BET Hip Hop Awards: If Only They Awarded Hip Hop

I haven’t paid serious attention to BET since I was around 17 or 18 years old. As I grew into a bigger, more knowledgeable hip-hop fan, I realized that the mainstream scene, including BET, was losing touch with hip-hop and was moving more and more towards a parody of the culture.  Talented and skilled emcees were replaced with weak-rhyming, pothead “rappers”, distastefully imitating Down syndrome and calling it “swag”.  With this style dominating the airwaves on stations such as BET, I tend to agree with music fans who say they don’t like rap music and find it stupid, even though I’m the biggest hip-hop fan.  Imagine the Scary Movie films were considered in the horror genre rather than comedy; this is essentially what has happened to mainstream hip-hop.

Once a year though, I’ll check back in with BET and tune in to their annual Hip Hop Awards. Aside from obviously wanting to be a well-informed hip-hop fan, the Hip Hop Awards also offer unique Cypher segments, where raw talent (or lack thereof) is displayed by all types of artists; from current mainstream “stars”, old-school legends, and up-and-coming underground rappers.  The cyphers are now the main reason for a hip-hop fan to watch the award show, as the actual awards and on-stage performances tend to go to the mainstream parody rappers, aside from a few legendary tributes.  It’s weird watching the Hip Hop Awards, as BET pays tribute to some of the all-time legends, but at the same time promotes new club-rappers who don’t seem in-touch with the culture, and likely won’t be topping the charts again next year.

While I do think BET is losing touch with hip-hop, I’m not writing to hate on the awards; obviously there are fans out there who enjoy what they’re being given. I just thought I’d go through the different categories and share who I would have nominated, as I consider myself a well in-tune hip-hop fan.  BET seems to award those with the biggest marketing investments; I want to award those with the best art and representation of the culture.  Hopefully this will help people realize that rap music isn’t all garbage and that there are many talented artists within the genre.  Let’s go through it!

*SPOILER ALERT* The following contains the winners of the various 2014 BET Hip Hop Awards. If you don’t want to find out who won yet, come back here after you’ve watched the award show.

*I believe BET’s award cycle covers July of last year to July of this year, but I may be mistaken. I’ll use this timeframe anyway.

 

Best Hip Hop Video

This category is one I can’t really make a strong argument for, as I’m not a film expert, but here are some videos I think are worth mentioning, and are at least better songs.

The actual nominees (winner in bold):

Drake – Worst Behavior

Future – Move That Doh

Iggy Azalea – Fancy

J. Cole – Crooked Smile

Wiz Khalifa – We Dem Boyz

Nicki Minaj – Pills n Potions

My nominees:

Army of the Pharaohs – God Particle

Hopsin – Hop Is Back

R.A. The Rugged Man – Definition of a Rap Flow (Albee 3000)

Run The Jewels – 36” Chain

Snow Tha Product – Play

Strange Music – Strangeulation Cypher

 

Best Collabo, Duo or Group

Two of these are just terrible parody rap, one is okay I guess, one has Eminem spitting guest verses on a pop song, and I think we can do better than Jay Z’s half-assed retirement bars.

The actual nominees (winner in bold):

YG feat. Jeezy & Rich Homie Quan – My Nigga

Eminem feat. Rihanna – The Monster

Future feat. Pharrell, Pusha T & Casino – Move That Doh

Jay Z feat. Justin Timberlake – Holy Grail

Schoolboy Q feat. BJ The Chicago Kid – Studio

My nominees:

Army of the Pharaohs – God Particle

Hopsin feat. Tech N9ne – Rip Your Heart Out

Kool G Rap & Necro – The City

¡Mayday! & Murs – Beast Out The Box

Pharaohe Monch feat. Black Thought – Rapid Eye Movement

These are all hip-hop gold; collaborations that are unique and which create a synergy between the artists. You have two long-time veterans in Pharaohe Monch and Black Thought creating lyrical mayhem, ¡Mayday! & Murs with an unlikely but magical collaboration, a student-and-teacher connection with Kool G Rap and Necro, Hopsin recreating gold with the collaboration that helped blow him up, and the epic return of AOTP.

 

Best Live Performer

These aren’t actually that bad; I’ve seen all but one of them perform within the past five years, but I think I know some more deserving artists (only nominating those I’ve seen from July 2013 – July 2014)

The actual nominees (winner in bold):

Kanye West

Drake

Jay Z

Kendrick Lamar

T.I.

My nominees:

Kanye West

The Roots

Run The Jewels

Tech N9ne

Wu-Tang Clan

 

I don’t care what happens; as long as The Roots continue to tour, it’s impossible for anyone else to deserve this award. #FYTW.  Nah, Yeezus was spectacular to watch though, and the rest of the nominees are great in their own right.

 

Lyricist of the Year

BET has some decent picks for a mainstream audience, but Nicki Minaj is a joke lyrically, Drake is alright at best, and I think we can do better than Jay Z’s half-assed retirement bars.

The actual nominees (winner in bold):

Kendrick Lamar

Drake

Eminem

J. Cole

Jay Z

Nicki Minaj

My nominees:

Apathy (killed it on both his solo album and the Army of the Pharaohs album)

Black Thought (if Kendrick can WIN with a few guest features, all Tariq needs is “The Imperial”)

Eminem (get past the pop tunes and you’ll see his rhymes are still crazy)

Pharaohe Monch (rappers got slapped with Ma$e this year)

Shad (Flying Colours shows his diversity as an emcee)

Tech N9ne (take Eminem on “Rap God” and make him that good on every song; you have Tech)

 

This might be the biggest red flag indicating BET’s loss of touch with hip-hop. Hip-hop’s biggest strength is its LYRICISM, and BET is barely scratching the surface when it comes to picking the best.  Their nominees tell me they haven’t been listening to all the new hip-hop being released and only pay attention to major-label albums.  This is a dated approach, as signing to a major label is no longer a relevant measure of success for a hip-hop artist in 2014.

 

Producer of the Year

Something is seriously wrong when Pharrell is being nominated off a pop song (Happy). Are these not the HIP HOP Awards?

The actual nominees (winner in bold):

DJ Mustard

Drummer Boy

Hit-Boy

Mike Will Made It

Pharrell

Timbaland

My nominees:

Dan The Automator (the man behind the sound of Deltron 3030)

Hopsin (produced his entire Knock Madness album to create a great project)

Madlib (Pinata, enough said)

¡Mayday! (everything this band produces has been gold so far)

Necro (he made Kool G Rap sound hype again)

Seven (produced over two albums worth of music for Tech N9ne)

I honestly don’t know half of the actual nominees, but based on what I saw during the award show, they seem to make cookie-cutter club hits. My nominees either show more versatility, or show more of a focus on hip hop rather than club/pop.  Oh, and El-P should’ve been here last year; he will be back next year.

 

MVP of the Year

I really don’t know what this award means. Maybe it’s the artist working the hardest to keep hip-hop alive?  Or maybe it’s the artist that satisfies their fans the most?  The only thing is some of BET’s nominees do more to make hip-hop look like a joke than actually enhance it.

The actual nominees (winner in bold):

DJ Mustard

Drake

Future

Jay Z

Nicki Minaj

My nominees:

Andre 3000 (OutKast went back on tour thanks to him!)

Drake  (I’m not a big fan of his music, but I respect everything he does for Canadian hip-hop)

Jay Z  (always hip-hop’s best role model, and the On The Run Tour/HBO Special was brilliant)

Nitty Scott, MC  (opened up about some things that aren’t talked about enough, a powerful woman)

Tech N9ne  (released more than one album within the cycle, manages his label, and tours vigorously)

 

I guess this category has more to do with public image and hustle more than anything else. Finances are one thing, but I don’t understand how the token female nomination can be someone who so prominently encourages young women to embrace strip club culture.  Nitty Scott is the much more logical choice, as her music teaches women to be strong when facing adversity (and her interviews this year were powerful).  Hip-Hop would be universally acclaimed if artists like her were given the platform.

 

Album of the Year

Another red flag for BET, as MMLP2 and I guess Oxymoron are the only real HIP HOP albums here (I guess Drake can be hip-hop sometimes, but his singing ruins most songs for me).  To be fair, I haven’t heard Rick Ross or Yo Gotti’s albums, but that’s because as a hip-hop fan I already know they’re about parody rap more than actual hip-hop.

The actual nominees (winner in bold):

Drake – Nothing Was The Same

Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP 2

Future – Honest

Rick Ross – Mastermind

Schoolboy Q – Oxymoron

Yo Gotti – I Am

My nominees:

Apathy – Connecticut Casual

Army of the Pharaohs – In Death Reborn

Deltron 3030 – Event 2

¡Mayday! & Murs – ¡MursDay!

Shad – Flying Colours

Tech N9ne – Something Else

 

These albums are all hip-hop, where rapping is the main focus and the radio hits aren’t forced. Apathy came with a more laid-back style on his solo album, but shows more aggression on the AOTP album.  Deltron 3030 returned after thirteen years with a sequel to their classic concept album.  Shad’s fourth album is another masterpiece added to his growing collection.  The unexpected collaboration between ¡Mayday! & Murs turned out to be a lot of fun to listen to, and Tech N9ne delivered with a really well-structured album.  I feel bad for snubbing Hopsin, but Knock Madness is that good too.

 

Sweet 16: Best Featured Verse

I guess the 16-bar rule doesn’t apply here, as Kendrick won with his long “Control” verse. The rest of the nominees weren’t even memorable though.  You need to rhyme well or have some clever wordplay or punchlines in order to have a great guest verse, and you need to be competitive.  If you don’t have that, then your story has to be really special to stand out.

The actual nominees (winner in bold):

Kendrick Lamar – Control by Big Sean feat. Jay Electronica

B.O.B. – Paranoid by Ty Dolla $ign

B.O.B. – Up Down by T-Pain

Drake – Who Do You Love by YG

Pharrell – Move That Doh by Future feat. Pusha T

My nominees:

Black Thought – The Imperial by Statik Selektah feat. Action Bronson & Royce Da 5’9”

Black Thought – Rapid Eye Movement by Pharaohe Monch

Rakim – Guilty All The Same by Linkin Park

Snow Tha Product – So Dope by Tech N9ne feat. Wrekonize & Twisted Insane

Vinnie Paz – God Particle by Army of the Pharaohs

 

Kendrick may have dominated the mainstream landscape, but you need to do more than just name-drop if you’re going to have a great verse in the hip-hop realm. We have Black Thought saying the same things as Kendrick, but on a larger scale in terms of longevity, Rakim returning to completely destroy a heavy metal track, Snow Tha Product schooling the boys on a club track, and Vinnie Paz with one of the greatest verses of his career.

 

Track of the Year

This is a tougher category because with hip-hop being an underground genre, it’s harder for songs to be universally acclaimed. With BET’s nominees, I’ve mostly heard bad things about these songs, so it’s surprising that they’re being recognized.  Drake and Schoolboy Q are the only half decent artists here.  For the rest, this is a classic case of major labels failing to recognize talent and BET blindly following the money.

The actual nominees (winner in bold):

YG feat. Jeezy & Rich Homie Quan – My Nigga

K Camp feat. Boosie, YG & Too $hort – Cut Her Off (Remix)

Future feat. Pharrell, Pusha T & Casino – Move That Doh

Schoolboy Q feat. BJ The Chicago Kid – Studio

Drake – Worst Behaviour

My nominees:

Apathy – The Grand Leveler

Army of the Pharaohs – God Particle

Eminem – Rap God

Pharaohe Monch feat. Black Thought – Rapid Eye Movement

Shad feat. Saukrates – Stylin’

With my nominations, they’re at least hip hop tracks, and I haven’t heard anything negative from fellow hip hop heads about any of these tracks (except for Rap God, because Eminem gets the most attention). These may not have made the most money or got played a lot in the clubs, but they’re the best HIP HOP tracks.  It’s a mathematical fact that all of these artists rhyme better on these songs than the ones BET nominated.

 

I think I’m going to leave the rest of the categories alone. “Impact Track” is one I actually mostly agree with, although there may have been a few snubs.  I haven’t heard enough mixtapes to really know whose is the best, although Snow Tha Product’s Good Nights & Bad Mornings 2: The Hangover should’ve been nominated for “Best Mixtape”.  I can’t speak on “DJ” or “Video Director of the Year”, as I simply don’t know enough about them.  I can’t touch “Best Club Banger” either because I don’t waste money on clubs anymore.

As for the rest of the categories: “Who Blew Up”, “Hustler of the Year” and “Made-You-Look” all seem like a waste of time to me, at least for a hip-hop award show. “Who Blew Up” is simply given to the artist who could land the biggest investment from a major label for their debut album – an achievement that doesn’t have much to do with music these days.  “Hustler of the Year” is given to whoever tops the Forbes annual list of “Hip Hop Cash Kings”, something that is an award in itself that doesn’t need the extra attention.  “Made-You-Look” is based on fashion, but it seems to go to whoever deviates most from hip-hop culture.  I just don’t see the point in including these in the Hip Hop Awards.

Anyway, I hope this helped broaden your horizons and open your ears to all the great hip hop music out there. The nominations and performers BET chose for their show may have had you shaking your head, wondering how the hell hip hop could go from MC Lyte and Slick Rick to Iggy Azalea and that Shmurda kid, but there are plenty of talented artists out there that deserve to be recognized.  The major labels are confusing marketability with talent, and we need to stop relying on them to present us with the best music there is, because they are simply failing.  I’m not saying open the doors for anyone to submit their music, I’m saying to at least give recognition to independent artists who have built their own fan base and keep hip-hop alive.

We can do better.