Usually I'm not the bitter type, but I was just hoping, praying, and wishing for a monumental performance to just jump out at me while I watched the 2008 BET Hip-Hop Awards. I mean did these artists rehearse? Who wrote the script on the prompter?
These are all of the questions that I had while watching this program, which had CEO Debra Lee bopping her head to lukewarm performances. I love hip-hop and everything that it stands for, but come on BET you could of had a little bit more substance for the little boys and girls that stayed up past their bedtime to watch their favorite artists jump around the stage decked out in their platinum chains, blinged out graphic T's, and hyped entourage accompanying them on stage.
Since the scheduled host Katt Williams supposedly walked out of rehearsal because of a verbal altercation with one of BE T's production staff members. BET had to get the next best funny man to host the BET Hip-Hop Awards and who else could give the crowd more laughs than Mr. Circus Man T-Pain. What a joke! Watching T-Pain wasn't as painful as I thought it would be with the show ending with none other than Bow Wow and Souljah Boy. I felt kind of bad for them because they were still performing while the credits were rolling pushing their little performance to the side.
Some highlights on the show included The Misses of Hip-Hop MC LYTE, Salt & Pepa, Lady of Rage rocked rough and stuff in her afro puffs, and Yo-Yo showed the crowd that she still had it by rhyming and shaking her booty for the fellas, .
What I appreciated most about the show was how they shed light on hip-hop artists contributing their time and dollars to their communities including Lil Wayne, T.I. who is the co-founder of King Foundation in Atlanta, and of course Russell Simmons who was honored on tonight's show. I was also feeling the freestyle segment with my boy Jadakiss, Juelz Santana who was looking finer than usual maybe it was the black and white screen effect, and Fabulous who if you asked me killed his freestyle. Loved it!
Tonight was the first time I saw the previews for the Biggie movie Notorious, which almost brought tears to my eyes because I love me some B.I.G.. This movie will premiere January 19, 2009, so put the date in your calendar and make sure you check out the little snippet linked below.
LL Cool J was looking scrumptious as usual presenting an honorary award to Russell Simmon's whom I always respected as one of hip-hop's biggest moguls. Although LL is pushing 50 years old he still looks better than most men in their mid-20's, but I'm sure a little doe re mi, strict diet, and personal trainer help contribute to that body. Common and Pharrell performed their latest single "Universal Mind Control" which was one of the highlights in addition to T.I.'s performance.
T.I., Ludacris, and Rakim tore the stage up and kept the crowd amped, which most performers failed to accomplish.
