As we wait for talent to come backstage and entertain us, the men are pleasantly surprised to see…

Damn. Nia Long looks amazing. All you young girls out there really need to step it up. The R. Kelly complex of old man wants young girl is about to be over. She mentions a few projects she has on the horizon and how much she loves being a mother. She leaves to applause – and I’m sure they were well deserved. Just like I’m sure there were many males in the media room that were thinking this…

Everyone was pretty surprised that Kanye West beat out Lil Wayne for the “Best Hip Hop Artist” Award. But to see Kanye joined by Weezy was classic. But that surprise isn’t the one that got us, it would be Alicia Keys digging into her bag of old school tricks to pull out SWV, En Vogue and Chili and T-Boz of TLC. Alicia really does have an extraordinary way of educating her fans on the good music from the past. Summer Jam was Wu-Tang. AMAs she brought Junior Reid, Beenie Man and Chaka Demus & Pliers. Now this? Have to give credit to Ms. Keys.

Back to the performances and Ne-Yo absolutely killed it with his performance of “Closer.” See, the interesting thing about Ne-Yo is that he’s not the greatest dancer or singer in the world, but he possesses certain intangibles that take him to the next level. His stage show dripped of Michael Jackson influence and an appearance from the Jabbawockeez capped off an incredible performance. You hear that? Yeah…that’s Ne-Yo damn near engulfing Usher in one fell swoop.

The fact that Kobe Bryant, The Dream and Missy Elliott all won awards and didn’t show up was a bit disheartening. Kobe may be in hiding after the Shaq “Kobe, tell me how my ass tastes” diss. But what the hell do Missy and The Dream have better to do than promote themselves? They lost.

WTF moment of the night? The young lady from Baldwin Hills reading out the “dot dot dot” from the teleprompter. Didn’t anyone care to tell the poor young girl that “…” means pause? No? Well now she’s been shamed!

The excitement continued as we finally figured out what T-Pain was doing with that bearded chick. It was for his circus of a performance. To put it simply – it was very interesting. Much like an urban circus, we were all pleasantly surprised by T-Pain’s performance until Rick Ross’ [click to read] belly makes an appearance on the bizarre. I think some of the women threw up in their mouths a little. Word on the street was that Rick Ross and Foxy Brown would disclose their engagement that night. Those rumors were false. But what Ricky Ross did divulge on radio that evening is that Foxy Brown is “his little rider.” Whatever the hell that means. We’re sure it means “friends with benefits.”

We all love Kanye, but after his extra interesting speech and his curse laden performance, we all want to do this to Mr. West.

Somebody (honestly can’t remember who) was backstage speaking to the media when everyone’s attention was snatched by Chris Brown’s performance. The vocals were shaky but the dance moves were solid. We got a little shock when Ciara joined Chris Brown. We figured it would get live but what we didn’t figure is the Ciara straddling of Chris Brown’s pelvic area that got some of the older journalists riled up. All you could here was “uh uh” and the sucking of teeth. Hey, the boy has to become a man sooner or later right?

Backstage, SWV made their way to the podium to discuss their whereabouts for the past few years. “We’ve been home,” Koko said. “We’re married now and have children.” They definitely have aged but still glow with excitement as they answer questions. When asked about giving advice to the newer generation of artists, you could almost sense that the Sisters With Voices have animosity towards the industry politics. “Stay true to yourself, the industry doesn’t love you. Make sure your business is straight. Take care of your business yourself,” said Lelee. “You have to love the music when the radio is not playing you. Radio is not always going to be good to you,” Taj echoed. “Love the music.” So is there a reunion album in the works? As of right now, no. But they are doing spot dates.

En Vogue would follow up next and damn…they still look fly. Most of us used to have a crush on Dawn from En Vogue (© Phife) and when spotted on this evening, we remember why. So will they be putting another album? “No not right now,” Terri Ellis answered. “There’s a few things on the table but we’re just spot dating for now.” Man…that sucks. I wouldn’t mind seeing and hearing them again (Seeing > Hearing). Continued on page 4 »