2009 BET Awards Review

After over two months of anticipation, commercials, and hype, the 2009 BET Awards aired last night nationwide. With Michael Jackson's death occurring just 3 days prior to the live broadcast, BET expectedly and willingly burdened itself with an attempt to revamp a show that had likely been planned "down to a T" for months. Unfortunately for BET and the viewing audiences, it seemed that any organization and structure that might have once existed went AWOL. The 4 hour broadcast succeeded in making me shake my head in disapproval time and time again.

The show opened with a tribute to the Jackson 5 "sung" (and I use the term lightly) by 80s-90s R&B group New Edition. Bobby Brown and his groupmates had the dance steps down perfectly but vocally they were out of commission. It would have been a better opening to have Boyz II Men +1 or a lineup of individual male artists - Neyo, Mario, Ginuwine, Tyrese, Usher - do the tribute. 

Next came the big MC intro skit by Jamie Foxx, and while he certainly grabbed all of our attention and likely had you laughing, I couldn't help but notice how poorly the sound system was performing. Unlike at most award shows where there is a nice crowd mic-stage mic-hand mic balance, the hand and crowd mics were at a much lower volumes than they should have been. Consequently, instead of hearing Jamie's jokes followed by uproarious laughter, all you heard was a muffled, in and out crowd reaction that made it seem like Jamie was falling flat. Even so, the hype and energy was so high for this awards show that all was forgiven.  The house crowd and we home viewers were anxious to move along towards WHATEVER the climax of the show, dedicated to Michael Jackson, would be.

Well, throughout the night we witnessed a lot of mediocre performances, missed stage cues, dead air time, mic issues, lack of comedy, and long-winded speeches. Over time, these shortcomings in production decisions and technical problems drained every ounce of excitement that had existed at the top of the broadcast. Watching the TV became almost a burden of the heart where viewers were left waiting for greatness - something to pay proper tribute to Michael or be the "water cooler topic" for work. Sadly, the closest thing we received was an unexpected and touching speech from Janet Jackson, expressing her grief, gratitude, and love of the community's support. We appreciated her brief appearance, and it provided a last minute boost in energy for the program. Jamie Foxx and Neyo then ended the broadcast with a sweet sounding, emotional duet that complemented the somber yet thankful mood Janet inspired.

So why are so many calling the 2009 BET Awards show a major fail? It's simple. There was nothing in the show that lived up to the hype: no singular powerful MJ tribute, no historic or shocking performances, horrible sound editing, and a ton of just plain mediocrity. But what do you expect? Right now a good number of the artists being promoted and GIVEN success are little more than mediocre. This awards show was ultimately a testament to the fact that you can't create Greatness from a pile of sub par and misused ingredients.

SHOW HIGHLIGHTS:
- "Blame it on the Alcohol Performance" - Jamie Foxx
- 16 y.o. Keke Palmer schooling the wannabe female singers with her short a cappella tribute to MJ
- "Sheneneh and Wanda" movie trailer - Martin and Jamie (this needs to happen)
- Mary Mary & Queen Latifah performance of "It's the God in Me"
- O Jays tribute medley - Tevin Campbell, Tyrese, Johnny Gill, and Trey Songz)
- O Jays performance - sounded remarkably better than many of the younger groups on the show
- Eddie Levert's accidental slip up - "Dancing and Sh*t"
- Jay Z's D.O.A. performance - Undeniable swag, lyrical strength, and stage presence. Very little bleeping needed.
- Acting done by Ving Rhames, Tyrese, and Taraji P. Henson prior to announcing the winner for "Best female R&B."  We were all watching in horror (praying AGAINST a ghetto mess), not knowing whether it was all an act or if Ving and Tyrese were getting ready to throw down on national television.  

SHOW LOWLIGHTS:
- Opening performance by New Edition was not successful vocally. At all
- Every return from a commercial break - Dead air
- Not announcing the nominees was in poor taste. It took away from the "awards" aspect of the show, robbed the viewers of the moment of anticipation, and did not show respect for the non-winning nominees
- Don Cornelius' long winded speech during the O Jays tribute. No one was paying attention and his story dragged on for far too long
- Drake & Lil Wayne performance - Drake's torn ACL confined him to a stool, Lil Wayne's lyrics had so many curses that he was being bleeped on practically every other word. I actually muted my TV on this performance because it sounded like a drawn out train wreck. Combine all that with the underage, 12-14 year old girls dancing on stage to "I wish I could F#*k every girl in the world," and you have a CERTIFIED SOURCE AWARDS HOT MESS.

DIM LIGHTS, The mediocre:
- Keri Hilson's performance was visually stimulating, but vocally underwhelming. She switched mics too often and each mic was at a different sound level, making her performance sound disjointed and manic at times.
- Soulja Boy's "Turn my swag on" - typical and nothing special
- Beyonce's "Ave Maria" was beautiful and sweet, but it seemed more like a clipping from her tour than a unique and crowd-pleasing showcase crafted for the BET Awards/MJ tribute
- Ciara singing a ballad instead of performing an energetic MJ tribute. Again, it was sweet but just time-filler. A ballad would have been better suited for Chrisette Michelle, Letoya Luckett, or KEKE PALMER!
- Neyo's throwback icon medley featuring Keith Sweat, Guy, and B.B.D. - Once again, the dance steps and visual were there, but vocal aspects were lacking.
- Jamie Foxx's hosting - At one point we forgot he was even there.

With so many low and dim elements in the BET broadcast, there was no way this awards show could do justice to MJ or even be cited as one of the better BET awards.

Do you agree with me? Am I just wrong?

Be well,