” Bridges at the 2014 BMI R&B/Hip-Hop Awards, held at the Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles on August 22. The star-studded event celebrates the songwriters, producers and publishers of the most-performed R&B/hip-hop songs of the previous year.

Ludacris was honored for his outstanding achievement in songwriting and his profound global influence on culture and the entertainment industry. As the 2014 President’s Award recipient, Ludacris joins an elite list of previous honorees that includes will.i.am, Adam Levine, Carlos Vives, Taylor Swift and Pitbull.

The night’s top honoree got the crowd moving with a medley of his greatest hits including “Fantasy,” “How Low Can You Go,” “Southern Hospitality,” “Area Codes,” and “Yeah,” joined by special guest Mystikal.

The evening also featured a slew of performances: rapper TeeFlii and DJ Goofy delivered “24 Hours”; Tamar Braxton offered “Love and War”; and a special set by DJ Mustard and YG.

Additional top honors were presented at the awards ceremony: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ “Can’t Hold Us” earned the Song of the Year prize; Lil Wayne was crowned the Songwriter of the Year for penning hits “Ball,” “Bandz A Make Her Dance,” “Beware,” “Love Me,” “No Worries,” and “Pop That.” DJ Mustard won the coveted Producer of the Year award and Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp. accepted the prestigious Publisher of the Year crystal for having 14 of the most-performed songs from the previous year.

Warner/Chappell Music (WCM), the music publishing arm of Warner Music Group, was named Publisher of the Year at last night’s BMI R&B/Hip-Hop Awards. In addition, WCM songwriters took home a collective 19 Most Performed Song of the Year Awards, eight of which went to Dwayne Carter AKA Lil Wayne, who was named Songwriter of the Year.

“To win Publisher of the Year at the BMI R&B/Hip-Hop Awards is an enormous accomplishment for WCM, and we couldn’t be more proud of our incredibly talented songwriters. I’d also like to thank our dedicated team for their tireless hard work, and BMI for this wonderful recognition,” said Jon Platt, President, North America, Warner/Chappell Music. “We are all humbled by what we’ve achieved together in the past couple of years. It’s been amazing to be part of our songwriters’ extraordinary creativity and success.”

Take a look at some of the top photos from Chris Brown, Faith Evans, Future and more in the gallery below.

Photos: Getty Images, FayesVision/WENN.com

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