BET hosted its annual hip-hop awards on Oct. 24. Now in its third consecutive year, fans in Atlanta were treated to a ceremony of numerous awards as well as live performances. The night was full of surprises, as the crowd was treated to a surprise when rapper T-Pain emerged as the night’s host, as opposed to the scheduled host, comedian Katt Williams. He proved to be quite comfortable on stage–providing many jokes as well as a skit with his infamous vocoder (a synthesizer that alters one’s voice).
As for the honors, Lil Wayne took home six awards on the night, including the “Alltel Wireless People’s Champ,” “CD of the Year,” “Lyricist of the Year,” and “Track of the Year” for his hit single “A Milli.” Lil Wayne also won the “M.V.P. of the Year” and “Hottest Ringtone” award.
DJ Khaled, took home the “Best Hip Hop Collabo” award, as well as winning the “DJ of the Year.” Rapper Shawty Lo took home the “MySpace Music Rookie of the Year,” and rap-mogul Russell Simmons was honored with this year’s “I AM HIP-HOP” Icon Award.
Performances included songs by Plies, Nas, Rick Ross, Young Jeezy, Lil Wayne, Soulja Boy and Bow Wow, amongst others. The performances were full of energy as artists like Busta Rhymes, Lil Wayne and Swiss Beatz took the stage and “spazzed out” to N*E*R*D’s single “Spazz.” But the biggest surprise may have been when former rivals Ludacris and T.I. joined the stage together, along with rap rookie B.O.B., to perform “On Top of the World,” a track off T.I.’s new album “Paper Trail.”
One of the more exciting parts of the night included a tribute to the old-school element of rap. BET brought in some of rap’s finest to freestyle to the beats of the legendary DJ Premiere prior to the show. Artists like Hurricane Chris, Bun B, Q-Tip, Cory Gunz, Willy Northpole, Ace Hood, Juelz Santana, Fabolous, and Jadakiss came up with lyrics off the top of their head, which gave fans a taste of what real hip-hop is about. All in all it was a great night for hip-hop as legends, new kids and rivals were able to put their problems aside for one night and celebrate in the name of hip-hop.
