--- description: Sunday night's BET Awards began with an act that wasn't on the schedule — Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar performing "Freedom" title: BET: Watch Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar Destroy 'Freedom' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Watch Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar Destroy 'Freedom' at the BET Awards by [Nash Jenkins](/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 27, 2016 2:26 AM CUT by [Nash Jenkins](/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 27, 2016 2:26 AM CUT Sunday night’s BET Awards began with an act that wasn’t on the schedule — Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar performing “Freedom,” the anthemic track from Beyoncé’s album _Lemonade_. It was an intense, thoroughly choreographed performance, replete with flying sparks and smoke and a stage that looked convincingly like it was made of molten lava. Beyoncé has recently taken to marketing herself as a [political artist of sorts](http://time.com/4211888/beyonce-formation-activism/ "undefined"), and Sunday night’s show wasn’t an exception — it began with a voice-over from Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Watch it [here](http://www.bet.com/video/betawards/2016/performances/beyonce-kendrick-lamar-freedom.html "undefined"). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4383201/beyonce-kendrick-freedom-bet-awards/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4383201/beyonce-kendrick-freedom-bet-awards/"},"headline":"Watch Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar Destroy 'Freedom' at the BET Awards","datePublished":"2016-06-27T02:26:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T22:51:38.258Z","description":"Sparks flew — literally — during the intense surprise performance","url":"https://time.com/4383201/beyonce-kendrick-freedom-bet-awards/","keywords":["Music","Beyonce","Kendrick Lamar"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nash Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4383201/beyonce-kendrick-freedom-bet-awards/","name":"Watch Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar Destroy 'Freedom' at the BET Awards"}}]}] ```