Shhhh, The BET Awards are on…This year, we celebrate 45 years of BET and 25 years of the BET Awards.
I don’t get excited for any other awards but the BET Awards. In recent years, it had become so ratchet that I was starting to vow never to watch again. This year felt like it would be different. BET gave us a glimpse of what was to come by having the 106 & Park hosts do a press tour. When I heard them on The Breakfast Club, I knew I was going to have this lil baby settled down so I can watch. Yearly, my friends and I gather on our respective social media pages to share commentary on what’s happening in the moment. This year was no different. I love this for us.
As a child, I remember going to people’s houses that had cable and watching BET. It was ours. As I grew from adolescence, I held BET close to my heart. Watching it every chance I got. Now, I still watch BET and have a subscription to BET+. Yes, it is that serious for me.
The awards started with a monologue from this year’s host and not a musical act. Hmmm, this was different, but I was not bothered by it. A little shake-up is needed. I love that Kevin stated that this year had a dress code. As stated above, the previous years had been too much for my taste. He made jokes and was sure to tell everyone that there would be no after-party, because we have learned a lot about some people lately. Yeah, we knew who he was talking about.
The first musical act didn’t come until the next segment, the 106 & Park segment. They took us back to the early 2000s. I had my lil baby up dancing to all of the music that reminded me of college and my early adulthood. I even had him saying “balling” when Jim Jones hit the stage. Ashanti, Keyshia Cole, Mya, TI, B2K, and of course Mr. 106 and Park himself were present during this segment, along with Jones. They even caught Tyler Perry doing a lil 2-step when TI was on stage.
Ludacris and Kevin Hart, along with Big Tigger and Kid Capri, paid a nod to Rap City; if you know, you know.
Doechii won the Best Female Hip-Hop Artist award and made sure to use her voice to speak out about what was happening in LA. What stuck out to me was her stating that the government is using the military against its own people. Tyler Perry’s speech before the Ledisi song was so on brand for him. He spoke about the strength of Black Women and sprinkled in how this country is trying to erase our history, but they can’t because our footsteps are on water. He told a story about his son, and I had to go Google how old that little boy is now. We don’t hear or see anything about him. Tyler is pulling a Cicley Tyson, and we won’t know or see his kid unless he wants to be seen.
The music acts outside of the tributes that stuck out were Glorilla, Teyana Taylor, Leon Thomas, III. It is my belief that going on tour with Megan Thee Stallion improved Glo’s look and attitude in her music. She started with “Let Her Cook” and ended with her latest bop and one of my favs at the moment, “Typa”. She gave us a lil one-two tap dance. I liked her performance look better than what she wore on the red carpet.
If you are anything like me, you didn’t know that Leon Thomas, III, who sings “Mutt”, is the young man from Nickelodeon. He has grown to be a handsome young man with a beautiful voice and a hit song. I loved his hair, red tips on his locs in the front. He won Best New Artist and referenced that his mom took a bathroom break when he won. Baby, his mama ran back in there and was front and center when he was on stage accepting his award.
Teyana is our present-day Missy Elliott. I am rooting for her because she is so talented. She performed her song, “Fire Girl” featuring Taraji P. Henson and Long Time. There is a part in Taraji’s monologue where she says, “I finally understood that even love is something you must escape.” I thought that was interesting. I can appreciate the artistry of the set. It was fabulous.
Although it is an awards show, do we really watch to find out who will win or the tributes? For this girl, it is always the music and tributes. This year’s Icon Award recipients were Mariah Carey, Jamie Foxx, Snoop Dogg, and Kirk Franklin.
Mariah was the first to receive the award. She sang a song from her latest album. She brought out Rakim and Anderson. Paak was beating the drums. MiMi was Mimi, standing in one spot. Her performance wasn’t memorable at all. She seemed scared to move. However, sis has vocals for days, and during her acceptance speech, she mentioned she had never won a BET Award. Busta Rhymes presented her with her award and talked about the time he called on her to do a record with him and his artist, and what an impact it was.
Next was Eric Bishop, aka Jamie Foxx. Stevie Wonder came out to give him his award. Stevie tried to cut Jamie’s speech short, and Jamie asked, “How did he know where I was to do that?” Too funny, you had to be there. His tribute was set off by Babyface, Ludacris, Jennifer Hudson, Tank, T-Pain, Doug E Fresh, and Teddy Riley. Jennifer Hudson brought the house down as T-Pain, Teddy Riley, and Doug E. Fresh had us on our feet partying. This tribute was one of the best tributes I have seen in a long time. Jaime gave a heartfelt message about living and giving God the glory for keeping him. Everyone in the room was in tears, it seemed. His sister came from the second row to hold his daughter Corrine’s hand. His daughters were a crying mess, and he made sure to love on them as he spoke. He shouted out his sister from South Dallas, who is now doing makeup for Marvel, and how she stepped up when she needed to. As I mentioned on my social media, that’s what sisters do. Jaime told Kirk he wants to collaborate with him, and this girl can’t wait to hear it. Aye!
Snoop came in second to the last. I will tell you this, I ignored most of his speech and tribute and started googling “How did the nursery rhyme ‘London Bridge’ come about?”. As I mentioned on Facebook, I wonder if this was the playlist he created for Trump’s inauguration? My opinion is my own and is not the opinion of the writers and owner of this great publication. Nevertheless, in case you cared, he did perform some classics, and I will say he did, including “Down for my N*ggas”, and ole No Limit Bop. Chile, I still wasn’t moved. He did tell the men to place their women in front. To that, I added, “but don’t make her look stupid when you do it, like he did.” Ok, enough on Snoop. Dr. Dre gave him his award– nothing on him. I am not a fan of him either.
To close out the night was the Kirk Franklin tribute. TI presented him with his award. Kirk came to bring Jesus and let you know that being a Christian was not boring. He danced, jumped, and spun around that stage. I know he felt that in the morning. He brought out Tamar Braxton, Muni Long, Jamal Roberts, and Cheryl “Salt” James. He had a skit with D.C. Young Fly, where DC played a preacher discussing the new wave of gospel music. His songlist contained “Silver and Gold”, “Stomp, Melodies from Heaven”, and “Do It Again”.
Although Leon Thomas, III is new, there was only one new school artist that performed, Playboi Carti.
This year, it felt like the old BET Awards. We had the jokes, good music, and stunts from Kevin Hart to make everyone laugh. I didn’t want this overview to be as long as the show, so I didn’t go into too much detail. You can watch the replay on YouTube or BET.
-Arnya T.M. Davis
