--- title: Watch Drake Present MTV's Video Vanguard Award to Rihanna description: The rapper lovingly bestowed the Video Vanguard Award upon Rihanna at the end of the Video Music Awards Sunday night with a glowing tribute. canonical: https://time.com/4470251/vmas-2016-drake-rihanna/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-29T04:26:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:35:57.292Z og:title: Watch Drake Present MTV's Video Vanguard Award to Rihanna og:description: The rapper bestowed the award upon Rihanna in a loving tribute to her success. og:url: https://time.com/4470251/vmas-2016-drake-rihanna/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbcdac3b5798c5809/6988a3ee656a3f1b45bcce6a/drake-rihanna-vmas.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3600 og:image:height: 2025 og:image:alt: 2016 MTV Video Music Awards - Show og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch Drake Present MTV's Video Vanguard Award to Rihanna twitter:description: The rapper bestowed the award upon Rihanna in a loving tribute to her success. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbcdac3b5798c5809/6988a3ee656a3f1b45bcce6a/drake-rihanna-vmas.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch Drake Lovingly Present MTV's Video Vanguard Award to Rihanna > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Aug 29, 2016 4:26 AM UTC  NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 28: Drake presents Rihanna with the The Video Vanguard Award during the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards at Madison Square Garden on August 28, 2016 in New York City. NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 28: Drake presents Rihanna with the The Video Vanguard Award during the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards at Madison Square Garden on August 28, 2016 in New York City. Theo Wargo/MTV1617—Getty Images for MTV  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Aug 29, 2016 4:26 AM UTC To close out the [2016 MTV Video Music Awards](http://time.com/4470114/vmas-2016-mtv-winners/), none other than Drake—the “Champagne Papi” himself—ascended the stage to bestow the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award upon Rihanna. Drake, who was late to the awards show [due to traffic](http://time.com/4470053/vmas-2016-mtv-drake-traffic/), luckily made it in time for his big moment with the singer, who performed four different sets over the course of the evening including her career’s biggest hits. He told the story of meeting Rihanna back in 2005 when she was shooting a video for one of her first big songs, “Pon de Replay,” in his hometown of Toronto. Eleven years later, he said, she’s still the same—and has made her mark on the world of music, fashion and video. “She succeeds by doing something that no one in this music industry does, which is being herself,” he said, adding: “She’s someone I’ve been in love with since I was 22 years old.” The crowd whooped at his open adoration, while Rihanna just smiled coyly. For her part, Rihanna chose not to respond to Drake’s sentiments in her own speech, instead making a broader statement. “My success—it started as my dream, but now my success is not my own. It’s my family’s, it’s my fans’, it’s my country’s, it’s the Caribbean’s as a whole, it’s women, it’s black women,” she said. [Britney may](http://time.com/4470107/vmas-2016-britney-spears-make-me/) be back, [but Beyoncé](http://time.com/4470114/vmas-2016-mtv-winners/) and Rihanna stole this show. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4470251/vmas-2016-drake-rihanna/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4470251/vmas-2016-drake-rihanna/"},"headline":"Watch Drake Lovingly Present MTV's Video Vanguard Award to Rihanna","datePublished":"2016-08-29T04:26:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:35:57.292Z","description":"\"She’s someone I've been in love with since I was 22 years old\"","url":"https://time.com/4470251/vmas-2016-drake-rihanna/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","celebrities","Music","VMAs 2016"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbcdac3b5798c5809/6988a3ee656a3f1b45bcce6a/drake-rihanna-vmas.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbcdac3b5798c5809/6988a3ee656a3f1b45bcce6a/drake-rihanna-vmas.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2016 MTV Video Music Awards - Show","caption":"2016 MTV Video Music Awards - Show","creditText":"Theo Wargo/MTV1617—Getty Images for MTV","representativeOfPage":true}],"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":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4470251/vmas-2016-drake-rihanna/","name":"Watch Drake Lovingly Present MTV's Video Vanguard Award to Rihanna"}}]}] ```