Kendrick Lamar kicked off the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards with an excellent performance, and after three hours of mostly garbage, he returned at the end to accept the award for Video Of The Year. Kendrick, director Dave Meyers, and producer Dave Free took the stage to accept the honors on behalf of “HUMBLE.” The trio had received the award for Best Hip-Hop Video earlier in the night. Watch their acceptance speech below, where you can also revisit the “HUMBLE.” video and tonight’s opening performance.

Such a huge night for @kendricklamar! Congrats on winning Video of the Year! #VMAs pic.twitter.com/qKXOr51xWw

— MTV (@MTV) August 28, 2017

Even the VMAs, an awards show at which the awards are a complete afterthought, figured out they should give Kendrick their most prestigious award before the Grammys.