R. Kelly nearly swept the fourth annual Billboard-AURN R&B/Hip-Hop Awards, winning seven out of the eight categories in which he was a finalist Friday night.
Top honors also went to Beyoncé and OutKast.
Kelly took home awards for top songwriter, producer, artist, singles artist, male artist, singles and singles airplay for “Step in the Name of Love.” The only award for which he was nominated and did not win was top albums artist, which went to Southern hip-hop duo OutKast.
OutKast won three other awards — top artist duo or group, album and rap album, for “Speakerboxxx/The Love Below.”
Beyoncé was named both top female artist and new artist.
Billboard also honored legendary R&B/soul artist Isaac Hayes and socially conscious hip-hop artist KRS-One with its third annual Founders Awards, given to artists for their achievements and influence in the R&B and hip-hop genres.
The awards are determined by sales and radio airplay data that informs Billboard’s weekly charts.