Erykah Badu was such an amazing host. The way she opened the show up was fantastic and I think she brought a beautiful and chill vibe to the show and she was hood as hell, which I loved. Even just listening to "The Queen of Neo Soul" talk was beautiful. She absolutely shaded Iggy Azaelea into the depths of a shade locker in the pits of hell and it was just beautiful to watch. I was rolling because not only did she come for her rapping skills, she said "Girl, I'll send you an Uber." Queen Badu, ladies and gentlemen. Queen Badu.
I haven't listened to any of Jidenna's stuff but he did a song with Janelle Monae, so there are his credentials right there. His speech was absolutely hilarious and his Nigerian accent was on point, good for him for finding those extra two points!
I never knew Jeremih looked like that. I mean no shade, I just remember always hearing the name. Rather, I would always see the name and think his mom forgot to put the A in his birth certificate and just said fuck it. I thought his name was pronounced "Jeremiah" for the longest time until Erykah told me otherwise when she introduced him. He sounded pretty good. The performance was literally just a bunch of big booty bitches while he jogged around the stage (after the lovely piano opening) but yeah, it was cool.
You're a lying ass fool if you didn't start bopping and feeling yourself when "Car Wash" started playing as Tone Bell and Bresha Webb danced out onto the stage. Their bit was cute. Right? Okay, so they introduced the best collaboration and the winner was: Omarion & Chris Brown (and I guess Jhene Aiko, too? Because she could have accepted, right?) I'm not familiar with their song, I was rooting for Beyonce and Nicki, but I'll give Supposed to Be a listen one of these days. Good for them!
My hands flew up in the air as Badu introduced V Bozeman. First off, V girl, how dare you just strut onto the stage looking that snatched. She looked absolutely amazing. It didn't really matter because her voice sounded amazing, as usual. Her opening up the pilot of Empire set the tone for what a powerhouse that show was going to be. I'm a little salty BET/Centric cut her off but she'll have her moment when she's one of the main acts so I'm not too mad.
Erykah snatching those phones were hilarious. It transitioned into her singing the hell out of "Call Tyrone" and "But You Cain't Use My Phone" strutting across the stage in that jumpsuit and big ass hat. When "Tyrone" popped onto the stage, I lost it.
Was that shade when Erykah said "new CW's hit show" Vampire Diaries? Because that show has been on for 7 years and the network has been up for 10, so I don't know what she was talking about but what I do know is when mama strutted out with the popping natural fro in that shiny sexy dress I got every own of life. It's great seeing her embrace her blackness because she's on one of the whitest networks on TV every week being the token black character with all the shitty storylines (until last season). She always has some fucked up hairstyle and wore the same outfit the first half of Season 5 because she was a ghost. You better work, Kat. She introduced the "Centric Certified Award" which went to my boi Tyrese! It was a nice speech about how he's trying to respark true R&B. Good luck because this white people music is starting to get out of hand.
Lady of Soul Award:
You knew they were going to pull out all the stops for this Jill Scott tribute, who has been constantly underrated throughout the entirity of her career (for reasons we aren't going to get into today, maybe another time when I'm feeling more of the Panther in my spirit). Brenda Meeks, I mean, Regina Hall introduced the tribute calling her "golden," which is the farthest thing from wrong. My certified bad bitch put it in the perfect words "no matter what era you put [Jill Scott] in, she can sing anything, anytime, with anybody." Scott's speech was nothing short of beautiful, from how genuinely modest she is, to how fierce and sexy she knows she is. "Why does it matter what I look like? As long as I tell my story and you relate to it, and you laugh with it and you live with..." I thank her for saying what needs to be said. She hasn't propelled the way she should because she doesn't sex herself up. She doesn't try and make you want to fuck her just so you watch her music video, which will allow you to listen to her music. Her fans are true because they listen to the message she has and stick by her. "I earned it...and I like it." Yes, ma'am. When she told us she wanted to sing something, I sat back and prepared myself for SEVERAL come to Jesus moments. Yes I did. She absolutely smashed it, sounding amazing, owning that stage and proving why she is this year's lady of soul because that was SOUL written all over it. She also took home "Best R&B/Soul Female Artist" rightfully so, belting out her speech in a simple and effective "THANK YOOOOOOOU"
Jazmine Sullivan. Do I even have to say more? Jazmine is another artist who has been burned by this whole "image" thing. She doesn't look how people "want" her to look, so she's not as big as she should be. When you close your eyes and just listen to her amazing voice, you're taken to another world. "Let It Burn" is a great example of this. Even in a big production song, her vocals absolutely soars and she goes in and takes every opportunity to do a riff or a run. Jazmine even gave us some choreography (hands only) but she looked absolutely amazing at just let the music run through her body and tore the roof off of that study. Sullivan paid homage to After 7, whose song she sampled in Let It Burn and they were the absolute perfect pairing. The group and Sullivan sounded so in sync with each other, they would absolutely smash a duet with each other.
Mmmm Janel Monet. So beautiful. So much class. She's just my everything. She presented "Song of the Year," which went to: Uptown Funk. I thought the song was great and got the attention it deserved and it was most definitely one of the most effective songs of the year spending 14 weeks at number one. Can we go back to Janel, for a second? She should be a radio host, her speaking voice is just so beautiful. Or a podcast. Can we have a campaign to get her on The Read?
The church moment of the evening took us to church, back home, back to church, to heaven, then back down to home thanks to Erica Campbell and Tasha Cobbs.
Legend Award:
Baby Face is a legend in his own right. He has written, produced, sung, he's done it all. I loved the clip package because it schooled me, and hopefully a whole lot of other people, in what an amazing talent he is and why he most definitely deserves the Legend Award. Once again, not as big as he should be but he's still very big. When he took up back to 1990 and redid his speech for winning his award it was absolutely hilarious! We are skipping to Fantasia singing her butt off during "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)" during his 'tribute.' Fantasia is such a good singer I can't even type out enough that would do her credit. BUUUUUUT BOYZ 2 MEN WAS THE HIGHLIGHT. Wanya Morris did such a good job off singing has ass off, I have no idea how his buttox is still attached to his body. You know what? I promise that I will do a post dedicated to Boyz 2 Men, Mariah Carey, Whitney THE VOICE Houston and all those amazing singers from the 90s. Anyways, Baby Face got the tribute he deserved and it was amazing.
Wait, let's discuss this commercial for "The Westbrooks." They were billed as "The First Family of reality TV" or some bullshit. One of the girls said "the world is watching your every move." Girl, what world? I'm pretty sure no one in this world, Earth, the one we're living on right now even knows who y'all are. That will probably change when I catch the show during a marathon (if it makes it past this struggling ass first season) but for now, girl, we don't know y'all (:
Is there a full version of Andra Day and Stevie Wonder's absolutely gorgeous Christmas Ad somewhere? Because that was hauntingly superb.
Erykah's intro for R. Kelly was a testament to why she's one of the best hosts from any awards show as of lately (tied with Ellen & Tina Fey/Amy Poehler, there you go, white people <3). R. Kelly's block party performance was awesome, his voice is so beautiful and it just took you back to the block party's the community threw back in the day. Me being 18 probably invokes different nostalgia than everyone in the audience, but still a fun back yard party performance, What wasn't fun was seeing him that close to all those teen girls because...well, you know why, and if you don't then you're probably young enough to where you should know.
I'll maybe review the post show later! But that's all for tonight, folks.
AWARD SHOW REVIEW: B
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