Bun B [click to read] would come by next with Pimp C’s widow with him. It was touching to watch Bun accept his award for "Video Of The Year" for “International Players Anthem” and Bun would discuss the video to the media. “It was just a beautiful thing that will definitely be one of the days I remember for the rest of my life,” Bun B said when talking about the day the video for "International Players Anthem" was filmed. “We did the entire video in about 18 straight hours. It’s crazy because Andre 3000 and I both had the same idea – the wedding.”

Al Green getting honored was up next and as David Banner approached, he stopped in his tracks and sat with media to check out the tribute. Banner would prove to be one of the more entertaining personalities of the evening. By this time, a pro-Obama theme had settled in for the evening. Who better to ask about the election than David Banner? Banner first had to give his two cents on the Clinton/Bush era. “Hillary Clinton was running on the motto of change,” Banner says. “But if you look at the past twenty years you see George Bush senior, then Bill Clinton, then his son after that. She’s running on change? That’s a lie. It’s been the same.” “If you look even deeper, the Bush and Clinton families run their non-profit organizations together. So they are joined at the hip. I think for the first time in history, we have the opportunity for somebody who is not in the ‘good boy’ network to get into office.” Banner has also always been quite vocal about the media and the community. Banner was one of the most profound voices during the Katrina crisis and was very critical of all media when dealing with the election and the African American community. “The thing I wish America would do from a media perspective as well as a government perspective is tell the story from my side. When I saw the way they were portraying New Orleans, they neglected the fact that people hadn’t gotten support for three or four days and were hungry. They said they were looting but they didn’t tell the whole story,” says David Banner.

Al Green’s tribute was one that had the entire backstage area singing along. Fun times. Maxwell stepping on stage? Priceless. I had heard from a little birdie the day before that Maxwell would be the big surprise. The look on people’s faces said they were pretty shocked. Job well done BET.

Just how did they get Maxwell on stage? BET’s Executive Vice President of Entertainment and Music Programming, Stephen Hill, had all the answers. “We haven’t seen Maxwell perform in five years. So I actually pulled out my Blackberry and wrote the email ‘we’re doing this tribute to Al Green, do you have any interest doing it’ and his response was ‘wowowowow’ and I’m like is that a good thing? He chose this as the first place he’s performed in five years.” Now does this mean we’ll get an album? Al Green admitted that he had a bit of stage fright before he performed. “I’m sorry I didn’t sing as well as I should have because I got scared,” Al Green explained. “Yeah, I was nervous.” He must be kidding right? All those years and he still gets nervous?

To shame men in the media room, Nelly walks in bare-chested to an uproar of women journalists that couldn’t contain themselves. Us dudes, on the other hand, couldn’t contain ourselves to motion for Nelly to put his shirt back on *note to self: increase daily pushup routine by 100*. Someone asked Nelly what he and his girlfriend Ashanti were up to. The funny thing was that Nelly unflinchingly talked about how beautiful she is and about their collaboration. I guess they really are a couple.

Lil Wayne [click to read] would be the one to close out the night. The winner of the "Viewer’s Choice Award" ripped through “Lollipop” and everyone’s favorite song to rap over “A Millie.” I swear to God, one more freestyle over “A Millie” and I may kill myself! T-Pain joined Lil Wayne with a T-Wayne shirt. What’s the deal with that project?

To close out the night, T-Pain revealed the plans. “As far as the album goes, we’re just working on it,” he explained. “We’re good enough friends to start talking about it. We don’t have a definite date and we aren’t trying to set a date. We’re going to work and be the friends we always have been. It’s what it is right now. It’s all about T-Wayne.”

And with that, the awards were over but the festivities had just begun. Many people got it in over at the Roosevelt Hotel for the official BET After Party. I received an email shortly after the party started that Aaron McGruder [click to read] (creator of The Boondocks) was escorted off the property along with Cedric Yarborough [click to read] (the voice of Tom Dubois) simply for showing up. I guess the BET folks were really pissed about those episodes. Continued on page 5 »