Who Should Win, Who Will Win: BET Awards 2010

Best Female R&B Artist
Beyoncé
Mary J. Blige
Melanie Fiona
Alicia Keys
Rihanna

Who Should Win: Alicia Keys

Who Will Win: Alicia Keys

My Take: Rihanna is still considered a R&B artist??

Anyway, Beyonce is always great, but over the past year all she's done with make 2 videos with Lady Gaga. Mary J. Blige had a decent year sales wise, but no real hit singles. Melanie Fiona is great, but lets be serious. Rihanna does mainly pop and alternative music, and Rude Boy alone isn't enough to win her this award. That leaves Alicia Keys. She had several hits over past year, stayed relevant the entire time, and her album went platinum fairly quickly. She's GOT to win this award.

(Side note: How in the hell did Melanie Fiona beat out Monica for a spot here?? Not only has Monica outsold her, BUT SHE HAS A TV SHOW ON BET!)

Best Male R&B Artist
Chris Brown
Raheem DeVaughn
Maxwell
Trey Songz
Usher

Who Should Win: Usher

Who Will Win: Trey Songz

My Take: Let the records show now that if Trey Songz does indeed win, he deserved it. This was his breakout year, and you'd be hard pressed to find a female who doesn't want to help their neighbors know his name as well. I would give it to Usher though because I can't go anywhere without hearing OMG, Lil Freak, or There Goes My Baby! Whether I'm watching TV, driving in the car, or getting my haircut, you just can't escape them. And that's not to mention he's already outsold Trey, even though his album dropped 7 months later. Yeah he's Usher, but Trey is on fiyah right now with the ladies, he should have sold MUCH more than he has at the moment.

Also, Don't sleep on Maxwell. Ladies love him just as much, if not more, than Trey Songz and Usher. That's evidence by him coming from out of nowhere last year and selling 316,000 of his BLACKsummers'night in its first week. Here's the dark horse that could actually steal this one from the front-runners.

Best Female Hip-Hop Artist
Ester Dean
Lil’ Kim
Nicki Minaj
Rasheeda
Trina

Who Should Win: Nicki Minaj

Who Will Win: Nicki Minaj

My Take: Even though Nicki hasn't really done much over the past year outside of a few cameos here and there, she's got to win this one because her competition is basically non-existent. The nominees were essentially thrown together just to say they gave out this award. Seriously, Ester Dean, Lil Kim, Rasheeda, and Trina?? Ester Dean had a minor hit, then disappeared, Lil Kim is only in the news because of a feud with Nicki and Drake, Rasheeda is still an underground artist, and Trina's Amazin' album dropped with so little fanfare than I'm not even sure Slip-N-Slide knows it's out yet. They might as well had thrown Foxy Brown and Missy Elliott in there too. If anything, Nicki wins by default.

Best Male Hip-Hop Artist
B.o.B
Drake
Fabolous
Jay-Z
Ludacris

Who Should Win: Jay-Z

Who Will Win: Drake

My Take: Jay-Z dominated the competition again over the past year notching another #1 album, a platinum plaque, and 3 top 10 singles. Even so, this award will be given to Drake to reward him on his big first week numbers. Oh well, I doubt Jay will be trippin' off of this loss.

Best New Artist
Justin Bieber
Melanie Fiona
Nicki Minaj
Wale
Young Money

Who Should Win: Nicki Minaj

Who Will Win: Nicki Minaj

My Take: Justin Bieber?? Really?? Has BET even aired any of his videos?? Like the last award Nicki won, this one was seemingly thrown. I mean, Young Money is literally nominated for "Best New ARTIST," even though they're a group.

Oh well, it's not her fault there haven't been many hot new artists over the past year.

(Side note: Why isn't B.o.B nominated here?? I mean, yeah, he's been out for awhile, but so has Nicki, Wale, Melanie Fiona, and pretty much everybody in Young Money. B.o.B having two #1 singles to his credit cancels out the fact that he just dropped his debut album this past March?? If Melanie Fiona can be nominated for "Best Female R&B Artist" and "Best New Artist," why can't B.o.B be nominated here and "Best Male Hip-Hop Artist" too?? If he were nominated, he'd surely win.)

Best Gospel
The Anointed Pace Sisters
Kirk Franklin Presents Artists United For Haiti
Tamela Mann
Marvin Sapp
Vickie Winans

Who Should Win: Marvin Sapp

Who Will Win: Marvin Sapp

My Take: I won't claim to know all there is about Gospel music, but I do know Marvin Sapp has been the most commercially successful over the past year. It's his award.

Best Group
Black Eyed Peas
Clipse
Diddy-Dirty Money
New Boyz
Young Money

Who Should Win: Young Money

Who Will Win: Black Eyed Peas

My Take: The Black Eyed Peas sold more records than all these acts combined over the past year so they will win, but if you ask me, they shouldn't even be nominated. 1) They aren't a Hip-Hop or R&B act (anymore), and 2) I'm not even sure they get any play on BET. I don't watch 106 & Park or The Deal, but I'm almost positive Boom Boom Pow or I Got A Feeling were getting much play.

Best Collaboration
Beyoncé f/ Lady Gaga – “Video Phone”
B.o.B f/ Bruno Mars – “Nothin’ on You”
Drake & Trey Songz – “Successful”
Drake f/ Lil Wayne, Kanye West & Eminem – “Forever”
Jay-Z & Alicia Keys – “Empire State of Mind”
Trey Songz f/ Fabolous – “Say Aah”

Who Should Win: Jay-Z & Alicia Keys – “Empire State of Mind”

Who Will Win: Drake f/ Lil Wayne, Kanye West & Eminem – “Forever”

My Take: Drake is the hottest artist out right now, so they have to get him more camera time than just one award and one performance. Plus, the strength of the featured artists makes it easier to explain why it will beat out 2 #1 records in Nothin' On You and Empire State Of Mind.

(Side note: Why isn't Run This Town nominated?? It charted higher than 4 of the 6 songs that were.)

Video Director of the Year
Benny Boom
Gil Green
Anthony Mandler
Chris Robinson
Hype Williams

Who Should Win: I don't know.

Who Will Win: I don't know.

My Take: I'm not gonna lie, I hardly ever pay attention to who directed the videos I watch, so I don't know who did what. BET is banking on you not knowing either so they'll give it to either Benny Boom or Chris Robinson because we know who they are. We know Hype Williams too, but I doubt he actually directed many videos over the past year.

Video of the Year
Beyoncé f/ Lady Gaga – “Video Phone”
B.o.B f/ Bruno Mars – “Nothin’ on You”
Melanie Fiona – “It Kills Me”
Jay-Z & Alicia Keys – “Empire State of Mind”
Jay-Z, Rihanna & Kanye West – “Run This Town”

Who Should Win: Jay-Z & Alicia Keys – “Empire State of Mind”

Who Will Win: Jay-Z & Alicia Keys – “Empire State of Mind”

My Take: Since Empire State Of Mind will get snubbed in Best Collaboration, BET will make it up by giving this one to Hov and A. Keys.

Viewer’s Choice
Beyoncé – “Sweet Dreams”
Jay-Z & Alicia Keys – “Empire State of Mind”
Monica – “Everything to Me”
Rihanna f/ Young Jeezy – “Hard”
Trey Songz f/ Fabolous – “Say Aah”
Young Money (Lil Wayne, Gudda Gudda, Nicki Minaj, Jae Millz, Drake, Tyga) f/ Lloyd – “Bedrock”

Who Should Win: Jay-Z & Alicia Keys – “Empire State of Mind”

Who Will Win: Young Money (Lil Wayne, Gudda Gudda, Nicki Minaj, Jae Millz, Drake, Tyga) f/ Lloyd – “Bedrock”

My Take: This award will be interesting seeing the viewers select the winner, and not BET. I know it's out of BedRock and Say Ahh, but I'm leaning towards BedRock because of Drake, Nicki, and Lil Wayne.

Best International Act
Kojo Antwi (Ghana)
Chipmunk (UK)
Dizzee Rascal (UK)
Estelle (UK)
Hip Hop Pantsula (HHP) (South Africa)
K’NAAN (Somalia)
M.I. (Nigeria)
P-Square (Nigeria)
Corinne Bailey Rae (UK)
Sade (UK)

Who Should Win: Sade

Who Will Win: Sade

My Take: This award is stupid, but I'm be totally shocked if Sade didn't win.

Centric Award
Melanie Fiona
Maxwell
Chrisette Michele
Monica
Sade

Who Should Win: Maxwell

Who Will Win: Maxwell

My Take: This award is really a slap in the face to Chrisette Michele, Monica, and Sade. BET is basically saying, "you weren't good enough to get nominated in any of the real R&B categories, so we'll give you this one."

Nevertheless, if Maxwell doesn't steal the "Best Male R&B Artist" award, they'll throw him a bone and give him this.

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Maxwell - Fistful Of Tears Video

This song recently debuted on the Hot 100 a few weeks back, and now there's a video. This has to be one of the few times in the last 5 years the debut has come before the video. Birthday Sex is one, but I can't think of any other. Oh well, enjoy the vid.

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Thursday Billboard Update - 3/25/10

Gospel singer Marvin Sapp makes Billboard history with his new album Here I Am. At #2 with 76,000 sold, Sapp now has the highest ranking Gospel album in the Billboard 200's 54-year history. What else is there to say but God is good.

Rihanna's Rude Boy hangs on at #1, but the pressure is being laid on thick by B.o.B's Nothin On You (5-2) and Lady Gaga's Telephone (9-3). And with Drake's Over (35-17) bound for a spot in the top 10 sooner than later, this should be an interesting few weeks ahead of us.

The Billboard 200 1-10
first week debuts in bold

1. Lady Antebellum - Need You Now (3-1)
2. Marvin Sapp - Here I Am (2)
3. Ludacris - Battle Of The Sexes (1-3)
4. Various Artists - The Edge (4)
5. Lady Gaga - The Fame (8-5)
6. Sade - Soldier Of Love (6-6)
7. Jimi Hendrix - Valleys of Neptune (4-7)
8. Black Eyed Peas - The E.N.D. (9-8)
9. Gorillaz - Plastic Beach (2-9)
10. Justin Bieber - My World (11-10)

The Billboard Hot 100 1-10
first time top 10's in bold

1. Rihanna - Rude Boy (2-1)
2. B.o.B - Nothin' On You (5-2)
3. Lady Gaga - Telephone (9-3)
4. Lady Antebellum - Need You Now (2-4)
5. Taio Cruz - Break Your Heart (3-5)
6. Black Eyed Peas - Imma Be (4-6)
7. Train - Hey, Soul Sister (6-7)
8. Young Money - Bedrock (7-8)
9. Ke$ha - TiK ToK (8-9)
10. Justin Bieber - Baby (12-10)

• After debuting at #35 last week, Drake's Over is up 18 spots to #17 this week.
• Jay-Z's Young Forever has had a 2nd life on the Hot 100 with the release of the music video, and its up to #33 after disappearing from the charts weeks ago.
• T.I.'s I'm Back debuts at #44.
• Trey Songz's Neighbors Know My Name is up 12 spots 63-51.
• Usher's More debuts at #76.
• After re-entering the Hot 100 last week, Lloyd Banks' Beamer, Benz, Or Bentley featuring Juelz Santana rises 13 spaces 92-79.
• The-Dream's Love King finally debuts at #92.
• Maxwell's Fistful Of Tears debuts at #96. Its about to for that blackSUMMERS'night ain't it Max??

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Thursday Billboard Update - 7/16/09

Maxwell's BLACKsummers'night had a big opening week over on the Billboard 200, selling over 316,000 records, but I'm still boycotting that chart as long as Michael Jackson continues to outsell everybody on it and still be kept off. Now before I move forward, I just wanted to acknowledge Jamie Foxx's Intuition finally crossing the 1 million sold mark this week.

Over on the Hot 100, even despite females lying and acting like they hated Drake's Best I Ever Had video, the song continues to succeed and reached #2 today. That's a new high. Is he going for #1 next week?? And debuting at #10 is Hannah Montana's He Could Be The One.

Billboard Comprehensive Albums 1-10

1. Michael Jackson - Number Ones (349,000)
2. Maxwell - BLACKsummers'night (316,000)
3. Michael Jackson - Thriller (264,000)
4. Michael Jackson - The Essential Michael Jackson (149,000)
5. Various Artists - Hannah Montana 3 sdtk (137,000)
6. Michael Jackson - Off The Wall (107,000)
7. Various Artists - Now! 31 (169,000)
8. Michael Jackson - Bad (97,000)
9. Michael Jackson - Dangerous (67,000)
10. All Time Low - Nothing Personal (62,000)

Top Pop Catalog 1-10

1. Michael Jackson - Number Ones (349,000)
2. Michael Jackson - Thriller (264,000)
3. Michael Jackson - The Essential Michael Jackson (149,000)
4. Michael Jackson - Off The Wall (107,000)
5. Michael Jackson - Bad (97,000)
6. Michael Jackson - Dangerous (67,000)
7. Jackson 5 - The Ultimate Collection (34,000)
8. Jackson 5 - The Best of Jackson 5: 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection (17,000)
9. Michael Jackson - Greatest Hits: HIStory -- Volume 1 (15,000)
10. Michael Jackson - HIStory: Past, Present and Future Book 1 (14,000)
11. Michael Jackson - Invincible (14,000)
12. Michael Jackson - The Ultimate Collection (7,000)

The Billboard Hot 100 1-10
first time top 10's in bold

1. Black Eyed Peas - I Gotta Feeling (1-1)
2. Drake - Best I Ever Had (3-2)
3. Black Eyed Peas - Boom Boom Pow (2-3)
4. Keri Hilson - Knock You Down (4-4)
5. Sean Kingston - Fire Burning (6-5)
6. Taylor Swift - You Belong With Me (9-6)
7. Lady GaGa - LoveGame (5-7)
8. Pitbull - I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho) (8-8)
9. Jeremih - Birthday Sex (7-9)
10. Hannah Montana - He Could Be The One (10)

• Mariah Carey's latest single (aka the Eminem diss record) Obsessed gets a great starting point debuting at #11.

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Maxwell Tops Billboard 200, Sales Career-High

I don't know if its because of everyone being in the store to buy Michael Jackson album, or because people just really love Maxwell that much, but his latest album BLACKsummers'night has sold 319,000 in its first week and will debut #1 when the Billboard 200 is released tomorrow. That's a career-high for Maxwell, besting his previous high of 296,000 on his last album Now.

And just think, he didn't even use auto-tune or sell out and make a ringtone song (*cough* Musiq *cough*). Real music wins again.

SOURCE

Related:
Maxwell Looking At Big Debut Week
Maxwell - Stop The World

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Maxwell Looking At Big Debut Week

Billboard.com is reporting that "industry prognosticators" (every that is lol) are saying that Maxwell's new album BLACKsummers'night could do anywhere between 275,000-325,000 in its first week in stores.

If that prediction turns out to be true, I'd be eating some major crow because I had it doing between 35,000-50,000 on TWIF Tuesday. I hope it comes to fruition because not only would that be big for Maxwell, but for the entire music industry. As Herm Edwards used to say so infamously, "we can build on this!" lol.

SOURCE

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This Week In Flops 7/7/09

How unfortunate for Maxwell that his album was scheduled to release on the same day as one of the biggest events in American history. Really sucks balls for him. Its a shame too because this is a really nice album that I plan on making love to for years to come.

Anyway, Maxwell has 3 things working against him: 1) His album dropped on the same day as Michael Jackson's memorial service 2) Michael Jackson is back dominating sales and 3) his album only has 9 songs on it, one of which is an instrumental. None of those things equal album sales so I'm gonna say Maxwell does somewhere between 35-50k.

This shit hasn't come out yet?? What the hell were they waiting on?? There shitty music couldn't have taken more than a week or 2 to make so why is the album coming out now when that songs was somewhat popular like 6 months ago?? Weird. Don't expect them to doing anything over 5k.

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A Few Thoughts On The BET Awards '09

Okay, no time for introductions and foolery because this might run long (I mean Don Cornelius forgetting he was on stage long BUT we'll get into that in just a minute).

Aight, lets start with the good (it'll be much quicker):

I loved the Jamie Foxx, Beat It dance intro from the tight ass Michael Jackson outfit to the Smooth Criminal lean assisted by the chick holding him up by the chest. Nice touch. Foxx's opening monologue was okay, I had already heard that story on Friday's episode of Foxxhole Radio so it didn't do anything for me but I was rolling when he tried to Moonwalk and down near busted his ass lol. Foxx was a great host.

Good thing #2 was Ne-Yo singing Lady In My Life. Lovely cover, well besides seeing Ne-Yo hatless. Jamie's Blame It performance was pretty hot but I wish Snoop started crippin' when he came out. Travis Barker was a nice touch too and at that point BET broke a record for most white people at a BET Awards.

The next good thing to happen was the D.O.A. performance by Jay-Z. That really kicked the show up a notch because shit was going pretty bad. Question: Why was Beyonce acting like she didn't know Jay was there?? Y'all came in the same limo girl lol.

I also liked the Tevin Campbell, Tyrese, Trey Songz tribute to the O'Jays. Then I loved Eddie Levert saying "snow was falling, when was blowin', people was dancing' and shit" live on TV... and then getting his hand stuck in the award lol. The O'Jays' actual performance was pretty dope too. The funniest part was when they were jammin' and Soulja Boy was standing there like he never heard of these niggas in his life.

Good moments are running low at this point and I must say next that I was loving Maxwell singing Pretty Wings! That boy is bad! And of course I loved how they closed the show out with Janet speaking for the first time since Michael passed and then Jamie and Ne-Yo sang I'll Be There for the most touching moment of the night.

Okay, now that we got that out of the way, lets get to all the bad shit that happened.

First off I gotta touch on the constant failed attempts at censorship. I don't know who was running the bleeper, but that nigga most likely doesn't have a job today. He/She literally missed every bleep by at least a second or 2 (Ex. on Jeremih's Birthday Sex he/she was trying to bleep out sex but was late and ended up just bleeping out "birthday" so it sounded like this: "Birthday sex...sex...sex...sex"). Not to mention that person didn't even make an attempt at bleeping Eddie Levert. I mean, I wasn't there but I saw that shit coming from the beginning of the sentence (and shit). Oh yeah, and I KNOW Wayne isn't cussin' THAT much in Every Girl's 1st verse. It was somewhat vulgar (from what I remember, I actually flip it whenever it comes on) but they had it sounding like the 2Pac's Still Ballin' radio edit (and shit).

I appreciated New Edition all coming together to do a tribute for Michael Jackson BUT they probably should've left Bobby Brown doing...um, what ever it is that Bobby Brown does. I mean it was one thing for me not to understand what he was saying, but that tongue thing he did was just damn disrespectful (and shit).

Other terrible performances included the following: Keri Hilson (I love Keri but that wasn't great), Soulja Boy (I've never heard that song all the way through before last night and never realized there were only about 8 more lyrics to be said in it after the first hook), Mary Mary (Lord forgive me, but that song was Blame It with gospel lyrics. Same beat, same candence), and Ciara (all the MJ songs and she landed on We Are The World??).

The final terrible performance was so bad it needed a paragraph of its own. That performance was given by Drake, Lil Wayne, Baby, and some other niggas. First off, not only did Drake not even make an attempt to sing the Best I Ever Had hook, but he also sat through his whole set. That's only cool if you're singing R&B, he was rapping R&B. Then Wayne comes out for Every Girl and Drake continues to sit. To make matters worse, a gang of little under-aged girls come out and dance around Drake as Wayne spits "I wish I could love every girl in the world, I wish could could love every girl in the world" (Yeah they changed "fuck" to "love" but the nigga with the bleeper tried to bleep it anyway...unsuccessfully of course lol). Classy. Oh, and how bad do you feel for the other niggas performing?? I mean BET literally kept the camera on Wayne and Drake throughout everyone else's verse (by the way, where was Jae Millz?? Was he too busy not dropping Back To The Future??). Nothing was better than Lil Wayne saying, "R.I.P. Michael Jackson (2 seconds pass) I'm always strapped when I'm in the club." Nothing says rest in peace like letting niggas know you're strapped and ready to shot. It was just really bad and I'm glad this wasn't the final performance (and shit).

Back to other terrible things that weren't performances, how wack was it that they were rushing through the awards and giving them out 2 at a time?? Its the BET AWARDS, we couldn't find time to at least announce who was nominated (and shit)?? I think there would've been plenty of time if we cut some of the useless performances I mentioned above (mainly Keri, Mary Mary, and Drake/Wayne).

Oh yeah, they also could've saved time had Don Cornelius never taken the stage. What the fuck was that?? Nobody thought it'd be a good idea to start playing him off the stage with music or cutting his mic?? I know he's Don Cornelius but come on now, nigga was up there sounding senile as shit (and shit).

Here's a short list of things you could've started and completed during the time Don was on the stage:

-Run to the store
-Throw something on the grill
-Sown an American flag
-Watch Forrest Gump
-Watch the entire 2009 BET Awards

Long story short, he was up there for a long ass time (makes you wonder how retarded his ex-wife was that she let him beat her ass last year). Though I must admit, I can't wait to hear the inevitable "my money/gun/dick/ is longer than a Don Cornelius speech" punchline in a rap song coming soon lol.

The "Baby Boy" reunion was dope except for these 2 things: 1) Ving Rhames being drunk and trying to start a "Michael Jackson is guns" chant and 2) Snoop not coming out in a wife beater. You can't tell me the most memorable part in "Baby Boy" wasn't laughing at Snoop's bony body. You just can't.

And last, but not least, does Debra Lee have to speak at every BET Awards?? Does MTV's COO come out and speak at the VMAs?? Does the COO of the Recording Academy come out and speak at the Grammys?? Okay, so why does she make a space for herself every years?? Also, why didn't they bring up Alicia Keys and Wyclef at the same time?? Another way they could've saved time had they skipped over separate speeches.

Overall, the 2009 BET Awards were more so a mess than anything else. A lot of people are blaming it on them revamping the show to make it a Michael Jackson tribute, but if you sit and watch the show again you'll realize basically everything they wanted to do for MJ went on without a hitch while they shit they should've had in order was fucked up (Keri, censoring, Don Cornelius, etc.). This show left much to be desired and when it was all over I was feeling more like ?uestlove ("I wish BET died and MJ did a tribute to them") than anything else.

But guess what?? I'd do it all again because it brought me so much joy and laughter (intentionally and unintentionally).

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Maxwell - Stop The World

Here's a couple tracks off the new Maxwell album BLACKsummers night which is dropping July 7th. Besides it having only 9 songs, I can't wait!

Maxwell - Stop The World

Very sexy! Makes me wanna stop everything I'm doing and make love lol. It also song reminds me of this purple CD I used to have with all love making music on it. It was so glorious! The combination of the music and the person I was with made an experience that is simply beyond words. I don't know what ever happened to that CD, but I might need to make a part 2. Oh, and find a new lover because I was an idiot and let her leave my life when she should probably be wearing my wedding ring by now. Oh well, that's life.

Anyway, I got another Maxwell track for ya after the jump.

Maxwell - Bad Habits

Another good one. I feel pissed off that I've already heard 33% of the album though lol.

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The Alchemist - Smile (feat. Maxwell & Twista)

Another track I love. Very 03-04 Kanye West-ish with the drum pattern and sample. This is also a great video. If I ever learn how to do any of those effects from my computer the game is gonna be in trouble!

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