Cardi B's 'Safe' Featuring Kehlani Wins Best Hip-Hop at the 2026 MTV VMAs

Cardi B's fifth VMA

Cardi B's "Safe" featuring Kehlani won the Best Hip-Hop award at the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards, marking her fifth career VMA. The ARRAD-directed visual from her 2025 sophomore album *Am I the Drama?* beat entries from Don Toliver ("E85"), Drake ("Janice STFU"), Megan Thee Stallion ("Lover Girl"), Travis Scott ("Dumbo") and Tyler, The Creator ("Sugar on My Tongue"). The track previously helped *Am I the Drama?* win Best Hip-Hop Album at the 2026 American Music Awards, and the album has been certified three times platinum.

Snoop Dogg's hometown hosting run

Snoop Dogg hosted the ceremony, held Sunday at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, the VMAs' first Los Angeles appearance since 2017. He framed the night as a homecoming and told the audience, "Having this show hosted by me, in my city, means two things: one, tonight is going to be the biggest party the VMAs has ever seen." Snoop also said the MTV stage had shaped his career: "MTV and the VMAs have been part of my story since the beginning. Some of the biggest moments of my career happened on that stage and on MTV – they gave hip hop a place to be loud, fearless and seen by the whole world."

Hip-Hop voices across the broadcast

Rap figures were prominent beyond Cardi B's win. Gunna joined Shaboozey for "High Noon" after Shaboozey opened with "Cowgirl," while Yung Lean performed "STORM II" with GENER8ION. Public Enemy's Chuck D introduced Nirvana for the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award alongside Flavor Flav. "I don't think there's ever been a band exactly like Nirvana," Chuck D said before the band came out. Survivor Krist Novoselic tied the moment to a cross-genral ethic: "Nirvana continues to resonate so deeply because people are still hungry for authenticity. Or something real, something uncompromising, something that tells you it's OK to come as you are. Kurt would have loved that legacy." Teyana Taylor appeared as a presenter, and French Montana, Moneybagg Yo and Gunna were visible around the venue.

Cardi B's next project

Speaking earlier this month on *The Breakfast Club* with Charlamagne Tha God, Jess Hilarious, DJ Envy and Loren LoRosa, Cardi B said her next album is targeted for next year. "I am doing a new album, and after my birthday in November, I am shipping myself away just to record," she said, adding she had already completed two songs. "I just got this confidence," she continued. "I got a new attitude. I'm ready." Her 2025 *Am I the Drama?* tour grossed over $70 million across 35 shows.