Why the BET awards get lamer every year.
Every autumn, there’s an age old phenomenon that seems to effect everyone differently. Some people get excited over it as a precursor of whats to come, some people loathe it as the devolution of something that was once majestic, all inclusive and beautiful, most are oblivious to it out of sheer lack of notice or concern, and a huge regime of people are unwaveringly disappointed after it happens, then we all go on about our business like nothing ever happened.
No I’m not talking about natural beauty the loss of leaves in the trees, nor am I talking about the contentious and corrupt nature election day (A Post for another time perhaps), I’m talking about the Black Entertainment Television Awards. The Award show that once meant so much to so many people now, at best, is something you can tune into when you don’t have a netflix subscription or anything better to do.
I’ll start by saying this: I was spoiled with quality music growing up. I was born in 1994 and grew up between the suburbs and the Hood. Too white for the black kids I’d play with after school and on the weekends and too black for the white kids I attended private school with or visited on the weekends. Hip Hop became important to me around 2003 when Ma dukes first started listening to Jay Z & Kanye West in the car with me. I WAS AMAZED. Before then, the dirty drums on Shimmy Shimmy Ya’ that I yearn to hear in the Trillwave generation were just unorganized annoying sound that I’d quickly walk away from or try to ignore by falling into my gameboy. The lyrics were just insufferable garbage that I couldn’t understand (Forgive me, for I was young!!). The Dave Chapelle show was the only way I’d sit in attendance while the mysterious noise played and people performed. Kanye performed one time and my moms became an instant fan and I along with her.
I knew what an award was, but I had no Idea what a show about awards would be like. The 2004 awards ruined my expectations forever. Monique from the Monique show was host. Performances from my new hero Kanye, Outkast this other group I fell in love with, and RICK JAMES BITCH. Winners included Jay Z, Serena Williams, Lebron James (did you read that in that one kids voice?), Hallie Berry, The Isley Brothers, Usher, Beyonce, Danny Glover, Yolanda Adams, Missy Elliott, Outkast, Kanye, Denzel Washington, Usher and Ludacris. At this point in time we truly valued black excellence and people were involved. And all without a cypher!
Fast forward to 2015. Hosted by Anthony anderson and the beautiful Tracee Ross, About 3x the amount of A-list celebrities that performed/presented/just in the building. Cypher’s from anybody who had the ambition or more accurately put THE ABILITY to perform.
2011 gave us: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj2ct6DAwGA
2015 gave us:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qn4pOnRlg4U
Both contains amazing lines and impressive flow but the presence of the performers are lackluster at best in the latest effort to honor black excellence in media. We seem to have lost the “E” in BET just just became black television. I respect the highlight on lesser known talent and this ever evolving industry only makes it harder and harder for people to discover the new sensation but at the same time the BET awards is missing the wow factor that it held in 2004 when people win awards. Its not a competition anymore. Kendrick Lamar wins again, Beyonce wins again, Nicki Minaj wins again, the pop-rap group that everyone dreads to hear this year wins again. The same people we see in the Grammy’s, the VMAs, and the Grammy’s are in attendance in a smaller-well lit yet visually non-stimulating venue.
So Why do the BET awards get worse every year? Same reason why albums don’t sell anymore. The Internet. At a click of a fingertip, people can discover months of planning, financing, and practice without even tuning in. BET tries to evolve by combining nostalgia and social media to promote the program, but people often just end up complaining about the cypher line-up. BET found its still winning, yet slowing fading formula, and now is doing everything in its power to not change but improve the format in order to save the falling ratings that seemed to have peek in 2009.
Music is in bad, bad shape. Luckily, you have much better chances trying to be a Rapper than a BET executive here in 2015 because television, black entertainment oriented television in this instance, is getting in worse shape trying to keep people watching. And it Shows.
I’m just expecting a live twerking performance from Amber Rose & Lexy Panterra, and a presidential address from Kanye at the 2020 BET awards if this keeps trending like this.
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