The B.E.T. Awards are my personal happy holidays. It really is like Christmas, all my favorites dressed-up fresh, strutting down the red carpet to sit in neat rows and bob their heads between commercial breaks. Street jangle: Mad respect, ya’ll.
Performances: It creates a crack in my heart to say that Usher’s opening to the show was not very memorable even while he was doing flips, tossing females around and footwork on a conveyer belt. Luckily, Young Jeezy got the crowd up on their feet with a Kanye feature that became pointless because the majority of his parts were bleeped out. Beautiful Keisha Cole decended from mid-air to have her “sweet” look literally ripped off her booty to reveal the “spicy” portion of her performance with Lil Kim. Catch the theme so far? Popular artist then surprise (gasp!) popular guest appearance. Good thing Alicia Keys got the memo in time because homegirl needed the help from SWV, En Vogue and TLC. Goosebump central, RIP Left Eye. The ultimate sidekick, T-Pain, brought on Flo-Rida, Rick Ross (surprisingly shirtless, must have spent all his money on ice), DJ Khaled and ATL proud Big Boi and LUDA. It’s good to see Ludacris out, what a lyrical pimp. Chris Brown? Pass the towel after his “waterfall” performance with Ciara. Of course there were other performances but on to more notes..
Thank you’s: In the beginning it seemed like all the invites didn’t quite make it in the mail. Winners Missy Elliot, The Dream and Kobe Bryant were not present to accept. (Two out of three of those need an explanation.) Kanye gave respect to Lil Wayne by pulling him up on stage to accept Best Male Hip-Hop Artist. It’s good to see Wayne’s success recognized, it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling like I’m sipping on some sizzurp. Speaking of the purple…UGK featuring Big Boi won Best Video and since the recent passing of Pimp-C (Long Live), his late wife was part of the appreciation.
Et Cetera:
- “I’m one of the kings of this game right now… [crowd laughs] and my opinion counts!” - Kanye’s Ego
- I hope super cute R&B power couple Chris Brown and Rihanna don’t end up like Justin and Britney. You know, for Rihanna’s sake.
- In accepting his Lifetime Acheivement Award, Al Green embarassingly thanked “The Academy”. He can get away with anything because thirty seconds later he was making love with the audience. What else can make Quincy Jones along with everyone and their cousins stand up and jam like they’re at an old people wedding?
- Ultimate B.E.T. fan winner Jacob Man reps DUVAL COUNTY, FL! He presented Viewers Choice to one of my other loves, Lil Wayne. This time Weezy pulled Kanye up. Way to ying-yang fellas!
- “Obama or Die” - Diddy
- Has anyone ever seen T-Pain’s eyes?
Until next year, Merry Crummus.