The industry’s greatest stars gathered in Atlanta, Ga. on Tuesday night for the 2015 “BET Hip Hop Awards.” In the short time of two hours, the show was packed with a number of special performances, a few acceptance speeches and, of course, the highly anticipated Cyphers.
Leading off the show was Future Hendrix, who sang songs off his DS2 album. His pre-taped open from Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park featured hit songs “Where Ya At” and “March Madness.” This year, Future has had two number one albums, which prove that he deserved the opening time slot.
Following this, the show introduced the “hostess with the mostest,” Snoop Dogg, or Uncle Snoop as he was referred to by may artists. He opened the show behind a DJ Booth, dropping it like it’s hot while hyping up the performances to come. During the show, Snoop showed his comedic side with his subpar skits, which were not popular among Twitter users. But, that’s okay, because Snoop Dogg will always be “Tha Shiznit.”
Of course, many people tune in to the BET Hip Hop Awards to watch the Cyphers as well. For those of you who do not know what a Cypher is, it’s a type of freestyle rap which almost solidifies one’s career as a rapper. All of hip hop’s greats have participated in a Cypher. No matter what style of rap you prefer, this year’s participants outdid themselves, from newcomers like Raury, Vince Staples and Tink, to veterans like Redman, Keith Murray and even Charles Hamilton.
Demonstrating the power of the Cypher, O.T. Genasis, who partook in one in the 2014 Awards, sat front row this year to take in all of the festivities. Spontaneously, he was challenged to get onstage and perform his hit “CoCo.” Hesitant at first, Genasis quickly got on stage and had everyone singing, “I’m in the love with the coco.”
Another standout performance came from Puff Daddy, aka Diddy, when he brought Lil Kim out on the stage for a bit. DeJ Loaf also sang “Be Real,” which included a surprise entrance from Kid Ink. Then, closing out the show, and closing it in a memorable way as always, was Travi$ Scott, who preformed “90210” and “Antidote” with another special guest, La Flame.
Since this was an award show, there were some awards given out. But, out of the 19 award categories, only three were given out during the airing of the show. The awards that were highlighted on air were Big Sean for his Best Club Banger, “IDFWU,” and Scarface’s I Am Hip Hop award. Fetty Wap, too, was presented with the Who Blew Up award. He was not there to accept this award, though, since his motorcycle accident in September put him out of commission.
Although funny story about the legendary rapper Scarface’s acceptance speech: after making a very inspirational and humbling speech about how grateful he is to share his music with so many people of different generations, he was arrested for failing to make child support payments. A sheriff was waiting for him backstage after his speech.
Other big winners of the night included Kendrick Lamar and St. John’s alum, J. Cole. Lamar won three awards Best Lyricist of the Year, Best Impact Track and Best Hip-Hop Video for “Alright.” J.Cole was presented with two awards, one being Best Album of the Year for his “2014 Forest Hills Drive,” his third studio album.
As always, the 10th annual BET Hip Hop Awards did not disappoint. To relive the top moments, head over to BET.com.
