Tha "B" Spot: 06/24

If you havent

had the opportunity to see the BET Awards, please feel free to share in my highlighted review of what I thought were key moments. The show opened with the oh so talented Jennifer Hudson, joined by Jennifer Holiday(wearing really bad man drag). Together they sang "I'm not Going", hearing the two voices together you were able to get an appreciation for what was and an even better appreciation of what is. Holiday held her own in what seemed to be a competition on her part to prove she can still belt the song, however the attempt was lost somewhere in the overly made facial expressions the animal growls and the almost scary head spasms she had while trying to achieve audience reaction. Hudson on the other hand, OWNS this song now, her voice is like chocolate silk... smooth, heavy and from the soul. BET will surely air the show numerous times in the upcoming months so when you can, look out for it.

Just as last year, Mo'nique came out doing a dance routine, this year Mo'Nique did her version of De Ja' Vou by Beyonce

. Unfortunately, (God Bless her soul) couldnt throw it dow like she did last year. However, her big-bo

ned back-up dancers gave it up, by throwing those mighty sides of beef in the air, I was shocked!!. I know the backstage was full of warm compress units for all the charlie horses those girls had. However, they did their thing and held it down. Mo'nique was lacking in her usual spark and didnt quite have the routine down, by the end of the number she has lost one shoe and due to her lower and middle belly, had to have LL COOL J come and remove the remaining shoe so she could bounce around with swollen feet, or ankles or something that was puffy down there...

As the show moved forward, other highlights soon came into play, (yes, I'm skippin Mr. Ne-Yo, who did collect an award, (much props to him...) my girl KEESH, Puffy and Lil' Kim gave us, performance...

Loved it , loved it, looooooooooooved it.. KEESH looked great, slim waisted white outfit, just beautiful, Puffy as always did his thing and then laced the number with Lil' Kim (who is holding tight to her prison pounds). All in all, the performance was great.

Other highlights included , the performance and award acceptance of my boy T.I. , dude is definitely able to balance both words excellently.

Ghetto vs. Chic, he owns both styles. Even with his street edge, I've always admired his "go get it" no nonsense style. T.I does it like no other can...Kudos! The show continued with memorable performance by Beyonce, "Get Me Bodied" but damn if Mo' didnt have to step her chubby legs in and mess that up. God knows I love Mo

'nique but she is getting progressively ghetto... some one needs to knock on her door and let her know she left "Balti'mo" a long time ago.. jeesh! Kelly Rowland also came in as the Beyonce trailer with a great performance in a WonderWoman costume remake, but sadly her vocals were so off, it robbed her of any chance in having a successful stage show. I will give her props on not being ashamed of crawling between her dancers legs... mmmm!

The turning moment of the night was the tribute to Gerald Levert, by Ms. Yolanda, his father Eddie, lady Gladys and momma Patti, they sounded off with their version of "Wind Beneath my Wings"... As Patti began to give commentary on the life and acheivements of Gerald, you could see she was emotionally torn and her make-up was about to crack. So, they quickly moved into set with Eddie begining the song, foll

owed by verses by Yolanda, then Gladys... but when Patti hit the stage... baby WHAT!!!! Patti stole the show and the song and I was not mad at her.. she gave it all.. she was looking grand and sounded outstanding... she definitely gave her heart in that song, I just wish she had let Yolanda get a little more but when you colabo with Patti you best be prepared to humble your talents...

The showed continued with a ghetto infused and inspired 50 cent number "Amusement Park", why lord?? why must we continue to get on national TV portraying images of hoodism? Not only was the performance terrible but I think he was lip synching some of the song, what the hell??? If it wasnt for his muscles, 50 cent would be worth just that... 50 damn cents...before he drops this new CD in Sept, I hope there's a whole lot of revamping going on... Did I mention how Robin Thicke is now on his jock...??? what the hell is up with 50? Always carrying the token white boy, he drops Eminem and picks up Robin... next thing you know Robin is going to be sporting a wife beater and gold grill.. Imagine that...!!!!

As the show con

cluded, they gave honor to Diana "The Boss" Ross . Mo'Nique called out Alicia (where the hell are you !!! ) Keyes to int

roduce the performers for Diana, she was honored in song by Eryka Badu "Love Hang Over", Chaka Khan "I'm coming out" and Stevie Wonder (?) as the music concluded she was greeted onstage by all her kids... I mean all her kids... even the 100% black daughter by Mr. Barry Gordy... !!!! I was impressed with Eryka doing love hangover, so much so that I think if she re-makes the song, she may actually have a hit on her hands... Diana was very graceful, stable and poised as she accepted her award, at a ripe 63, she spoke well and looked even better (lopsided tits and all). It was so nice to hear some Diana favorites and to see the acheivements of this Icon. I love the fact that she made it a point to check Mr. 50 Cent in so many words by saying "to have longevity in your career you d

ont need to go around saying the F-word" .. which he so ignorantly chanted during his lame performance. In speaking of whack performances, what was Ciara thinking??? Strutting around looking all of 80 lbs. grinding, jerking and humping herself in the face of the audience..not to mention just sounding a HOT MESS... poor girl really need to step up the game and start carrying herself as a lady and not a hood-chick! Maybe taking some notes from Mamma Ross might help...

Overall this years show was good, much better than seasons before, even through the desperate attempts and the CEO's of BET to stay young (i.e Debra's bad hair cut and old boys' tacky white suit) We could have done without the repeated announcements new shows pending the fall line up(especially the stuck up black kids show...ewww) I can say BET executed an awards show with some memorable moments. Im sure there are many others out there with conflcting opinions and/or other key point highlights. I welcome the chance to read what you thought. Please see below the attached Fashions that hit the red carpet before the Awards show... there were a great number of dont do's...but here's some Diva Noir...