Sunday's BET Awards ceremony's performances outshined the awards themselves because, while the awards were handed out, the performances lasted all weekend.

According to Los Angeles Times, BET launched its first ever "BET Experience," in the award show's 12-year history. The weekend included concerts headlined by Beyoncé, the Roots, R. Kelly and more. The weekend, hosted at the L.A. Live complex, also included seminars, comedy shows and celebrity panels.

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The weekend brought in tens of thousands of music fans to sold-out shows at the Staples Center and Club Nokia, as well as free shows and events at the JW Marriott Hotel and neighboring parking lots.

The weekend was capped by a three-and-a-half-hour telecast jam packed with performances from Kendrick Lamar, Miguel, Nicki Minaj, Snoop Dogg, Mariah Carey, Robin Thicke and more. Many performers took the stage for others' performances as well as their own.

Charlie Wilson, who received the BET Lifetime Achievement Award, was accompanied by Justin Timberlake, Pharrell and Snoop Dogg for a medley of the soul singer's songs, as well as a shortened version of Pharrell and Snoop Dogg's "Beautiful." Jamie Foxx and Stevie Wonder performed some of WIlson's greatest hits in a tribute performance.

"Charlie Wilson is soul music. His impact colors the work of many artists, which is basically my nice way of saying I and a lot of other artists have stolen from him," Timberlake said when presenting Wilson the award.

Pharrell also helped Robin Thicke perform his hit single "Blurred Lines" along with rapper T.I. Erykah Badu performed with Kendrick Lamar and with Janelle Monae, Lamar also performed with rapper 2 Chainz. Miguel performed alone and later with Carey and rapper J. Cole, Minaj performed with Ciara and with Chris Brown.

As for the awards, Lamar and rapper Drake, who did not attend, won big. Lamar beat Drake for best male hip-hop artist, but Drake's "Started from the Bottom" took home the Video of the Year honors.

"Most importantly to my little home boys and my home girls back in the city, you looking at me on TV right now, I came up in that same county building, food stamps, welfare section eight," Lamar said to L.A.'s Nokia Theater crowd and to his hometown of Compton. "This is living proof that you can do anything you put your mind to."