BET Awards 2011
More than three hours of some of the top musical acts in black music by the Los Angeles award show by D.C-based Black Entertainment Television. Here are 15 of the more interesting highlights (and lowlights). These are just a few. What are your favorite moments?
15. Nice opening with Mary J. Blige singing with her idol Anita Baker. Good to hear some of those old Blige songs “Real Love” (and dance moves!) from her early career.
14. Good to see BET broadcast via a large screen on stage the comments from Facebook and Twitter users chatting about the show live. I bet most of those comments were censored though.
13. What was with all the removing of clothes? Remember when musical artists simply sang or played instruments? Now we get strip shows from Trey Songz, Kelly Rowland and rapper Rick Ross (!).
12.Come on, was anyone really surprised that Jaden and Willow Smith tied in the category of “Best Young Star”? Nice to see the kids with their proud parents, Will and Jada, sitting together and enjoying the show.
11. Turning a song into a nicely done skit. Kudos to Jill Scott singing about the “power in her rolling hills” and her co-star Idris Elba.
10. He’s not overseeing murder, drug and assault trials in D.C. Superior Court this night. Judge Thomas J. Motley, a Harvard law school classmate of BET CEO Debra Lee, was caught on camera singing, dancing and clapping in the audience as Patti LaBelle sang “Lady Marmalade.”
9. There’s Busta Rhymes spitting on the stage again, although we couldn’t hear 3/4 of what he was rapping about thanks to the profanity censors and edits.
8. Thank you Kerry Washington, Sean (too old for nicknames) Combs and The Game’s Meagan Goode and Marion “Pooch” Hall for showing how to dress elegantly at an international awards show. Pajama bottoms, blue jean shorts, T-shirts and low-sagging pants that show off boxers and briefs seems more than offensive, especially in high-definition. And ballerina tutus?
7. I’m sure the Bruno Mars/Alicia Keys duo was a good idea in concept, but something just seemed off.
6. Georgetown University track star Deidre Sanders was honored for her work on HIV/AIDS and getting other college athletes involved in working with D.C. public school children.
5. Very well done tributes to artists who died during the past year — rapper Nate Dogg, saxophonist Clarence Clemons, poet, lyricist Gil Scott Heron and songbird, Teena Marie.
4. Yes, Tiffany Green, who announced the viewer’s choice award, really can read the difference between Chris Brown and Rihanna and Drake. Green initially announced Brown had won then someone off stage yelled, no it was Rihanna/Drake. So she then said Drake. Then Drake came up on stage and accepted the award. But at the close of show, the host said Green was correct and there were “glitches.”
3. A lovely tribute to Patti LaBelle and good to hear Gladys Knight talk about 50 years in the business with LaBelle. But it seemed Knight took a page out of Scarlett O’Hara by seeing something in a window she had to wear. And Shirley Ceasar with her chiffon wings looked like she got dressed in the enchanted garden. And Cee Lo giving drag performers a run for their money with his ’80’s LaBelle fanned wig. But really, dropping an expletive in a Patti LaBelle tribute?
2. Nice surprise to see and hear Alexander O’Neal and Cherrelle return to the stage. But somethin’ seemed missing when O’Neal smiled for the camera.
1. Comedian Kevin Hart saved the show, especially with his “The Real Husbands of Hollywood” skits. Bobby Brown, the “original Hollywood husband” as he called himself, and Hart’s tattoo of the name “Mariah” on his back to the anger of husband Nick Cannon, priceless.
BET Awards 2011
BET Awards 2011
Article Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com