2010 BET AWARDS [REVIEW]

On Sunday, June 28th, the black stars of music, movies, television and sports gathered for the tenth anniversary of the BET Awards 2010.

Cited as the biggest night in black entertainment, the star-studded ceremony was action-packed with performances from Alicia Keys, Usher, Kanye West and what is being labeled as the comeback of the night, Chris Brown.

SUMMARY ANALYSIS

Hip-hop superstar Kanye West, who has remained in seclusion since interrupting Taylor Swift’s speech at the 2009 Video Music Awards, opened the show atop a mountain with a premiere performance of “Power”, his first single.

While the performance was equipped with a visually engaging backdrop and overall, stands as another good showing for the talented rapper, it was simply not within the realms of an opening performance.

Among the other performances that arouse as your typical rap outings were T.I.’s energetic showing of “Yeah Ya Know (Takers)”, which featured Travis Barker on drums, and Dirty Money’s smoke-filled and lip-sync performance of “Hello, Good Morning”, featuring Rick Ross, T.I. and Nicki Minaj.

R&B heartthrob Usher graced the stage next and instead of delivering one of his signature dance-incorporated performances, he opted to tone it down with a vocally-focused performance of his beautiful ballad “There Goes My Baby”.

As unexpected as the modest outing was, the “OMG” crooner has the confidence and more importantly, the vocal ability to pull off a performance of this capacity.

Alicia Keys, who collected the ‘Best Female R&B Artist’ trophy, performed a medley that included “No One”, “Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart”, “If I Ain’t Got You” and her latest No.1 hit “Un-Thinkable (I’m Ready)”.

The mom-to-be struggled to find a constant within her performances as it came across extremely unorganized and furthermore, the Kim Burrell appearance proved to be another downfall as it has become too predictable that the star is going to bring out an older artist to contribute to her performance.

Fellow mother Keyshia Cole resurfaced by filling in for Hayley Williams during B.o.B’s performance of “Airplanes”, which featured an off-key and screechy vocal performance from the “Heaven Sent” diva, as well as, an appearance from Eminem, who also performed his No.1 hit “Not Afraid”.

R&B veteran Monica was joined by Deniece Williams for a performance of “Everything to Me” and the song it samples “Silly”, before presenting Keys with the ‘Best Collaboration’ award for “Empire State of Mind”.

As always, the “Love All Over Me” diva delivered a dazzling showing that showcased her soulful chops, and although Williams’ range has clearly deteriorated with age, she also delivered a solid effort.

Jermaine Jackson announced Chris Brown, who was on hand to tribute legendary music icon Michael Jackson (June 25th, mark one year since his death) by hailing it as the tribute “we have yet to see”, and the question on everyone’s mind was, would Brown deliver?

The answer is a resounding, Y-E-S!

Brown may not have danced with the fluidity or skill of his icon, but he was the best candidate for the job and in complete honesty, it is hard to think of someone who could have done it better other than Michael, himself.

That said, the key moment came when the singer broke down while trying to perform “Man in the Mirror”, a song that rings reflective of his recent mistakes. It was the emotional vulnerability that we had been seeking from Chris since the scandal with Rihanna broke and he finally delivered on the front.

Some people are claiming his breakdown is nothing more than a publicity stunt, and while a bunch of the factors point in that direction (like the fact that he didn’t sing any of the other songs live, but chose sing that particular song live at the end while out of breath), it really doesn’t matter at this point, because everyone makes mistakes and let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

Following that show-stopping moment, Drake hit the stage for a performance of “Fireworks” and “Over”, before bringing out Young Jeezy for their collaboration “Lose My Mind”.

R&B stud Trey Song took on his emotional cut “Yo Side of the Bed”, by incorporating “Purple Rain”, and while it was far from a perfect vocal, it was an solid performance on his part, although he still shouldn’t have won ‘Best Male R&B Artist’ over Usher or Maxwell.

Prince Rogers Nelson was later honored with the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’, which saw an completely female line-up with performances from Janelle Monae, Esperanza Spalding, Alicia Keys and Patti Legend.

It was here that Keys stole the spotlight with a performance of “Adore” that oozed a natural sexiness as she climbed atop her piano while continuing to belt out the song. Pregnancy truly agrees with her and in this moment, it’s safe to say she has never looked more beautiful.

Labelle closed the tribute with “Purple Rain”, by putting her own spin on the classic and hitting notes that no one else would even dare attempt. The arrangement was a miss and despite some great notes from the legendary diva, it just reaffirmed that some songs shouldn’t be touched.

Other performances included El DeBarge, who was surprisingly a delight, Tyrese, who honored Teddy Pendergrass, and a Gospel fusion including Kirk Franklin, Fred Hammond, Yolanda Adams, Marvin Sapp and others.

Closing the show, Ludacris and DJ Khaled performed “My Chick Bad” and “All I Do Is Win”, respectively with the assistance of Tommy Lee, Nicki Minaj, T-Pain and others.

CELEBRITY BUG'S BEST OF THE NIGHT
The Tribute to Prince (Alicia Keys)
The Tribute to Michael Jackson (Chris Brown)

CELEBRITY BUG'S WORST OF THE NIGHT
Keyshia Cole
Nicki Minaj’s Lip-Syncing