Drake was joined on stage by his young son Adonis as he was crowned Artist of the Decade at the Billboard Music Awards.
The “God’s Plan” hitmaker was honored during the masked ceremony at Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theater on Sunday, May 23, 2021, and made a rare public appearance with his 3-year-old boy — whom he has with artist Sophie Brussaux — on stage.
Adonis — who wore a red flannel shirt — hugged his father’s leg on stage and had a little cry as he gave his acceptance speech.
The 34-year-old star admitted that he’s not good at receiving compliments and is “really self-conscious” of his music and will often doubt his work.
He said: “I’m really bad at taking compliments.
“I’m really self-conscious about my music, and even if I do a good job I always wonder how I could have done it better.
“I rarely celebrate anything, and just for anyone watching this wondering how this happened, that’s really the answer — it’s being so unsure of how you’re getting it done you kind of keep going in the hopes of figuring out the formula.
“Feeling so lucky and blessed that the fear of losing it keeps you up at night.
“I know I’ve spent an incalculable amount of hours trying to analyze all the things I did wrong, but tonight for once I’m sure as hell we did something right.”
ARTIST. OF. THE DECADE. 🏆 #DrakeDecade #BBMAs@Drake pic.twitter.com/fgMFt1OpIZ
— Billboard Music Awards (@BBMAs) May 24, 2021
Drake — who has sold more than 170 million records worldwide and holds several Billboard chart records, including the most top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 and the most charted songs of any artist ever on the Billboard Hot 100 — also dedicated his win to his loved ones and collaborators.
He said: “I wanna dedicate this award to my friends, to my long-time collaborators … to my beautiful family, and to you.”
The Toronto-born star also took home the prize for Top Streaming Songs Artist.
