Latifah also paid homage to her fellow female hip-hop artists and their influence on the genre, declaring: “All of these queens in this building, we built hip-hop. We built hip-hop. And there’s no way that I can allow us to be erased from the history or the future of hip-hop.”

Earlier in the evening, Alicia Garza, co-founder of Black Lives Matter, opened the ceremony with a sentiment which echoed Latifah's, saying: "[The Black Lives Matter] movement is grounded in black peoples' dignity, justice and freedom. It's about love, not violence."

Fellow music stars including Beyoncé have also made public calls for peace following the recent shootings. Earlier, Beyoncé posted a short video to Instagram with the names of the five police officers killed in Dallas, Texas, at a Black Lives Matter protest.

In the caption, she wrote a tribute which concluded: "Every human being has the right to gather in peaceful protest without suffering more unnecessary violence. To effect change we must show love in the face of hate and peace in the face of violence."

Queen Latifah says racism is “still alive and kicking” as she calls for positive change in wake of US shootings