From fashion fails to a phenomenal legendary tribute to Uncle Charlie, it’s safe to say BET brought the heat this year with the BET Awards 2013. They did, however, forget to find a crowd-pleasing host.
Chris Tucker hosted this year’s awards and according to Twitter, he left the crowd (and viewers) looking like every confused emoji under the sun. Fortunately, Kevin Hart appeared several times throughout the awards show in regular “Real Husbands of Hollywood” fashion: loud, uncensored and eccentric. Hart’s catch phrase of the night, “Turn Up,” led to legendary New Edition performer, Bobby Brown informing him that addiction is bad. Oh, the irony Bobby.
With his sixth BET performance, Chris Breezy opened the show with his latest single “Fine China” but he wasn’t the one who stole the show. Kendrick Lamar won in more ways that one when he brought out the lovely soul goddess that is Erykah Badu. Together the two, performed “Don’t Kill My Vibe,” the second single off of “good kid, m.A.A.d city.” Lamar also performed alongside Miguel, in addition to taking home three awards, including Best Male Hip Hop artist for which he gave a very inspirational speech.
“For sure if you keep love, God, respect and hard work in your heart, you can do anything you want in life.”
Robin Thicke hit the stage with the multi-talented Pharrell and southern sweetheart T.I. to perform their hit single, “Blurred Lines.” The performance could not be complete without T.I.’s trip-down-memory-lane two stepping. Pharrell was present for a few of the night’s performances including 2 Chainz’s set for “Feds Watchin’” and the amazing Charlie Wilson tribute.
Uncle Charlie was indeed honored with one of the best tributes in BET Awards history. India Arie, Jamie Foxx and Stevie Wonder all honored the soul singer before Uncle Charlie stole the show himself. Wilson was joined by Justin Timberlake, Snoop Dog and Pharrell to perform several hits including “Signs.” Uncle Charlie stole the show with his performance and that tweed jacket, you go Unc!
What’s a BET awards show without a few impromptu performances? R. Kelly teased us as he reminded us all why we love him and in case you forgot, it’s not because of his questionable taste in fashion. Kelly performed snippets of his hit songs including, “Bump & Grind,” “Contagious,” and “Ignition.” The studded out singer concluded his seven-minute performance-a tribute to well, himself- ever so graciously saying “That’s my song, that’s my time ya’ll. I gotta get out of here.” In that jacket, yes R. Kelly, you do.
No one expected for BET to turn into YaadFest until we saw DJ Jabba bring out Beenie Man and Elephant Man. The audience (and every Caribbean household tuned in) went wild. But the best part of the performance had to be Nicki Minaj wining and “signaling the plane.”
Ciara’s racy performance was among our favorites. She hit the stage with Nicki Minaj to perform her second single “I’m Out” then went straight into her chart-topping single, “Body Party.” Ciara reminded us that she has no competition when it comes to those abs and her seductive choreography. CiCi’s back, ya’ll.
Can we all agree that it would have been epic if J. Cole had brought T-Boz and Chilli out to perform “Crooked Smile” with him? All in all, J. Cole’s performance was an ordinary J. Cole performance. Fortunately for him, we’re loyal fans due to his lyrics and not his monotonous stage presence.
Janelle Monae closed the show out looking as cute as ever as she hit her praise dance in a pair or heels alongside the voluptuous Erykah Badu. The two performed “Queen,” before bringing out a random white dog. I think we’re all wondering if that was a stage prop or what.
Fortunately the performances made up for several fashion fails shown during the pre-show, including the Versace craze. J. Cole, Brandon T. Jennings and DJ Drama all showed up in the same black and mustard Versace crewneck on the red carpet. If that wasn’t awkward enough, Angela Simmons dress sure enough was. The fashionista wore a Christmas ornament and a tin man inspired dress that left us all at home wondering, “Girl, what the hell…” Throughout the pre-show, it was clear that leather is still the “it” thing- even in 90 degree weather. However, there were a few impressive looks, Meagan Good being one of them of course. The gorgeous actress broke a few necks in a body fitting, deep cut blue dress that left us all crossing out fingers praying for a nip-slip.
The BET awards remained socially aware of issues despite these great performances. NBA basketball star, Dwyane Wade was honored with the Humanitarian award for his work with inner city use. Don Cheadle also took a moment out to speak on Nelson Mandela’s health, asking that we take a moment to pray for the activist. The subtlest social awareness moment was caused by Jamie Foxx’s wardrobe. Fox wore a t-shirt with the face of Trayvon Martin on it, in support of the ongoing case.
We were also able to check out a few sneak peeks for movies coming out later on this year, including Kevin Hart’s “Let Me Explain,” “Fruitvale Station,” and “Best Man Holiday” where the original cast returns including stars, Nia Long and Sanaa Lathan.
The BET Awards was quite impressive, check out the list to see which one of your favorite artists racked up.
Best Female R&B/Pop Artist
- Beyonce
- Tamar Braxton
- Alicia Keys
- Rihanna*
- Elle Varner
Best Male R&B/Pop Artist
- Chris Brown
- Bruno Mars
- Miguel*
- Justin Timberlake
- Usher
Best Group
- Macklemore & Ryan Lewis*
- Mary Mary
- Mindless Behavior
- Slaughterhouse
- The Throne (Kanye West and Jay-Z)
Best Collaboration
- 2 Chainz (featuring Drake)- “No Lie”
- A$AP Rocky (featuring Drake, 2 Chainz and Kendrick Lamar)- “F—in’ Problems”*
- French Montana (featuring Rick Ross, Drake and Lil Wayne)- “Pop That”
- Kendrick Lamar (featuring Drake)- “Poetic Justice”
- Justin Timberlake (featuring Jay-Z)- “Suit & Tie)
- Kanye West (featuring Big Sean, Pusha T and 2 Chainz)- “Mercy”
Best Male Hip Hop Artist
- 2 Chainz
- A$AP Rocky
- Drake
- Future
- Kendrick Lamar*
Best Female Hip Hop Artist
- Azealia Banks
- Eve
- Nicki Minaj*
- Rasheeda
- Rye Rye
Video of the Year
- 2 Chainz (featuring Drake)- “No Lie”
- A$AP Rocky (featuring Drake, 2 Chainz and Kendrick Lamar)- “F—in’ Problems”
- Drake- “Started From the Bottom”*
- Drake (featuring Lil Wayne)- “HYFR”
- Kendrick Lamar (featuring Drake)- “Poetic Justice”
- Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (featuring Wanz)- “Thrift Shop”
- Miguel- “Adorn”
- Rihanna- “Diamonds”
- Justin Timberlake (featuring Jay-Z)- “Suit & Tie”
- Kanye West (featuring Big Sean, Pusha T and 2 Chainz)- “Mercy”
Video Director of the Year
- A$AP Rocky and Sam Lecca
- Benny Boom*
- Director X
- Dre Films
- Hype Williams
Best New Artist
- Azealia Banks
- Joey Bada$$
- Kendrick Lamar
- Trinidad Jame$
- The Weeknd
Best Gospel Artist
- Deitrick Haddon
- Lecrae
- Tamela Mann
- Mary Mary*
- Marvin Sapp
Best Actress
- Angela Bassett
- Halle Berry
- Taraji P. Henson
- Gabrielle Union
- Kerry Washington*
Best Actor
- Don Cheadle
- Common
- Jamie Foxx*
- Samuel L. Jackson
- Denzel Washington
Young Stars Award
- Gabrielle Douglas*
- Jacob Latimore
- Keke Palmer
- Jaden Smith
- Quvenzhane Wallis
Best Movie
- “Beats of the Southern Wild”
- “Django Unchained”
- “Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap”
- “Sparkle”
- “Think Like a Man”*
Subway Sportswoman of the Year
- Gabrielle Douglas*
- Brittney Griner
- Candace Parker
- Serena Williams
- Venus Williams
Subway Sportsman of the Year
- Victor Cruz
- Kevin Durant
- Robert Griffin III
- LeBron James*
- Ray Lewis
Coca-Cola Viewers’ Choice Award
- A$AP Rocky (featuring Drake, 2 Chainz and Kendrick Lamar)- “F—in’ Problems”
- Drake- “Started From the Bottom”*
- Kendrick Lamar- “Swimming Pools (Drank)”
- Miguel- “Adorn”
- Rihanna- “Diamonds”
- Justin Timberlake (featuring Jay-Z)- “Suit & Tie”
Centric Award
- Tamar Braxton-“Love and War”*
- Fantasia-“Lose to Win”
- Miguel- “Adorn”
- Nas- “Daughters”
- Charlie Wilson- “My Love Is All I Have”
Best International Act: Africa
- 2Face Idiba (Nigeria)
- Toya Delazy (South Africa)
- Donald (South Africa)
- Ice Prince (Nigeria)*
- R2Bees (Ghana)
- Radio and Weasel (Uganda)
Best International Act: UK
- Marsha Ambrosius
- Estelle
- Labrinth
- Rita Ora
- Emeli Sande*
- Wiley
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