On Monday (Feb. 19), the victor of the People’s Champ Award was announced as a result of fan’s votes. Nicki Minaj was one of 20 artists nominated this year including Drake, Playboi Carti, Yeat, Megan Thee Stallion, Lil Durk and Kid Cudi, among others. Nicki Minaj being crowned as The People’s Champ may not come as a surprise considering the dedicated fan base she has. As the only fan-voted category for the XXL Awards, Nicki’s Barbz made sure she came out on top.

YoungBoy Never Broke Again was deemed The People’s Champ in 2023. The rapper was coming off a prolific 2022 when it came to dropping new music. That year, YB dropped off eight full-length projects, with two of his tapes, Colors and The Last Slimeto, being certified gold for 500,000 copies sold.

While Nicki Minaj was voted in by the people, other XXL Award winners were carefully selected by XXL‘s esteemed Awards Board. The other awards announced include Artist of the Year, Male Rapper of the Year, Performer of the Year, Video of the Year, Song of the Year, Lyricist of the Year, Female Rapper of the Year, Best New Artist of the Year, Producer of the Year and Hip-Hop’s Humanitarian of the Year.

The XXL Awards Board is comprised of over 200 music executives, industry insiders, DJs, publicists, managers, tastemakers and rappers themselves. Some of the biggest board members include Derrick Arroh, Theola Borden, Shari Bryant, Wayne “Wayno” Clark, Charlamagne Tha God, Tariq Cherif, Tina Davis and Amir “Cash” Esmailian and artists like Eminem, 50 Cent, Future, 2 Chainz, Jadakiss and dozens of others.