So you may be asking yourself one of two things – WTF is HipHopDX doing writing an editorial on the American Music Awards, which doesn’t do much for hip hop artists -or- HTF (How The Fuck) did HipHopDX even get into the American Music Awards? Honestly kids, I couldn’t answer either of those for you, but the fact remains that The Bad Guys have made yet another awards show and the Gotdamn Editor-In-Chief is here to deliver what you didn’t see at the AMAs.
Nevermind the fact that HipHopDX was the only hip hop website that I knew of at the AMAs. But I digress…
The red carpet proved to be a disaster as there was absolutely no room for press to do their thing. “Suffocating” would probably be the best word to describe the area. Regardless, there wasn’t much going on in terms of hip hop that really needed to be covered from the carpet.
The level of confusion was pretty ridiculous as many of the media attendees scrambled to find anyone who looked like they worked for the show to find out where they were supposed to be. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks: disorganization is universal. It ain’t just black folks who can’t seem to be organized kids. White folks are just as bad! Honestly guys, BET actually fared better with their events. The fact that I was walking up and down the red carpet like I just hopped my hip hopping ass out of a stretched hummer proved that as long as you had A badge you could go wherever you wanted (but more on that later).
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What I found interesting was that I was one of the few people in media who looked like “me.” What does that mean exactly? Young, a shade darker and a few years younger than most of those in attendance. Not to mention the clothes I wore yelled “I Am Hip Hop” across the red carpet. Surely, a few media outlets who noticed me wondered what the hell I was doing there. I honestly wondered how the hell I got there myself. Either way, The Bad Guys were in the building.
As I walked around looking for our place on the carpet, a few giddy girls gave me a nervous “hello” as if they were star struck. Do they think? Nah…the couldn’t think I’m a *gasp* RAPPER! Maybe it was because I was standing right next to Fergie as she was taking pictures or dapping up Ne Yo on the carpet. Obviously I was a little lost, but I could see a few photographers debate in their heads if they should take a picture of me. I felt awkward about it so I dipped.
There were some interesting sights along the carpet. Sean Kingston rocked a big ass diamond piece that resembled a Crayola box – and had diamonds in ever color. Yeah…kinda obnoxious but what the hell right?
Soulja Boy wore a suit. *Pause* That’s it…the shit is funny to me so eff what yall think.
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Beyonce Knowles looks good in person…damn good. Usually I’m underwhelmed when I see celebs in person as most of them look a bit busted. But Beyonce? Looking kinda righteous.
The rumors about Pretty Ricky breaking up must be true (like you or I really care). There were three of them, instead of four, marching along the carpet. Will the break up hurt their music (like you or I really care)? Tune in for the next album with some super explicit lyrics that will make 13-year-olds melt. Yuck.
Lyfe Jennings stopped by to speak to me about his new album titled Change coming out in March. He mentioned that Lil Wayne, T.I., Talib Kweli and Snoop would all be making appearances on the new album. He also revealed that the album may be a little mainstream so people can digest it but he said to expect the same grit that he had with his debut project.
So now it’s time to wrap up and head down to the media room to watch the show. Where was the media room? Hell if I knew. And I’m sure some of you readers could tell me better than the security guards at the Nokia Theater. I walked up, down and all around until all of a sudden I found myself on the side of the stage. “This is interesting,” I thought as a wondered how in the blue hell did I get this far without security stopping me (I think it was that “rapper” shit again). So I walked down and found myself next to Chris Brown and American Idol winner Jordan “6 Foot Tall” Sparks as they exchanged numbers. Booty call? Probably not. A song together should be conceivable but you never know these days. But I digress…
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Still wandering about as the show is to start in 5 minutes, the gotdamn Editor-In-Chief actually mulled plopping down in the front row to catch the show from the perspective of these artists. But it would be rather wack if I got sonned by Carrie Underwood wondering why my black ass was in her seat. So I finally moved on and eventually found the media room. Sadly, BET‘s award shows top the American Music Awards again in this category. This room was small as hell and had many of the media outlets a bit ticked off as they wondered what they were thinking using this room for press. But they did feed us quite alright. Pasta, Caesar salad and sandwiches were sprawled about the table. May as well stuff our faces before we get to work right?
As the show started, it would be interesting was to see how host Jimmy Kimmel and others would fare without the help of writers who continue to be on strike. But Kimmel handled it with flare and endured the entire show without writing help. His skit where Kid Rock punches him out for sitting in his seat was funny. It also made me think what could have happened if I was in that seat.
A few notes from the media room:
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Ultra sweet and rather sexy Ashanti’s new album Declaration will feature Pharrell, Robin Thicke, Jermaine Dupri and Brian Michael Cox. Do you think she really stands a chance? Me neither.
Fabolous celebrated his birthday party at the American Music Awards and is set to tour. How much longer will he be rapping? As long as he’s allowed to keep putting out the same album – who knows?
Akon explains how he has gone from calling everyone in the industry and nobody would call him back to now having to deal with the task of not being able to answer all the calls for him to make a hit. He also revealed that he will be working with Whitney Houston on her new album. Can you imagine it? Me either.
Ne Yo discusses his 3rd album, writing for Celine Dion, Michael Jackson, Usher and others. When Beyonce appeared with country group Sugarland to perform the song Ne Yo penned, “Irreplacable”, he stopped to watch the show. Everyone was caught relatively off guard when we realized that it was a bluegrass version of the song. Even Ne Yo looked a little shocked as he murmured “Ummmm… I never envisioned that song in country,” as he kicked back and watched the performance. Is Ne Yo pissing gold these days? The answer is HELL YEAH.
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How the fuck did Bone get nominated for album of the year? Well that tells you how in touch this award show is with hip hop culture. Not that Bone is a bad group, but they actually won? But guess who they were up against – Shop Boyz and Pretty Ricky (Yeah…what the fuck were they doing in this category? I couldn’t tell you).
Layzie Bone came to the back and said “I didn’t really expect to win this award,” you can say that again! Congrats, but we don’t know how you won that shit either. He mentioned a slew of Bone projects that are being worked on but the one that caught my ear was the gospel album. A gospel album? Now that’s a complete 180 from the devil worshiping and Ouija shit we heard over a decade ago. Can anyone say gimmick? Raise your hand.
T.I. won favorite Rap artist and favorite Rap album “off camera.” Was it because he couldn’t come due to his recent run in with the law or do they just not give a shit about rap because it’s still a fad in their eyes. We could opt for the latter because as the show wore on I began to realize – THERE’S NO RAPPERS PERFORMING AT THIS SHOW. Unless you count Will.i.am performing “Heartbreaker” during Fergie’s set (which I don’t), there was no real Hip Hop presence on the stage that night.
I guess it’s okay for Chris Brown to lip sync these days as his stage show is rather entertaining. I mean its got to be terribly difficult to flip, spin and do all the wild shit he does and stay on key (if you think he doesn’t lip sync, I offer a powder slap to reality). It was so entertaining that as Celine Dion was talking to the media, she had to halt the questions to watch his performance. When Chris Brown finished, Celine said “thank you” like she had just been performing and left.
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Alicia Keys slips up? It looked like she spaced a lyric. Honestly, I couldn’t tell if her singers were supposed to back her up and they forgot or if she forgot. Either way, her performance was solid. She must really dig reggae because she had every important reggae/dancehall artist on stage with her for the performance of her hit single and turned the joint out.
I also thought it was relatively funny that Rihanna thanked Jay-Z when she won female artist but Beyonce completely blanked thanking Hov. Not to stir up no shit but just ironic nonetheless considering all those rumors that had Jay sneaking around with Rihanna awhile back.
As we all watched Queen Latifah sing her way through the end of the show, I wondered how much do they really care about hip hop? Queen Latifah singing on this show was really fucking with me. Did any of you see this coming? Would she have been on here if she made “U.N.I.T.Y. 2007”? I didn’t think so either.
However you look at it, HipHopDX made its way into another award show and was able to give you some tidbits on what goes on at these things. Hopefully the rest of the award shows will recognize the power of hip hop and give it a little more time on television. But it’s been almost three decades since hip hop hit the scene. If they don’t get it by now…
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Next stop? The Grammys!
Sorry…I’m lying. Wishful thinking like a mu’fucka. If that does pops off you may as well give The Bad Guys a gold medal (and put it on a diamond encrusted chains so it can look hip hop).
