Queen Latifah "Set It Off" AT BET 2010 Awards

By Schemika Mark
Edited by Ed Magik

June 27, 2010
Los Angeles, California

This One-Woman conglomerate of entertainment, Queen Latifah, "Set It Off" at BET Awards. She is a Grammy, NAACP Image and Screen Actors Guild award winner.

As host of the BET Awards, Queen Latifah, the honoree tonight, showered us with her multi-talent facets by dressing up in several different themes all the way from the movie Set It Off to the glamour diva herself; and she even treated us with a special live performance.  Taraji P. Henson gave a warm welcome and recognition for Dana“Queen Latifah” Owens, as she well deserved it.  This event was filled with artists, entertainers, athletes and more.  It also featured live performances from the best of the best; and awards were given to various categories, which are listed below.

The Opening act was one of the biggest names in the Hip Hop culture, the one and only Mr. Kanye West.  He had a live-action background with an aerial view of mountain tops, snow, lightening and thunder.   His theme also created an illusion as if he were standing on top of a volcano which erupted a few times during his amazing performance.

Usher Raymond who is highly influenced by the King of Pop, Michael Jackson performed, There Goes My Baby.  His theme was a smoke filled stage with him dressed in all white.  Usher continues to amaze us with his unique style of dancing and symbolizes various moves from his influences, he definitely rocked the house.

The King of the South TI performed his single Yeah You Know with a fire lit stage and later makes jokes with Queen Latifah about not bringing guns to the awards show.  TI is an amazing performer and he really put it down for BET tonight.

The Tribute to Prince was opened by Janelle Monae with, Lets Go Crazy, followed by Esperanza Spaulding, singing If I Was Your Girlfriend.  The night was taken over when the Hip Hop artist of the decade Alicia Keys hit the stage.  Even though Alicia Keys had performed a few of her songs earlier, she returned to the stage performing Adore and toward the end of her performance she climbed on top of the piano singing her heart out for the legendary Prince Tribute.  There was no mystery to her pregnant status; and she still managed to give the audience an incredible show.

Trey Songs also performed and he added a twist to his song giving a shout out to Prince’s Purple Rain during his performance.  He stated that Prince had inspired him.

There was a surprise performance by Tyrese who sung a few of Teddy Pendergrass songs including Turn Out the Lights.

Also a surprise, Todd Bridges gave a Tribute to Gary Coleman which was so respected with his hard work and dedication at such an early age.

Later, El Debarge performed some of his greatest hits.   This was really a well organized show, the greatest performers came out to support BET and give tribute to Prince.

The whole night built up to Randy Jackson introducing a tribute to Michael Jackson that had been left out; and to our surprise it was Chris Brown who was there to make a come back with his emotional performance of Man in the Mirror.   I thought he was really trying to make a change.  Brown gave a heart felt performance and the fans were very receptive to his movement.

Finally, these two artists might be new to the Hip Hop world, but Drake and his label mate Nicki Minaj also stole the show and took home rap honors.  Drake performed his newest single Thank Me Later, which just hit stores.  He took home Best Male Hip Hop Artist Award.   Nicki Manaj, who also was inspired by Jada Pinkett Smith, as she stated in her awards speech, took home Best Female Hip Hop Artist.  She also performed with Diddy and Dirt Money for the remix of  Hello, Good Morning; and then she performed again later with Ludacris for My Chick Bad & DJ Khaled All I Do Is Win.  Nicki Minaj, not only changed her outfits several times during the show,  but she also changed her wigs, varying from wild colors such as fluorescent orange to blond, and then hot pink. She remains to have been the most "stood out" entertainer during this 2010 BET Awards.


Complete List of 'BET Awards '10' Award Winners:

John Legend was honored with the Humanitarian Award.

Best Female R&B Artist:
Alicia Keys

Best Male R&B Artist:
Trey Songz

Best Gospel:
Marvin Sapp

Best Female Hip Hop Artist:
Nicki Minaj

Best Male Hip Hop Artist:
Drake

Best New Artist:
Nicki Minaj

Best Collaboration:
Jay-Z & Alicia Keys: Empire State of Mind

Video of the Year:
Beyoncé featuring Lady Gaga: Video Phone

Video Director of the Year:
Hype Williams

Best Actress:
Mo'Nique

Best Actor:
Idris Elba

Young Stars Award:
Keke Palmer

Best Movie:
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire

Subway Sportwoman of the Year:
Serena Williams

Subway Sportman of the Year:
LeBron James

Centric Award:
Monica

Best International Act:
Dizzee Rascal (UK)

Humanitarian Award:
John Legend

Lifetime Achievement Award
Prince

Viewers' Choice Award
Rihanna featuring Young Jeezy Hard

Fandemonium Award
Chris Brown