Samara Cyn Receives 2026 Hip-Hop Rising Star Award, Shares Inspiring Message

Samara Cyn has gone from writing poetry in her Arizona State University dorm to performing on tour across Europe. The artist was honored with Billboard ‘s 2026 Hip-Hop Rising Star award on Wednesday (Sept. 9) at the R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players event in NYC.

Cyn has steadily climbed the ranks as a force in hip-hop’s next generation. She released her versatile Detour EP in March and is already hard at work on another project.

The 27-year-old accepted her first award and made sure to harp on some advice she received from her mother about looking up from the hard work to press pause and enjoy certain moments on her music journey, such as on Wednesday night.

“My mom always tells me, ‘Cyn, just make sure you look up every once in a while because you gon’ miss something,'” she said to the Ludlow House crowd. “And I think this is a really cool moment and reminder for us to really just look up and really feel the moment and live in it.”

Cyn continued: “I think sometimes we just get so caught up in the destination that we forget that the way and the who with is the funnest part. Just remember that your story is never-ending. Make peace with every moment and pop a little bottle every once in a while to celebrate.”

Samara Cyn was joined on stage by R&B Rising Star Destin Conrad and Caribbean Rising Star Skippa, and all three will be performing at Brooklyn Steel on Thursday night (Sept. 10) as part of Billboard ‘s R&B Hip-Hop Live 2026 concert alongside Lucky Daye and Yung Miami.

Watch Samara Cyn’s full speech below.

_Originally reported by [Billboard](https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/samara-cyn-rising-star-billboard-hip-hop-power-players-2026-1236337566/)._