Viewers’ Choice Award
Chris Brown ft. Lil Wayne & Busta Rhymes "Look At Me Now"
Lil Wayne ft. Cory Gunz "6 Foot 7 Foot"
Mindless Behavior "My Girl"
Nicki Minaj ft. Drake "Moment 4 Life"
Rihanna ft. Drake "What's My Name?"
Trey Songz ft. Nicki Minaj "Bottoms Up"
Who Should Win: Lil Wayne ft. Cory Gunz "6 Foot 7 Foot"
Who Will Win: Chris Brown ft. Lil Wayne & Busta Rhymes "Look At Me Now"
Thoughts: First off, who in the fuck is Mindless Behavior and how did they get nominated for anything? Having your song played anywhere is no longer a requirement to be a BET Awards nominee? Cool, well I like Young Real Nigga’s chances next year.
Anyway, call me old fashioned, but I feel like the viewers should vote for the best song, and 6 Foot 7 Foot is the best song, thus it should would. Unfortunately, that’s no longer how it works now that most of the viewers are as clueless as the artists they adore. For that reason, Chris Brown should win this in a landslide.
Best Female R&B Artist
Marsha Ambrosius
Beyoncé
Keri Hilson
Jennifer Hudson
Rihanna
Who Should Win: Rihanna
Who Will Win: Rihanna
Thoughts: As odd as it is to say this, Rihanna should and will win Best Female R&B Artist. Yeah, should can’t sing and all, but out of this group, who had a bigger year than her? Keri Kilson? Please. Rihanna’s only real competition here is Beyonce, and her damn album isn’t even out yet (well not in stores at least). Rihanna grabbed a platinum plaque, 3 #1 singles as a lead artist, and 1 #1 single as a featured artist, but it’d be a tragedy if she didn’t win, if not for her titties performance in the Man Down video alone.
And if you still can’t wrap your head around the worst singer nominated winning this award, just keep in mind, this is “Best Female R&B Artist,” not singer.
Best Male R&B Artist
Chris Brown
Cee-Lo Green
Bruno Mars
Trey Songz
Usher
Who Should Win: Bruno Mars
Who Will Win: Chris Brown
Thoughts: If this award was given for "best ability to stay in the news for anger issues while being seen as a sympathetic figure by fans for reasons that aren’t quite clear" then I'd agree that this award should be all CB's. BUT if we’re going off who had the most successful past 12 months, there's no question it's Bruno Mars.
Now I know it’s trendy to not like Bruno (for reason that are also not clear), but since the last BET Awards, he’s had a platinum album, 2 #1 singles, a 3rd single that rose to #4, 0 nonsensical Twitter beefs, 0 chairs thrown through Good Morning America windows followed by shirtless getaways, and 0 cries for attention via hair bleaching. This is Bruno’s award.
Best Female Hip-Hop Artist
Diamond
Cymphonique
Lola Monroe
Nicki Minaj
Who Should Win: Nicki Minaj
Who Will Win: Nicki Minaj
Thoughts: To this day, I still struggle with why exactly this is a category. If you reach in your ass and pull out Diamond, Lola Monroe, and (most egregiously) Cymphonique (Somaya Reece is more qualified to be nominated than this nobody) and STILL can’t fill out the category with 5 names, maybe it’s time to discontinue it.
Besides, can’t we just give the awards to Nicki Minaj for the next 5 years and be done with it? Is there any chance any of these other chicks get their album released, let alone succeed, at any point ever? Probably not, and that’s be generous. Seriously, "Best Country Singer" would make more sense at the BET Awards than this shit. It’s a disgrace to Hip-Hop.
Best Male Hip-Hop Artist
B.o.B
Drake
Lil Wayne
Rick Ross
Kanye West
Who Should Win: Kanye West
Who Will Win: Kanye West
Thoughts: Yes, Kanye should win and will win, but this shit wasn’t as a decision and you might think. Rick Ross had a helluva past 12 months. He put out a near classic album, countless street anthems, and made people care about who Meek Mill is. Oh, and that’s not to mention proving that you can’t be a total hypocrite and liar and still be success as long as you put out good music. That counts for something. Unfortunately, not as much as any and everything Kanye West touches tough.
Best Collaboration
B.o.B ft. Haley Williams of Paramore "Airplanes"
Chris Brown ft. Lil Wayne & Busta Rhymes "Look at Me Now"
Kanye West ft. Rihanna "All of the Lights"
Chris Brown ft. Tyga & Kevin McCall "Deuces"
Waka Flocka Flame ft. Roscoe Dash & Wale "No Hands"
Rihanna ft. Drake "What's My Name"
Who Should Win: Chris Brown ft. Lil Wayne & Busta Rhymes "Look at Me Now"
Who Will Win: Rihanna ft. Drake "What's My Name"
Thoughts: You read that right, yes, I think Chris Brown's Look At Me Now should win Best Collaboration. B.o.B's Airplanes was good, but the song undoubtedly would’ve been better sans Haley Williams; Kanye West's All Of The Lights was dope, but Rihanna really brought nothing to the record, and besides, you can’t even recognize the overwhelming majority of artists featured on the song; Deuces is old as fuck and shouldn’t even be nominated; and Waka Flocka's No Hands wasn’t even a good song, so it’s placement in this category isn’t even legit. That leaves Look At Me Now and What's My Name, and the determining factor for me was the fact that Busta Rhymes had a better verse than everybody on every other song nominated in this category.
Best New Artist
J. Cole
Bruno Mars
Miguel
Willow Smith
Wiz Khalifa
Who Should Win: Bruno Mars
Who Will Win: Bruno Mars
Thoughts: For the reasons stated above under "Best Male R&B Artist," Bruno Mars should win this award as well. Unfortunately, the real reason he’s going to win this award is because there’s no chance he wins Best Male R&B Artist, despite having a vastly more successful year than Chris Brown. Sad, but true.
Best Group
Diddy Dirty Money
Cali Swag District
N*E*R*D
New Boyz
Travis Porter
Who Should Win: Diddy Dirty Money
Who Will Win: Diddy Dirty Money
Thoughts: Dirty Money wins this by default. Cali Swag District cursed Hip-Hop with yet another bullshit song and dance, N*E*R*D doesn’t even make BET-type music, the New Boyz are essentially irrelevant, and Travis Porter is Travis Porter. Dirty Money falls up into this win.
Video Of The Year
"Far Away" Marsha Ambrosius
"Airplanes" B.o.B ft. Hayley Williams of Paramore
"Look at Me Now" Chris Brown ft. Lil Wayne & Busta Rhymes
"Pretty Girl Rock" Keri Hilson
"Whip My Hair" Willow Smith
"Runaway" Kanye West ft. Pusha T
Who Should Win: "Look at Me Now" Chris Brown ft. Lil Wayne & Busta Rhymes
Who Will Win: "Pretty Girl Rock" Keri Hilson
Thoughts: First off, Marsha Ambrosius' Far Away is disqualified for a dude-on-dude kiss. Completely uncalled for, my eyes have yet to recover.
Also, Kanye West's Runaway is DQ'd as well because it doesn't even have a real video; it just has a snippet from his movie "Runaway." Why wouldn't All Of The Lights be nominated instead? Not only does it have a "Runaway" snippet, but also an actual video. And of course, this is all besides the fact that Runaway the song should've been nominated for Best Collaboration instead of All Of The Lights. I swear there are some true retards working for BET.
Anyway, Look At Me Now is probably the best video of those left to choose from (mainly for its use of the DeLorean). My logic in saying Pretty Girl Rock will win is based on BET possibly growing tired of slobbing Chris Brown's knob. I doubt it, but who knows?
Video Director Of The Year
Benny Boom
Mr. Boomtown
Chris Robinson
Kanye West
Hype Williams
Who Should Win: n/a
Who Will Win: n/a
Thoughts: I hardly even watch music videos anymore, let alone pay attention to who directs them. That’s sooooo 1998.
Youngstars Award
Shenell Edmonds
Keke Palmer
Diggy Simmons
Jaden Smith
Willow Smith
Who Should Win: Diggy Simmons
Who Will Win: Jaden Smith
Thoughts: This is the BET Awards, Diggy is the only 1 who makes music I'd listen to, thus he should win. Too bad he won’t though.
Best Actress
Halle Berry
Taraji P. Henson
Regina King
Zoë Saldana
Kerry Washington
Who Should Win: Taraji P. Henson
Who Will Win: Taraji P. Henson
Thoughts: Not saying she isn't deserving of this award, but Taraji P. Henson wins by default because she’s the only one who's working on anything the bulk of the BET audience would know of (I don’t think 106 & Park and Southland have much crossover in this department). Then again, Zoë Saldana was in "Takers" albeit as about the 10th lead, but still.
Best Actor
Laz Alonso
Chris Brown
Don Cheadle
Idris Elba
Jamie Foxx
Who Should Win: Laz Alonso
Who Will Win: Idris Elba
Thoughts: Question: How is "The Book Of Eli" nominated for Best Movie, but the lead in that movie (Denzel Washington) isn’t nominated for Best Actor? Someone explain that to me. And I know Tyler Perry is a (shitty) writer, but he starred in the biggest "black movie" of the past year. He gets no nod either? I guess what I'm trying to say is, I still don’t know how Chris Brown was nominated for Best Actor for being the 4th or 5th lead in a movie sitting at 27% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Laz Alonso probably should win, but I’m pretty sure Idris Elba will.
Best Movie
Death at a Funeral
For Colored Girls
Takers
The Book of Eli
Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too?
Who Should Win: For Colored Girls
Who Will Win: For Colored Girls
Thoughts: I guess. I don’t know.
Moving on….
Best Gospel
Byron Cage
Deitrick Haddon
Mary Mary
Karen Clark Sheard
BeBe & CeCe Winans
Who Should Win: Mary Mary
Who Will Win: Mary Mary
Thoughts: I don’t claim to be an expert on Gospel music, but its gotta be Mary Mary, right?
Centric Award
Marsha Ambrosius
Eric Benét
Cee-Lo Green
R. Kelly
Kem
Who Should Win: Kem
Who Will Win: Kem
Thoughts: I'm not exactly sure how R. Kelly found his way under this category, but making one non-bullshit album in the past 5 years doesn’t make you "centric."
Regardless, Kem makes consistent Neo-Soul music and his album Intimacy sold 74,300 copies first week without any mainstream single or buzz. This is really the least BET could do to give the man his just due.
Sportswoman Of The Year
Tamika Catchings
Candice Dupree
Maya Moore
Serena Williams
Venus Williams
Who Should Win: Maya Moore
Who Will Win: Maya Moore
Thoughts: How did BET not know that Serena Williams didn’t play at all over the past year?? That seems like something that shouldn’t slip under the radar when nominations are being considered. And how does that cutie from Norte Dame, Skylar Diggins, not get nominated? Yeah, her team didn’t win the tournament, but she beat Maya Moore’s team. Whatever just give it to Maya.
Sportsman Of The Year
Carmelo Anthony
Kobe Bryant
LeBron James
Derrick Rose
Michael Vick
Who Should Win: Michael Vick
Who Will Win: Michael Vick
Thoughts: No question, heads down, it’s GOT to be Mike Vick. This isn’t up for debate. Matter of fact, let’s just move on.
Best International Act: Africa
2Face Idibia
D' Banj
D-Black
Fally Ipupa
Angelique Kidjo
Teargas
Who Should Win: n/a
Who Will Win: n/a
Thoughts: Who the fuck knows? This award is almost as useless as Best Female Hip-Hop Artist. Almost.
Best International Act: UK
VV Brown
Chipmunk
Laura Izibor
Skepta
Tinchy Stryder
Tinie Tempah
Who Should Win: Skepta
Who Will Win: Tinie Tempah
Thoughts: I have no idea why this International award had to be split into 2 separate categories (that no one cares about), but I guess it’s the BET way to make these sort of nonsensical decisions.
Anyway, I’ve only heard of Skepta and Tinie Tempah, and I think Skepta should win for this video alone.
