Through the hustle and bustle of the 1^st annual BET Hip Hop Awards, much of the conversation backstage and in the media room will never be broadcast on television. So just like we did during the BET Awards, we bring to you “What You Won’t See At The BET Hip Hop Awards.”

Being as though this was a taped broadcast, there was much seen behind the scenes that may get lost on the editing floor or simply never be shown. The first thing of notice was how incredible the crowd was outside during the Red Carpet but how dead the audience was inside during the award show. Reason? Well, apparently BET decided to give industry heads free tickets to the show rather than the general public. The result—a crowd not excited to see Jay-Z and Chamillionaire because they pretty much know these guys. The pandemonium that took place when artists like Bow Wow, Ludacris and T.I. arrived on the Red Carpet was lost in translation in the Fox Theater. Maybe BET didn’t want any incidents to take place with a hyped up crowd. Maybe they didn’t want to see the “hood” come out like the Source Awards. Who knows?

The show was not a resounding success to some of the media that attended. But many did say that it was a great start and hopefully BET can fix the hiccups that it had with this show.

Some things you may or may not see…

Thankfully, the awards went by pretty quick. Being as though it was not a live recording, many wondered if it would take hours to wrap up. BET did a great job of moving through the show quickly. But it shouldn’t have been that hard anyway considering that there were only a few awards given while as many as 7 awards were given off the air. Peculiarly, the award for Best Hip Hop CD was not given on air. Nobody really knows how in the hell that happened but maybe they’ll edit it in somehow.

Young Jeezy’s performance was something to behold. Why you ask? The “strippers” yo! Jeezy felt it was a good idea to set the stage up like a strip club called “Jeezy City.” Jeezy’s show was straight but those “strippers” (they were fully clothed but hit them poles HARD)…  wow! It was so “wow” that me and a good industry friend had this conversation…

“Did you see Jeezy's performance?”

“Yeah with the strippers?”

“(laughter) YUP!”

“Is all that booty poppin’ is gonna make it on air?”

“Thats what I said! Like how is that possible”

“Ol’ girl was WORKING IT” (In reference to one in particular lady who’s butt moved in unbelievable ways)

“Especially the stripper on the left!”

“I had my ‘Oh My God!’ face on!”

“Me too! The two girls on the left were doing the damn thing! Everyone was in shock!”

If that rumpshaking makes it on the air, I’d be (pleasantly) surprised because BET is known to cut out the “booty.”

We also found out why the show was taped. Many of you will see that there was a ton of cussing during shows, especially during Game’s set. After about the 3^rd “motherfucker” a BET rep told those in the media room “...and this is why we tape recorded this event.” Can’t blame them.

Many of the performances were solid but because of the lack of crowd participation they didn't translate too well. Even hometown favorites DJ Unk and Ludacris couldn't set the industry crowd on fire. It may have been because Jermaine Dupri's party the night before simply wore out all those in attendance (including myself). Maybe BET will inject a little crowd noise to help out. Continued on page 2 »