http://eurweb.com/story/eur27174.cfm
At the BET Awards Tuesday night, Prince didn't do a performance
drive-by like he did at the "American Idol" finale. He stayed, got
comfortable and even made a heartfelt speech to accept his best male
R&B artist award.
In a night that featured high-energy performances by Beyonce, Busta
Rhymes and surprise appearances by Eminem and Janet Jackson, it was
Prince who seemed to electrify the Shrine Auditorium through both of
his stage appearances once during a show-stopping tribute to Chaka
Khan featuring Stevie Wonder, India.Arie and Yolanda Adams; and
another that actually did stop the show.
Prince & Chaka Khan perform during the 2006 BET Awards
Meanwhile, Chris Brown, Mary J. Blige and the "Gold Digger" combo of
Kanye West and Jamie Foxx each picked up two awards apiece to lead
the roster of winners (listed below).
For those who missed the show, here are the highlights:
Beyonce channeled Tina Turner for her scorching performance
of "Déjà Vu" to open the program. Boyfriend Jay-Z dipped in for his
part, then promptly dipped back out.
Jimmy Walker, Bernadette Stanis and Ralph Carter had no idea that
their former "Good Times" co-star Janet Jackson was even in the
building when she sashayed across the stage and joined them to
present an award.
Don King, waving a tiny U.S. flag, introduced the self-proclaimed
king of the South, T.I. The rapper then had severe sound problems
during his performance of "What You Know."
Jamie Foxx brought out Fantasia to perform his latest single, "DJ
Play A Love Song," and then threw his tongue down her throat midway
through the set.
Chris Brown hit folks with a little "Run It" then brought out Lil
Wayne for "Gimme That," during which he channeled MiJac's look in
the "Smooth Criminal" video and did somersaults. Next, he climbed
into a cage to perform "Yo (Excuse Me Miss)" and it floated over the
audience toward the balcony, where he picked up a young lady and
serenaded her while floating back toward the stage.
Prince actually uttered sentences upon receiving his best male R&B
artist award. He said the honor was "unexpected but appreciated
nonetheless." He thanked in this order Jehovah God, Chaka Khan,
Stevie Wonder, India.Arie and Yolanda Adams for "continuing to be
such an inspiration in my life."
Mary J. Blige sang "Be Without You" before unleashing her rap
alter-ego "Brooke" to help her through a crowd-pleasing performance
of "Enough Cryin'."
Keyshia Cole started her performance of "Love" in the audience and
strolled her way to the stage.
Diddy dissed the soundman for messing up his mic, then blamed him
for destroying T.I.'s entire set before introducing his Bad Boy
artist Yung Joc and joining him for a performance of "It's Goin'
Down."
Busta Rhymes, Kelis and will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas and of
course Spliff Star performed "I Love My Chick." For the hyped
performance of "Touch It," Busta was joined one by one by Mary J.
Blige (or shall we say, Brooke), Rah Digga, Missy Elliott, Lloyd
Banks, Papoose, DMX (via the music video) and surprise Eminem
(wearing a t-shirt that read "Shady" on the front and "Proof
Forever" on the back).
BET congratulated itself (through presenters David Banner and
Vivica A. Fox) for its S.O.S. telethon that raised $14 million for
the Hurricane Katrina effort.
Jagged Edge presented an award in Capri pants.
Steve Harvey introduced lifetime achievement award recipient Chaka
Khan. Her musical tribute featured Stevie Wonder (who wrote her
hit "Tell Me Something Good"), Prince (writer of "I Feel for You"),
India.Arie and Yolanda Adams. They started with the opening notes
of "Ain't Nobody" (Prince on guitar, Stevie on keys), before moving
into "Sweet Thing" (Adams on vocals). That gave way to "Tell Me
Something Good," (lead vocals by Arie and Stevie, with Prince
pitching in). Chaka Khan herself took the stage for "Through the
Fire" - speaking of which, Kanye West (who sampled the song for his
first hit "Through the Wire"), was shown in the audience recording
the whole performance with his digital camera. You can't have
Prince, Chaka and Stevie on the same stage and not do "I Feel For
You," which they did and brought the house down. The grand finale
was "I'm Every Woman." (Imagine if Whitney Houston had gotten
herself together enough to join them onstage for that marking her
big return to civilization by saluting Chaka Khan. But it wasn't to
be.)
BET head honcho Debra Lee and actor Danny Glover saluted Harry
Belafonte with the show's Humanitarian Award.
Ne-Yo performed "Sexy Love," with a chair as a prop, then flowed
into "So Sick."
OutKast presented the final award, but not before promoting
their "Idlewild" soundtrack and film (due Aug. 22 and 25
respectively).
For the closing performance, Prince re-emerged with his hair
wrapped in that black scarf that ties in the front and ripped
through "3121" with protégé Tamar, who was dressed in a hot pink,
Asian-influenced dress and toted a silk fan. When the song ended,
Damon Wayans came out to close the show and tried to promote his
upcoming Showtime series, but Prince started playing his guitar over
him, firing up "3121" again and bringing out will.i.am to spit a
rhyme before ending the song for good.
The show ended at about 11:06 p.m., which means those who TiVo'd
the program missed the last six minutes.
Here are the winners:
Best Female Hip Hop Artist: Missy Elliott
Best Male Hip Hop Artist: T.I.
Best Male R&B Artist: Prince
Best Female R&B Artist: Mary J. Blige
Best Actor: Terrence Howard
Best Actress: Taraji P. Henson
Best Group: Black Eyed Peas
Best Duo/Collaboration: Kanye West/Jamie Foxx "Gold Digger"
Best New Artist: Chris Brown
Best Female Athlete: Venus Williams
Best Male Athlete: LeBron James
Best Gospel Artist: Kirk Franklin
Viewers Choice Award: Chris Brown "Yo (Excuse Me Miss)"
Video of the Year: (tie) Mary J. Blige "Be Without You" and Kanye
West/Jamie Foxx "Gold Digger"
Lifetime Achievement Award: Chaka Khan
Humanitarian Award: Harry Belafonte
(posted by the one..well....the only....well...posted by sexxymf66
on the music club as 1 of her different personalities.-j7)
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