With our newest acquisition, Jake Paine, holding the “What You Didn’t See” series down for the VH1 Hip Hop Honors (and did a mighty fine job if I saw so myself), your boy had to take a break from the editorial. But I’m back and ready to give you some of that raw, unfiltered coverage of the BET Awards weekend that only HipHopDX can and will deliver. You think you know, but you have no idea…
And yes…this is my diary.
Friday October 12th 2007
Catching a red eye out of Vegas to Atlanta sucks…especially when you land at 7am and haven’t slept since 8am the day before. The scene at the airport was fierce as beautiful women and Hip Hop’s finest begin coming in. Unfortunately, our photographer had some car troubles and I would have to hang at the airport. Shout out to Rick Edwards at Makeveli Branded and Roccett of CTE for taking your boy in for a few hours (and also for handing me a few ass whooping on NBA Live).
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The day was loaded with events all across the ‘A’. But the biggest event on Friday? Tyler Perry’s “Why Did I Get Married?” No, it wasn’t a club but it damn sure did seem like it. With people freshly dipped while waiting in line (and some of Atlanta’s baddest women waiting to get their Madea on), I was almost enticed to skip all the events and hang out at the gotdamn movie theater. But I digress…
Jermaine Dupri kicked off the weekend just right with a celebrity filled bash at his club, Studio 72. Although I’d rather be pumping Brother Ali than Soulja Boy, free Courvoisier makes everything sound good. There was a star studded guest list including Ciara, Slim Thug, Jermaine Dupri (no Janet), Nelly, Busta Rhymes (how did this dude get so damn fat?), Kenya Moore (she’s aging like fine wine), Ed Lover, Q from 112 (where the hell them dudes at anyway?), Sean Paul of the Youngbloodz and others.
Also spent a few minutes with Chamillionaire and from the few times meeting him from Sound of Revenge first dropping, his Grammy wins and now the release of Ultimate Victory, Cham is the most humble person you’ll ever meet. He also promised to begin his HipHopDX blog that I’ve been bugging his folks at Universal about (showed me his blackberry list of “things to do” ) as he just returned from overseas promoting the new album. Cham’s a fan of DX? Score one for the bad guys!
Chopped it up with the sexy Melyssa Ford (who promises an interview with DX coming real soon, she just wants to get a few things in order first – here’s to positivity Mel…and I’m holding you to that interview) and I must say, for those who haven’t had the pleasure of seeing Ms. Ford face to face, wow. She looks that good in person.
Her only rival? Angel Lola Luv. Don’t know who I’m talking about?
Blam!
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Angel Lola Luv (GOTDAMN I say!) Who knows if its plastic or not. Who cares right?
I even shook hands with BET’s Senior Vice President, Steven Hill. Yeah, I know. I shoulda grilled him on the spot. But after several drinks, I simply wasn’t in the mood to verbally spar him. I just let him know who I was and moved on. The party was cool (even though it felt like I heard “Crank Dat Soulja Boy” a million times) and after being up since 8am on Thursday, I finally took my black ass to bed at 5am Saturday morning (For those keeping score that’s 45hrs straight! But you know what? Fuck it…we go hard!). I knew good and damn well the awards were the next day but this is the life we live…
*diary montage*
Saturday October 13th 2007
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(I know it ain’t MTV but make believe)
After oversleeping the pre-award bash, me and David Goodson (DX Photographer) raced down to the Atlanta Civic Center to get our credentials. The shit is a chore honestly but it’s all in a days work.
Taking our spots on the red carpet (no media room this year? WTF BET!?!?) I lined up along with my “friendly” competition, Dove from Allhiphop, an editor of Honey magazine and a bunch of radio stations (including a woman next to me who says DX is her homepage *score yet another one for the bad guys!*). Even some of the employees at BET gave DX it’s props and recognized our VH1 nomination (“I voted for yall everyday” one employee said). While the talent was supposed to be coming at 3:30pm, it wasn’t until 4:15pm that they would arrive. Did I mention I haven’t ate since I landed at 7am the day before? People were restless.
But just as the first limo was pulling up, a cell phone rang and chaos ensued.
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“T.I. is where? What the fuck you mean Swat Team? Walgreens? Machine Guns?”
The news spread on our end like wildfire as T.I. had just been bagged at the Walgreens 2 blocks up the street. Everyone knew T.I. was to play a major role in the BET Hip Hop Awards but with the King of the South arrested less than a few hours before the event and not everyone knowing what was going on, how would the show continue?
At any rate, here are a few quips from the red carpet. Beginning with the first to holler at DX – the one I’d like to call “The Savior of BET” – Reginald Hudlin.
I asked him about the changes made to programming since his tenure began. Hudlin responded…
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“I’m really glad people like the changes and the evolution of programming at BET all I can tell you is that we’re just getting warmed up. We have so many ideas and new directions. Every year we plan on doing something different. We want to be the place where dreams come true.”
When asked if the music videos would be taking a backseat to more shows, Hudlin replied “Music will always be an important part of BET and an important part of Black Culture. You can’t have black culture without representing black music to the fullest. We’re dedicated to that. But we also know that people want more than that from BET. It’s not about reducing something, it’s about adding on.”
Tony Neal, founder of Core DJs, spoke of how his collective of DJs is expanding and the next retreat coming to my hometown…Las Vegas (mark it down on your calendars people!). Gave a big shout out to all the DJs nominated for DJ Of The Year and said “It doesn’t matter who is winning…we’re good!”
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Had to ask him how he felt about DJs going away from vinyl and moving to digital. Neal grinned and rifled back, “Anyone who has carried crates for years DESERVES Serato! If you’ve been carrying crates on trips and up stairs – you deserve a license to use Serato!”
Cee-Lo was moving pretty swiftly down the carpet but took time to speak with DX. I asked him what was up and he delivered his lines like a cheap commercial. “Coming soon! Another Gnarls Barkley record and another solo album from Cee Lo Green!” Just before I let Cee-Lo get back to his grind he chimed in “…and uhhhhh a Goodie Mob record!”
Word? I thought one monkey didn’t stop the show? Good to see the boys back together.
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One of the more interesting conversations was sparked with the legendary DJ Red Alert. We discussed briefly the Lupe Situation but focused more importantly on the musical education of our youth.
“It’s just like any other different genre of music. Do they take the time to acknowledge the artists of the past or are they constantly looking toward the future?”Red Alert quipped. “We know there are great acts like Lupe Fiasco, Little Brother and the list goes on, but the industry needs to learn how to balance the music. If you want to show everything commercialized, you gotta look at the other sides of the music. I feel that there needs to be a balance that they aren’t giving to us.”
When asked how that balanced is achieved he said “We cannot rely on TV and Radio to bring us that balance. We have to get that balance by being open minded to music. And see as a consumer what else is on the shelf.”
I asked Red Alert when he was getting his VH1 Honor and he said “Man, I got my honor from Hip Hop culture a long time ago and just happy to keep doing what I’ve been doing today.”
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Chamillionaire was asked by members of the press about being a role model. Cham responded by saying “Nobody can change the world just like that. I just do me and lead by example and will continue to do that.”
I can’t front…I didn’t think I’d like Ultimate Victory but dude really goes for his on the album.
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Rick Ross stated his new album Trilla will be indeed dropping this year as long as his documentary flick titled M.I. Yayo
Katt Williams said nothing as he strolled the carpet complete with a noose for a necklace. We knew we were in for an interesting night.
Bizzy Bone spoke on his new album dropping early 2008 and mentioned that everything is good with his Bone brethren. When asked about his nutty videos online where it seems he’s lost his marbles, Bizzy replied “It’s whatever.” Okaaaaaaaaay…
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I caught up with Stat Quo on the red carpet who (along with his manager Rick) gave me the “Hey! We love HipHopDX!” to my surprise. “I got the album coming out, Statlanta, at the top of the year. The first single is G.R.I.T.S.”
I had to ask just what in the hell was up with the delay and Stat had the answer, “Timing is everything and you want to make sure that everything is right because it is such a great record. We don’t want the record to go over people’s heads. The climate has to be right to put this kind of music out. People have to be receptive to something that isn’t on that normal and (clichéd) music. It gets to that point where people want something new. I think they’re ready for it.”
And what about the production you ask? “Dre did half and Eminem did the other half…incredible!”
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You know what else is incredible? Stat Quo joining Chamillionaire as a celebrity blogger. Score yet another one for the bad guys. Shit, DX is up like five to nothing at this point. And who are the good guys? Anybody who dislikes us.
The Shop Boyz let it be known that they aren’t one hit wonders as their next single “They Like Me” is produced by David Banner and “Totally Dude” will be following behind that. I don’t know people. Mims was strolling the carpet pretty lonely because there isn’t much else to ask but “Why are you hot” these days. The Shop Boyz might not be too far behind that. It’s the case of the song being bigger than the artist. Take note labels… DEVELOP YOUR ARTISTS IMAGE. We don’t know who the hell these guys are. A backstory would be nice.
Even Little Brother made their way down the red carpet with Phonte having a special surprise for Steven Hill and any exec that stated that LB was “Too Intelligent” for BET. And that surprise was this…
That cat has balls and all I can do is tip my cap to any man willing to go to an award show and show up the executives. Not to mentioned that he walked up to Steven Hill and straight flashed the shirt to him. Mr. Hill’s reply “You funny.” The true definition of “Stylin On You.”
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As I was beginning to wrap up and move on to the show, a publicist stepped to us and asked “Would you like to speak with Carwin Jones and Bryant Purvis?” The names sounded familiar and then it hit me…
The Jena Six!
“Indeed I would,” I responded. This would be my chance to talk to these boys face to face in light of the controversial case. I was tossing questions around in my head when these guys come around the corner…
“Who the fuck is that?” I said to myself, laughing because I’m thinking its two new artists trying to get their shine. I’m looking past these guys as I’m waiting for Jones and Purvis to step down the carpet. “Man…I’m glad BET brought these boys out,” I’m thinking. Clearly elated that I would get to ask some questions that I’m sure readers at DX would be interested in. But then the publicist said “Introducing Carwin Jones and Bryant Purvis of the Jena 6!”
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I looked up…
“Nah…that ain’t them.” I looked behind them and all around looking for two cats wearing slacks and button downs….
The white lady from some news network next to me let out the longest “No these n*ggas didn’t!” sigh I have ever heard. I can’t even remember what I asked them but the response was some shit like “We just happy to be here,” as they flashed a “6” sign to photographers.
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Man…
There will be NO sympathy points given to them tonight. Somebody is gonna have a field day with this.
Okay, so that’s the red carpet. The show is like 30 min away. But guess what? HipHopDX (along with other outlets who just KNEW there was a media room this year) didn’t have a ticket *gasp*. All good though, I put in my request earlier this week.
As I approached the door to make my entrance, I was stopped by some big ass dudes just looking for a n*gga to say “NO!” to. And I guess they found one…
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“What you mean I need a gotdamn ticket????”
Fuck…your boy is stuck…
To Be Continued…
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