BET Awards Wrap Up by Gemini

Our sister station, BET, did their thing last night with the 2007 BET Awards–live from Los Angeles.  Here’s the official wrap up:

Rihanna rocked the red Black Carpet.

Ok, I admit, I missed the first half waiting for take out from the round the way soul food joint. I missed my girl Lil Kim and Diddy, so tell me how that was!

 

 Beyonce, fresh of the yacht, emerged from a metallic cocoon thing and did “Get Me Bodied.” Her outfit was weird too, so we know who designed it. The audio was not great so I got confused what song she did next. First time I really felt like Bey was lipsynching–and badly–but who cares. You know how it is when you first get back from vacay. It’s like, am I back at work already? I feel for her. I would have stayed on La Lola an extra week too. With Jigga and that cute mystery child.
It was really cute how she introduced Kelly Rowland. Kelly sounded not so hot–but again, not sure what was up with the audio for that whole section, so I’m not gonna be too hard. Eve sounded ok, at least I could hear her, but was not loving the look. She is so pretty and usually kills the fashion, but i didn’t like the ill fitting white outfit with the dark boots. It’s summer, girl, put some strappy sandals on!
Somewhere along the line Michelle Williams and Solange showed up, kind of like a Destiny’s Child reunion. I know Bey’s been doing that on her tour, so do we think there’s a new, 4 person DC in the works? Can Solange even sing? She’s been looking really pretty lately too.

Robin Thicke can only sing in one key apparently. Can D’Angelo or Maxwell or someone come and give us a break from his falsetto?

Okay, next highlight was T.I. winning the Best Hip Hop Award and apologizing for his actions from the other day. Very grown man of him. Of course the producers of the show missed the opportunity to cut to Ludacris afterwards, so we got no money reaction shot. Boo.

Hmmm, what else? A moving tribute to the late Gerald Levert by his father Eddie, Gladys Knight, Yolanda Adams and Patti Labelle. Eddie was great, as was Gladys, Yolanda was clear as a bell and Patti was Patti. It became a screaming contest towards the end, but it was still a very touching moment and as someone who met Mr. Levert, I definitely can say he touched a lot of people with that silky voice of his. RIP.

Why were there ads on stage? Very bad form. I don’t care if someone thinks that’s a genius marketing move. It sucks.

Toccara is  annoying as hell. But I have this horrible feeling her new show is going to be a hit.

I’m happy Ne-Yo won best R&B. Hes very talented and really writes pretty melodies. And he can sing in several keys, thank goodness. Big up to Tishawn and the whole Compound Ent group too. I see ya!

Mo’Nique is serious about her hosting duties. Wow. It is not a game, people.

OK–what was up with 50? He acted like such an ass! Like he’s mad people weren’t going crazy for him, so he just didn’t even try? Just sulked around for half the song? Or is he really so arrogant that he doesn’t think he has to try? I was so mad at him! All the other blogs talk crazy about him, hate on him, but that anti-performance is making me get a little closer to siding with eskay. 50: please go into the studio and make a monster hit. Find that hunger and anger you had in 2002 and come with it! This lazy Amusement Park ish and phone it in performances really suck. I wanna root for you, I really do, but give me something to root for. Throw me a bone. Cuz I am am getting way more excited to see Lil Wayne these days. And I don’t even understand half the stuff that comes out of his mouth. At least Yayo earned his check. BTW, the Yayo has the only interesting verse on the new “Queens” song with 50, LL and G-Rap. Who knew?

I loved the Diana Ross tribute except Chaka Khan appeared to forget–or maybe she never knew–the song lyrics to “I”m Coming Out”. And where does Eryka Badu get those crazy wigs? For real.

Ciara went all Janet Jackson for her performance of “Like a Boy”. Lil Jon definitely brought the energy up when he came out and I did like how Ciara left the aisle with a boxing robe on. She may not sing that well, but she puts on a good show and word has it she was sitting with her new boo during the show. [Big Up to Miss Info for breaking the scoop on that.] Check out the still below–it’s from their upcoming video…

Now to my favorite part of the show: The P.E. reunion/tribute to James Brown. LOVED it. What a surprise! SO nice to see Chuck and Flav together! Yay! Did you see Beyonce getting down? Come on, that was the most energetic performance of the night and refreshing to see Flav actually rapping/being the best hype man ever and NOT being Mr. Crackhead Flavor of Love. Fight the Power!

Finally, does T-Pain really talk like a nerdy white guy or was that an act? If he really talks like that, consider me a fan.

What I do really love about the BET shows is the merging of history with present and the respect that they give the artists that came before. It feels like family. So while I might nitpick, it’s all because of love.

That’s my wrap up. Share your thoughts below.