THIS WEEK IN HIP-HOP JUNE 30th 2021

2021 BET AWARDS RECAP

For the past few years some people feel that music award shows have lost their appeal & I can’t say I blame them! But I’ve got to give it to BET for this year’s award show as far as who they got to come out. I don’t know if it was the after-effects of being stuck inside for a year or what but everyone from Lil Durk to Kirk Franklin showed up to the 2021 BET awards! Looking dapper too might I add. Coi Leray & Pressa had the most eye-catching look on the runway as this photo of them from the red carpet has gone viral (below).

BEST DRESSED ( PRESSA X COI LERAY)

AWARD WINNERS

Jazmine Sullivan walked away with the Album of the year award for “Heaux Tales”, H.E.R. won Best Female R&B artist, Chris Brown won Best Male R&B artist, Megan Thee Stallion won Best Female hip hop artist, Lil Baby won Best Male hip hop artist, Giveon won Best new artist, Cardi B & Meg won Best collaboration with “WAP”, Meg & Beyonce’ won the Viewer’s choice award, Meg and Cardi also won video of the year. Long story short, Meg Thee Stallion swept the 2021 BET awards. Another note-able mention,” Judas & The Black Messiah” won Best Movie.

STANDOUT PERFORMANCES

Some standout performers of the night were Tyler The Creator, Jazmine Sullivan/Ari Lennox, Andra Day, H.E.R & Griselda! Everyone did a great job to be honest but most of these artists (with the exception of Jazmine Sullivan and H.E.R.) named above never performed at the BET awards before so I feel it was a little more special to them and that they put more into their performance because of this fact.  What made Tyler’s performance of his new self-produced single “LUMBERJACK” from his new album “CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST” so unique is the amount of effort he put into his stage production. This was also his first time performing at the BET awards & they say your first impression is everything! Not many artists put that much effort into their performances anymore so it’s always dope to see someone go the extra mile for aesthetic purposes! Then Jazmine Sullivan and Ari Lennox just flat out put on a clinic for how to SANG. Not sing, SANG! These two amazing artists did a wonderful duet performance of their song “On It “from Jazmine Sullivan’s new album “HEAUX TALES”. H.E.R’s performances always hit different because she’s actually playing her own instruments. Do you have any idea how hard it is to remember your lyrics, remember what notes to play on your instrument AND perform ? Even with that being said, H.E.R. makes it look easy! It makes sense that Prince was a mentor of hers growing up! H.E.R.’s performance of her song “We Made It “ was nothing short of stellar. Impeccable performance and showcasing of talent at the highest level! Andra Day, who also starred in the Billie Holiday biopic, did a phenomenal job performing “strange fruit”. She has played the roll of Billie Holiday to a T up to this point! I can’t wait to see what she does next she’s super talented! Last but not least, Griselda! BOOM-BOOM-BOOM! Conway The Machine, Westside GUNN & Benny The Butcher tore the stage up during the DMX tribute (RIP DMX). If you remember, just a few years ago Griselda was standing in the background of the Eminem freestyle for the BET hip hop awards patiently waiting for their time. What a full circle moment to see the Buaffalo,NY natives on the big stage! Although I wish the circumstances could’ve been better (RIP DMX once again) they did their thing! They performed DMX’s song “Hood Blues” which features Griselda and is on the new DMX album “Exodus”. Once again, overall everyone did their thing! These are just some of the newer acts who you may not be familiar with yet that you need to check out because they are shaping the future sound of hip hop and R&B.

BOW WOW VS SOULJA BOY (VERZUZ)

 This was by far one of the most entertaining Verzuz battles yet according to social media! I wouldn’t have put these two up against eachother naturally, but then once the battle got going I understood just how good of a match-up this was. As Lil Romeo said, Bow wow is like the Michael Jordan of child/teen stars in hip-hop while Soulja Boy is the Lebron James! It made for an interesting match. Speaking of Lil Romeo, He came out and performed some of his songs before leaving us with a deep ,transparent, speech about unity & giving people their flowers. Although Soulja Boy has more recent hit songs, Bow Wow’s catalogue may have been too deep. Bow Wow also showed that he comes from the era of being a performer while Soulja showed us what it sounds like when a kid can produce his own beats in his room and go diamond selling over 10 million records worldwide at 17 years old. More often than not we place the youth all in one category but this battle showed the similarities yet differences between 90’s kids & 2000’s babies. All of which changed the game and elevated it to another level! Soulja Boy also previewed a version of his new song “She make it clap” featuring Nicki Minaj that I’m very interested to hear! Random but, I’m pretty sure Bow wow’s DJ was the kid who played the younger version of the character “Elijah” in the legendary  movie “Prison song” featuring Mary J Blige, Q-tip & Fat Joe. Anyways, this was definitely a top 5 verzuz battle & soulja boy is officially the first rapper to get Lil Romeo and Lil Bow wow on the same stage in 20 years! A win for the culture all around!

ARTIST TO WATCH FOR : BEANZ

Beanz is an upcoming hip-hop artist from Pennsylvania who is making major waves in the underground scene, soon to be mainstream! She has appeared on TRL, Bootleg Kev,Shade45,Netflix & many more huge platforms doing her thing! Beanz has her own sound, own flavor and is a breathe of fresh air regarding emcee’ing. She’s currently working on a new album and has a new song out called “As seen on TV” featuring Benny The Butcher which will be on her new album. Beanz’ music is available on all streaming platforms and she has a plethora of videos/freestyles on Youtube. Her Instagram/twitter handle is @Beanzgotbarz. Go tune in ASAP if you haven’t already. She’s COMING. I can promise you that! Click the link below to watch the visual to her new song “ As Seen On TV” featuring Benny The Butcher.