Old School, New School Hip Hop Merge as One as Busta Rhymes, Patti LaBelle Bring Down the House at BET Awards

There was no mistaking that Hip Hop honor reigned at this years BET  AWARDS in celebration of the phenomenally popular genre’s 50th year. It was quite a show as hip hop dance moves provided the flavor and backdrop for classic hip hop tunes as well as new rap artists street beats routines. Many of  the new songs stand on the shoulders and are drawn from the legacies of some of the icons who performed on stage last night, including Lifetime Achievement Awardee veteran rapper Busta Rhymes. Rhymes who was enthusiastically received by the crowd and given kudos by some of his stellar friends and fans before receiving his award,including Mariah Carey, Swiss Beats, Janet Jackson.?Busta gave a powerfully memorable acceptance speech followed later in the show by an amazingly energetic performance and tribute. In his speech he gave advice to new artists by sharing the story about his motivation to feed his son. He also gave recognition to recording executive Sylvia Rhône, manager Mona Carter and others in the music business who helped him along the way, making it possible for him to be where he is today.

BET production crew did an outstanding job of merging and ultimately uniting old school Hip Hop icons with some of the remarkable and up and coming young rap artists of today. This was demonstrated throughout the show with performances and cameos by Master P, Ja Rule, MC Lyte, Public Enemy, GrandMaster Flash, etc. I could go on and on. But it definitely seemed like everybody that ever mattered and matters in shaping Hip Hop was in the show in some way, shape, form or fashion.

Check out BET’s amazing recap on You Tube here.

Cynthia Wilson

Kirk Franklin, Jonathan McReynolds and Kelly Price at BET Awards

 Our video pick of the week is a clip of  BET’s Award Show broadcast June 23, 2019. Podcast episode forthcoming with a summary of the show.

Jonathan McReynolds, Erica Campbell and Kelly Price open the awards show and sing with Kirk Franklin in a special rendition of Kirk Franklin's "Love Theory” from his 2019 CD release “Long Live Love.”

BET Awards: The Great ‘Youth’ Hope

www.wikipedia.org

The 17th BET Awards was held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California on June 25, 2017. The ceremony celebrated achievements in entertainment and honored music, sports, television, and movies released between April 1, 2016 and March 31, 2017. The nominations were announced on May 15, 2017. Beyoncé led the nominees with 7, followed by Bruno Mars with 5. Beyoncé won the most awards with 5, including Album of the Year and Video of the Year.1

Sunday night’s live broadcast of the BET Awards offered up some promising young influencers of culture, with a Leslie Jones cocktail chaser thrown in for contrast, raw outrageous humor and texture. It offered about panoramic glimpse into what the future holds for blackbculture and society, and particularly in the r&b, soul, RAP,genre-bending and Hip-Hop music scenes.  If all the activists awarded can be multiplied to the nth power, we will be in good hands. If Chance the Rapper’s honor for his humanitarian efforts so far is any indication, our prospects look bright. 

From the "Beautiful While Being Black" Award honorees to the Humanitarian of the Year award, it was refreshing to witness so many fresh talented voices picking up the relay baton, expressing their awareness of the social climate through music, poetry and art, while being recognized for their inspiring contributions to community.  The panoply of baby stars was balanced out by such established artists as P. Diddy, Maxwell, Mary J. Blige and Chris Brown. Bruno Mars and New Edition also brought the house down. See videos of rehearsals and lead ups to the show here.

It was a great broadcast from start to finish.

1 www.wikipedia.org