Remote Control at the BET Awards
By Ronda Racha Penrice, AOL BlackVoices Columnist
Remote Control watched the 2005 BET Awards with great interest. Below are a few things we noticed during the show which, overall, was good. It's about time a black awards show became relevant again.

2005 BET Awards

Michael Caulfield, WireImage
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Host Rundown: Will and Jada Pinkett-Smith
The Smiths held it down. First of all, the African dance set a whole 'Coming to America' vibe, but we loved how they actually mixed different time periods. And who could hate on the wheels spinning on the horse and buggy? The ground rules that Will and Jada set were hilarious. Wish we really could institute a three homeboy rule for awards acceptance entourages. But the killer was when Jada said "Do not thank God if you cannot show or perform your work in church."

Best Strip Club Recreation: Destiny's Child
It started out a tad bit boring but, boy, did it ever pick up when Michelle, Kelly and Beyonce brought Magic Johnson, Nelly and Terrence Howard on stage for a lap dance to 'Cater 2 U.' Destiny's Child, well, Beyonce and Kelly, were so working it out. We thought Terrence Howard might actually pass out on stage. He just couldn't believe that this was happening to him. Terrence didn't seem to care if Jay-Z was there or not. He really looked like he just hit the Beyonce lottery. Kelly wasn't shy either. We're not trying to start anything, but Nelly did seem pleased. Although Michelle was doing more than we could ever imagine, she seemed scared of Magic. Considering that Cookie was in the house, Magic should be very glad he got Michelle.


Best Duo Performance: The Game/Mary J. Blige
The Game was not doing well by himself at all. He looked so alone performing on that huge stage all by himself. At first we thought that 50 had buried the hatchet and was going to join him, but Mary J. Blige was a-okay with us. She looked so fabulous. Has she ever been in better shape? Just loved the whole throwback Mary vibe complete with blonde hair and The Game holding his little one was real cute.

Best Staging: Mariah Carey
We know that she's been having vocal issues so we will give her a pass. Whether Mariah was completely there or not, her set was just gorgeous. How many awards shows have you seen where the stage actually looked like somewhere in the Caribbean? MC definitely gets props for that.


Best Old-School Performance: Gladys Knight
We just don't think that Faith was the right person to serenade Gladys Knight. Toni Braxton could have been cool if she were singing like herself. We don't know what's with this new singing style of hers. Someone said she's trying to channel Anita Baker. We say change the station. Toni looked lovely though. Faith might have wanted to cover up some of those tattoos. She really did look like a reformed biker chick. Although they sounded better together, who at BET thought that Toni Braxton could share a stage with anyone? For a second it looked like she might even elbow Faith out of the way. The real treat was Gladys Knight herself. She saved 'If I Were Your Woman,' 'Neither One of Us' and 'Midnight Train to Georgia' for herself and who could blame her? We certainly were pleased.


The Keeping It Hood Award: Mike Jones
Mike Jones didn't throw on a suit. He came rocking a black t-shirt promoting Mike Jones, of course. In keeping with the southern hip-hop tradition we saw at last year's Source Awards, Jones' performance had a whole bunch of his boys on stage. It was also cool to see him, Slim Thug and Paul Wall performing 'Still Tippin.' One of his boys even drank from a bottle with a brown, paper bag on it.


Most Surprising Hip-Hop Performance: T.I.
It started out typical with T.I. in a t-shirt joined by his boys or rather his group P.$.C. for 'U Don't Know Me,' then the next thing you know T.I. was rocking a suit look and Sheila E. was banging on the drums, backed by trombones and other instrumentation for a big band style version of 'Bring Em Out.' And we thought Jay-Z was going to pop up on stage.

Best Tribute: Teena Marie to Rick James
We love us some Teena Marie, but who knew she had a future on the Def Poetry Jam circuit. Teena brought the house down with her inspired words about Rick James. At first we questioned her tummy out but after she threw down, who cared? This blue-eyed soul singer is just bad. Her tears at the end made her performance even more touching. She showed that he was indeed worthy of "I'm Rick James, Bitch" because he was the real deal.


Moments We Should Have Enjoyed More: The Fugees, Stevie Wonder with John Legend
Maybe it's just us but, judging by crowd reaction, we weren't the only ones thrown off by the Fugees. We guess a reunion was just not what most of us were expecting. Lauryn's voice was a little challenged but she smoothed it out. The best part was when she was flowing. Wyclef really livened things up by diving into the crowd. Lauryn does get props for picking up that dropped earring and placing it back in her ear. She looked sort of nice in the Cat-in-the-Hat inspired outfit. Maybe it just looked odd next to the casual looks of Pras and Wyclef. We don't know what happened to her solo performance, but who knows what's happening with L these days? Stevie Wonder with John Legend could have been cooler is Stevie didn't perform with everyone. It was nice, but didn't Stevie do something similar with Alicia Keys for the 'MTV Video Music Awards'?

Biggest Gripe: The Award No-Shows
Okay how come nobody showed up? No Usher. No Jamie Foxx. No Regina King. No Serena Williams. No Shaq. Did anyone bother to come accept an award? Maybe next time BET should insist that the winners attend or move to the next best thing.

I agree with all of that

meltwithu said:

Nah, we was hoping another Black Album artist was gonna make an appearance.

Snap said:

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It was also cool to see him, Slim Thug and Paul Wall performing 'Still Tippin.' One of his boys even drank from a bottle with a brown, paper bag on it.

Another fine moment in black TV history.

What was Tom Cruise doing there? I'm like he's black now? That boy is everywhere I'm so sick of him.

laurarichardson said:

twink69 said:

Now that was an awkward moment. He looked so out of his league there and it has nothing to do with race. It just looked like what it was, another publicity stunt. And no one seemed to be amused by it.

twink69 said:

His son is black. One day, he has to tell his son "Look what daddy did..." I'm sure that had something to do with him putting Thandie Newton in MI2 also

meltwithu said:

I thought I was the only one who noticed this. While everybody was saying how great the show was, I'm thinking, Yeah it would have been great if the people would have come to accept their awards.

Gosh, I mean at least Denzel has a little thank you video, but the rest is just trifling.

Everybody can break their neck to get the Grammy's or the Academy Awards, where nine times out of ten they won't win, but they can't make it to the BET awards...Wonder what is up with that?

Just like the attire, I was glad when Steve Harvey pointed out "let's give a round of applause to all the brothers with suits on, yes suits". What is it with black award shows, everybody seems to wear a t-shirt and some jeans like they going to the club, yet when they are at the Grammy's or the Academy Awards, they go all out with their tuxedo's, suits and formal attire. Why not look delicate when you are going to the BET awards too?

Just like the attire, I was glad when Steve Harvey pointed out "let's give a round of applause to all the brothers with suits on, yes suits". What is it with black award shows, everybody seems to wear a t-shirt and some jeans like they going to the club, yet when they are at the Grammy's or the Academy Awards, they go all out with their tuxedo's, suits and formal attire. Why not look delicate when you are going to the BET awards too?[/quote]


you gotta keep it real so you don't lose your street cred. heaven forbid you make a good impression on a youngster