Let there be no more doubt; though life has been chaotic for him, Chris Brown is back with a vengeance.
At the 2011 BET Awards the R&B star picked up four awards, including the Coca-Cola Viewer’s Choice Award, Video of the Year and Best Collaboration for “Look At Me Now” and Best Male R&B Artist. Brown wasn’t just there winning awards either; he brought the house down with a combo performance of “She Ain’t You” and “Look At Me Now,” which Lil Wayne and Busta Rhymes joined him for.
Not to be overlooked is the show’s opening, featuring a stunning performance by Mary J. Blige. The Queen of Hip Hop Soul looked better than ever in an all-white pants suit, singing a medley of her oldest hits including “Real Love.” As an added surprise, Anita Baker joined her at the end of her set.
Other performers included Kelly Rowland (with a little help from Trey Songz), who lit up the stage with the #1 song on the charts, “Motivation,” Jill Scott, Alicia Keys, DJ Khaled, Rick Ross and Lil Wayne. BET also broadcast Beyoncé’s live performance from the Glastonbury Festival in England.
Kevin Hart hosted the show and immediately went into a wannabe Chris Rock roast of celebrities in the house. Luckily everyone laughed off the darts he threw and presentations went on. Ne-Yo’s head looked weird, Trey Songz looks like a beige greyhound with his shirt off and Rick Ross needs to tie down his man-boobs. These were all jokes Hart made and all targets took them like the pros they are.
The first award presented on stage was The YoungStars Award, which went to both Willow and Jaden Smith in a tie. They couldn’t give the award to just one of the Smith children! How fair would that be?
Best Female R&B Artist went to Rihanna, Best Female Hip Hop Artist went to Nicki Minaj (who had no competition whatsoever) and the Best New Artist award went home with Wiz Khalifia. The presentation for Best Male Hip Hop Artist was where things go interesting; Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj were on hand to present this one with their teams behind them (Team Minaj, Team Bieber). “I’m all grown up now, you know next year I’ll be 18 so…what’s up?” JB asked her. “Justin, do you drive?” Nicki asked. “Yes, I drive,” Justin answered. “Can you handle curves?” Nicki said, accentuating her own subtly. “Yes…I…Can,” Bieber responded, sizing her up. Cue fan girl swoons! Bieber and Minaj accepted the award on the winner, Kanye West’s, behalf.
Michael Vick made a somewhat of a comeback of his own, winning the Sportsman of the Year. Sportswoman of the Year went to Serena Williams. Best Group went to Diddy-Dirty Money, Idris Elba won Best Actor, Taraji P. Henson got Best Actress and Best Movie went to “For Colored Girls.” Two awards that got less hype were the Centric Award, which went to Marsha Ambrosius, and Best International Act for Africa (2Face Idibia & D’Banj tie) and the UK (Tinie Tempah). Also honored during the night were Steve Harvey with the Humanitarian Award and Patti LaBelle with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Before the night was through DJ Khaled, Rick Ross and Lil Wayne had re-emerged on stage at least three times. Fortunately they can bring energy every time they’re in the spotlight and each performance was different and better than the last.
Not to be forgotten is Kevin Hart’s own male reality show spoof, “Real Husbands of Hollywood.” Nelly, Nick Cannon, Bobby Brown and Jermaine Dupri got together for some antics that had the entire audience (television and live) in stitches. Especially when the group ganged up on Hart and he called in major reinforcements to his rescue; his wife.
BET replayed the award show twice after the original air date, and for good reason. With so many incredible moments, it’d be a crime not to allow more chances to catch it. The BET Awards get better every year and they’ll have to work hard again next year to outdo themselves once again.
The LG Blog 