Black musicians honoured at awards
R&B newcomer John Legend joined established stars Alicia Keys and the soon-to-disband Destiny's Child as winners at the BET Awards.
Legend was named best new artist, a trophy the man who discovered him, Kanye West, won at last year’s awards. Destiny’s Child was named best group and Usher took the male R&B artist trophy at the ceremony in Los Angeles which celebrates black entertainment.
Soul diva Alicia Keys hoisted her award for female R&B artist toward the audience and declared: “This is for all my people who are really trying to dream big dreams.”
“Let’s do it,” she said. “Let’s think big. Let’s think beyond what these people are trying to hold us down to. Doctors, lawyers, engineers, musicians.”
She also said backstage she was working on an “MTV Unplugged” live album to be released in October.
The show kicked off with a surprise reunion of The Fugees, who have not recorded an album together since 1996’s The Score. The group performed Ready Or Not and put a reggae twist on Fu-Gee-La.
Lauryn Hill, who had largely dropped out of public view since her 2002 live album, sounded weak at first, saying at one point: “We got a little overzealous in rehearsal.” Her voice returned in time for a rendition of Killing Me Softly With His Song.
Hosts Mr and Mrs Smith – that’s Will and Jada Pinkett – laid down the rules for the show at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre. They arrived on stage in a horse-drawn carriage with spinning custom rims. Smith said they wanted to make the BET Awards on par with shows like “the Emmys, the Oscars, the Grammys, the Tonys”.
“The white ones,” Pinkett Smith added.
Destiny’s Child, Missy Elliott, The Game and Mary J Blige were among the first performers. The Game carried his young son on stage and changed the lyrics to his song, Hate It Or Love It, saying: “Got BET on the grille of my low-rider.”
The women of Destiny’s Child wore slinky brown dresses in their performance and pulled Nelly, Terence Howard and NBA legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson on stage for a trio of lap dances.
Jamie Foxx won the award for best actor, and although he wasn’t on stage he had recorded an audio message to presenter Tom Cruise, saying: “I’m jumping up and down on the couch right now in my room.”
Legend competes with West’s Jesus Walks in the video category, with a nomination for Ordinary People. The melodic song features Legend accompanying himself on piano with no additional instrumentation. He also was nominated for male R&B artist.
Other nominees in the video category – the night’s final award – were Amerie for her catchy 1 Thing, Jay-Z’s black-and-white 99 Problems and Snoop Dogg and Pharrell’s much-mimicked Drop It Like It's Hot.
Denzel Washington and wife Pauletta were honoured with a humanitarian award and Gladys Knight received a lifetime achievement honour.
Winners of the fifth annual awards show were decided by a panel of executives from entertainment companies, record labels and the media, except the viewers’ choice award in which fans voted online for their favourite video.
