Through the hustle and bustle of the 1st annual
BET Hip Hop Awards, much of the conversation backstage and in the media room
will never be broadcast on television. So just like we did during the BET
Awards, we bring to you “What You Won’t See At The BET Hip Hop Awards.”
Being as though this was a taped broadcast, there was much
seen behind the scenes that may get lost on the editing floor or simply never
be shown. The first thing of notice was how incredible the crowd was outside during
the Red Carpet but how dead the audience was inside during the award show. Reason?
Well, apparently BET decided to give industry heads free tickets to the show
rather than the general public. The result—a crowd not excited to see Jay-Z and
Chamillionaire because they pretty much know these guys. The pandemonium that
took place when artists like Bow Wow, Ludacris and T.I. arrived on the Red
Carpet was lost in translation in the Fox Theater. Maybe BET didn’t want any
incidents to take place with a hyped up crowd. Maybe they didn’t want to see
the “hood” come out like the Source Awards. Who knows?
The show was not a resounding success to some of the media that attended. But many did say that it was a great start and hopefully BET can fix the hiccups that it had with this show.
Some things you may or may not see…
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Thankfully, the awards went by pretty quick. Being as though
it was not a live recording, many wondered if it would take hours to wrap up.
BET did a great job of moving through the show quickly. But it shouldn’t have
been that hard anyway considering that there were only a few awards given while as many as 7 awards were given off the air. Peculiarly,
the award for Best Hip Hop CD was not given on air. Nobody really knows how in
the hell that happened but maybe they’ll edit it in somehow.
Young Jeezy’s performance was something to behold. Why you
ask? The “strippers” yo! Jeezy felt it was a good idea to set the stage up like
a strip club called “Jeezy City.” Jeezy’s show was straight but those “strippers”
(they were fully clothed but hit them poles HARD)… wow! It was so “wow” that me and a good
industry friend had this conversation…
“Did you see Jeezy’s performance?”
“Yeah with the strippers?”
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“(laughter) YUP!”
“Is all that booty poppin’ is gonna make it on air?”
“Thats what I said! Like how is that possible”
“Ol’ girl was WORKING IT” (In reference to one in particular
lady who’s butt moved in unbelievable ways)
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“Especially the stripper on the left!”
“I had my ‘Oh My God!’ face on!”
“Me too! The two girls on the left were doing the damn thing!
Everyone was in shock!”
If that rumpshaking makes it on the air, I’d be (pleasantly)
surprised because BET is known to cut out the “booty.”
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We also found out why the show was taped. Many of you will
see that there was a ton of cussing during shows, especially during Game’s set.
After about the 3rd “motherfucker” a BET rep told those in the media
room “…and this is why we tape recorded this event.” Can’t blame them.
Another pleasant element was the short vignettes of freestyles. The first featured Lupe Fiasco, Styles P and Papoose simply rocking a dope rhyme while Rhymefest, Saigon and Remy Ma followed suit later in the evening. Real dope but unfortunately none of them won anything.
Many of the performances were solid but because of the lack of crowd participation they didn’t translate too well. Even hometown favorites DJ Unk and Ludacris couldn’t set the industry crowd on fire. It may have been because Jermaine Dupri‘s party the night before simply wore out all those in attendance (including myself). Maybe BET will inject a little crowd noise to help out.
Here was some of the hubbub that took place about the awards
given…
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Many were confused as to how Common won lyricist of the year
when his album dropped OVER a year ago. Some thought it should have been Lupe
Fiasco but knew that this was a south dominated event. When Jermaine Dupri won
producer of the year the whole media room began to look for Kanye to parachute
down and go on a “sippy sippy” rampage similar to the one at the MTV Euro
Awards. Fortunately, Kanye was nowhere to be found. Some were also confused as
to why only a few awards made it on air when there were 12 awards given. Time
constraints? Who knows.
Last but not least, Katt Williams did an excellent job hosting the evening. His state of the hip hop address was certainly one of the best highlights. (even though the eagle that’s supposed to land on his arm missed and landed on the floor before hopping back up). BET may want to consider Katt for the next year of festivities.
***spoilers***
HIP -HOP VIDEO OF THE YEAR – T.I. – “What You Know”
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ELEMENT AWARD: PRODUCER OF THE YEAR – Jermaine Dupri
HIP-HOP HUSTLER AWARD – Jay-Z
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR – Chamillionaire
ALLTEL WIRELESS PEOPLE’S CHAMP AWARD – Chamillionaire f/
Krayzie Bone – “Ridin'”
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BEST LIVE PERFORMER – Busta Rhymes
ELEMENT AWARD: LYRICIST OF THE YEAR – Common
HIP-HOP MVP OF THE YEAR – T.I.
“I AM HIP-HOP” ICON AWARD – Grandmaster Flash
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HIP-HOP TRACK OF THE YEAR – Young Joc – “It’s Goin’ Down”
ELEMENT AWARD: BEST HIP-HOP DANCE – Snap
BEST HIP-HOP MOVIE – ATL
HIP-HOP CD OF THE YEAR – T.I. “King”
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ELEMENT AWARD: VIDEO DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR – Hype Williams
BET MOBILE HOT RINGTONE AWARD – Young Dro F/ T.I. “Shoulder
Lean”
BEST UK HIP-HOP ACT – Sway
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Part 2 will bring you the sounds of backstage…who went off on the industry? What did Flava Flav have to say and much much more!
