Grading the BET Award performances: Chris Brown, Kanye West, Lil' Wayne and Rihanna

Held Tuesday night in Los Angeles, credit the BET Awards for lining up a solid list of performers, so much so that the network stretched 14 awards into a three-hour telecast. So let's get right to the point:

Usher, "Love in This Club." Usher's show-opener was full of life, thanks to the star's fancy footwork, which were a few steps ahead of the taped vocals. But singing wasn't the point -- showing that the low-key single could be a club-banger with the best of 'em was the prime objective, and in that, the performance was largely a success. Grade: B

Young Jeezy and Kanye West, "Put On." The Southern rapper is all blunt coarseness, but Kanye West brings  haunting undertones to an otherwise rote, hands-in-the-air crowd pleaser, thanks to his slow-groove beat. But there's no subtlety in Jeezy's delivery, and that suits this celebration of hometown pride just fine. West arrives for a verse in the finale, and he adopts some trendy, electronically enhanced vocals for the cut. But West is captivating without vocal special effects, and it feels more like an exercise than an experiment. Grade: C+

Keyisha Cole, "Heaven Sent." Cole, sporting a rose-colored glorified prom dress, descended from a riser singing "Heaven Sent," and what began as a somewhat restrained performance of the song was kicked into overdrive as soon as Cole hit the ground. At this point, Cole stopped singing and started shouting, demanding a call-and-response as much as asking for it. Cole then blasted into "Let It Go." Kanye seemed to dig her dance moves, and on came Lil' Kim, the two seemingly in a battle to be heard rather than collaborate. Grade: C

Ne-Yo, "Closer." The young R&B star always looks good, here sporting a suit, top hat and black gloves, and no one can fault his way around a dance floor. He does as good a Michael Jackson impression as anyone out there, and there's nothing inherently wrong with the song -- although the mid-verse electronic breakdowns seem a little out of place. It's an easygoing throwback tune, and Ne-Yo seems content to not try to make it anything more. Grade: B- (docked a half a grade because the performance featured mimes)

Alicia Keys, "Teenage Love Affair." More a tribute to BET than a showcase for Keys. Stripped of her piano, Keys lacks a bit of electricity and is a bit more anonymous. She played up the girl-group nature of the song, and then got some help. First SWV for "Weak." Then En Vogue for "Hold On." And then TLC for "Waterfalls," and as nice as it was to hear the song, and as badly as the crowd seemed to want it to work, T-Boz came off as if she were singing the song against her will. Grade: C+

T-Pain, "Ring Leader Man." What began as a teaser for T-Pain's new album soon descended into a mess. Outfitted as a sort of circus pimp, the performance was immediately one of the evening's more colorful, and seemed as if it would celebrate T-Pain's weirdness. Naw, it soon became a giant ad for all the songs T-Pain has had a hand in, bringing out Flo Rida, Rick Ross, Big Boi and DJ Khaled, and short-changing everyone. Grade: F

Marvin Sapp, "Never Would've Made It." A rousing tribute to his father, Sapp will seemingly stress his voice hoarse, then drop everything and offer up a lovely verse. The song predictably hits all the right notes, with a slow buildup and then a bombastic chorus, but Sapp, mis-introduced by host DJ Hughley
as retired NFL star Warren Sapp, stood out for keeping things straight and simple and medley-free. Grade: B

Chris Brown, "With You." Dressed for a prom, Chris Brown's glistening R&B ballad "With You" was full of sparkling effects that complemented his crisp tenor. But Brown's pure exuberance was enough to sell the song. A shame it soon got weird, with Ciara coming on stage for "Take You Down." It wasn't really sung, as Brown writhed on the floor and Ciara looked like she was going to give him a lap dance. But a cut scene showed a bemused smile on the face of Rihanna and the pure oddity of the scene was enough. Grade: A-

Al Green tribute. Jill Scott was drafted first to sing "I'm Still In Love With You." Scott's as fine a choice as any for this segment, and she didn't disappoint. She kept it simple, never over-sang and offered a delicate flourish or two. Anthony Hamilton was next with "Tired of Being Alone," and he shined when he could run circles around the backup singers. Third was long-missing-in-action Maxwell, who slowed the affair down with "Simply Beautiful," showing off a downbeat falsetto.

As far as these tribute segments, the nod to Green was more tolerable than most, but since the reverend was in the building, why not let him sing the whole thing himself? After all, his acceptance speech nearly stole the whole bit, when he seemed to forget just what award show this was, and thanked the "academy of the BET Awards."

Green finally took the mike for "Let's Stay Together." His voice has a bit more rasp in it these days, but Green was still the consummate entertainer, leading the crowd in an extended singalong. The feel-good moment continued when Green wrapped the lengthy segment up with a bouncy "Love and Happiness."   Grade: B+

Rihanna, "Take A Bow." The song is a rather rudimentary R&B ballad, with some skitter beats prancing around under the piano melody and hand-clap rhythm. But Rihanna's ever-so-slight sarcasm in her delivery elevates the tune, and it's easy to see why it's all over the radio today. Even it doesn't stand up to Rihanna's singles from last year. Grade: B

Nelly, "Stepped on My J's." Really? This was worth going over the three-hour mark? A song that brags about spending a ton-o-money on sneaks and jeans? Really? No. And neither was the "surprise" appearance from Fergie on "Party People." Please -- at least one member of the Black Eyed Peas would show up at the graduation ceremony for your local junior high if it were televised. Grade: F

Lil' Wayne, a medley. And the show closed with the rapper of the moment receiving an introduction from the ubiquitous hit-maker T-Pain (who else). T-Pain offered the recipe for being the "perfect" rapper. It goes like this: Sell a million records, have a ton of tattoos and make sure everything you spit is "hot bile." Set up on a stage with some cheap Frankenstein effects, it was pure theater, and completely empty, and in that sense was a fitting introduction for the overly hyped rapper. We got a bit of  "Got Money," and a bit of "Lollipop" and a bit of "A Milli," all of them showcases for Lil' Wayne's entertainingly offbeat delivery, and none of them saying anything. Grade: C

Photo credit: WireImage

Comments

[Cisco]

Those "mimes" in the Ne-Yo performance were the Jabbawokeez. They are the winners of MTV's, "America's Best Dance Crew". It was a real good look for them and Ne-Yo. So change that grade back to a B.. SON!

[Todd Martens]

Hi Cisco,

Thanks for the clarification. You know, I thought they were the Jabbawokeez, but I'm not the 'Dance Crew' expert on staff. You should head over to Showtracker, where they're detailing all the 'Dance Crew' developments. Here's the link:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2008/06/americas-best-7.html

But Jabbawokeez or mimes, I don't like either.

[Seth and Ray]

Hip Hop is Great

http://sethandray.wordpress.com/

[DebDolly]

Todd, your grading was right on the nose.

HIP HOP IS GREAT!!!

[LJ]

I have to disagree with you about Usher's performance. I thought it was boring, and I hate to say it but I am convinced, now more than ever, that the post-Confessions Usher that has been performing left and right lately is - for lack of a better word - corny. I think he's trying too hard to prove that he's "still got it" while in the interim of his absence people like Chris Brown and even Ne-yo have taken his spot.

[Kaitlin]

YEAH EXACTLY THE SO CALLED "MIMES" ARE THE JABBAWOKEEZ and are extremely talented and wear masks to show of their dance moves rather than singling out anyone int he group. they are awesome and totally made Ne-yo's performance so much better and so unexpectedly up to par with usher and chris brown. but i would say usher definitely desreved an A and chris brown's take you down is what all the girls wanted to see so he should have gotten an A+++. =]

[Andrew]

The Chris Brown performance should be downgrade to a B- at best. Only the last 40 seconds (which oddly, you thought were the bad bits) saved the performance. Those were some moves.
The Wayne performance shoud be upgraded to a B- . Lollipop is a weak song, granted, but overall the performance was a crowd pleaser. If anyone can do better, though, it's him. He should have picked better songs. But "A Millie" was banging.

[Todd Martens]

Hi Andrew,

I agree---Wayne could have done better. Ultimately, it was too much like a little teaser for his album. He's a showman, absolutely, but this was too much of an advertisement for the album, which is already a massive success. Would have liked to see him just pick one tune and run with it.

[Carlos Jones]

I would have to disagree with all of these grades. All performers were amazing and entertaining. You must don't know the hip hop culture.

[Kevin]

This whole blog sucks. You seriously do not know how to grade these things at all. If you have a B for Rihanna's standstill perfomance and an F on T-Pain's GREAT performance, you have to not know one thing about hip hop. He brought out all the hit songs he put out. And I am certain that Kanye's 3-time mess up HAS to earn an F or im not living. And the Jabbawockeez blazed the stage on Ne-Yo's performance, how could you call them mimes. That is a prime example of how you dont know one thing about the hip hop culture.

[Kevin]

This whole blog sucks. You seriously do not know how to grade these things at all. If you have a B for Rihanna's standstill perfomance and an F on T-Pain's GREAT performance, you have to not know one thing about hip hop. He brought out all the hit songs he put out. And I am certain that Kanye's 3-time mess up HAS to earn an F or im not living. And the Jabbawockeez blazed the stage on Ne-Yo's performance, how could you call them mimes. That is a prime example of how you dont know one thing about the hip hop culture.

[g g]

your blog really sucks...you can't place an appropiate grade for anythng

[RnB Lover]

I enjoyed most of the show and I"m over 40. But I do love RnB, not much of it around today. But I have to totally disagree with you on Chris Brown & Ciara's performance. First of all, what the heck is wierd about a man that can move so sensual that women of every age get excited when watching him? And the song Take You Down is a very nice RnB ballad. You must be a pop lover doing a review of a totally RnB/Hip Hop show...THat doesn't work.

[ASHLEY]

WHAT WAS YOU WATCHING??????? USHER SHOULDVE GOT A A CHRIS BROWN DIDNT DO NOTHING TILL CIARA CAME OUT SHE STOLE THE SHOW HE SUCKED, T-PAIN WAS GREAT AS USUALLY HE DIDNT DESRVE TO GET AN F, AND TOO DebDolly USHER WAS PERFECT, HE COULDVE DID THE REMIX BUT QUEEN B WASNT THERE, AT LEAST HE CAN DANCE AND SING AT THE SAME TIME UNLIKE CHRIS BROWN, HE JUST MOSTLY DANCE I DONT EVEN KNOW WHY HE SINGS HE OLDER AND STILL SOUND LIEK HE 16, LIL WAYNE WAS A LIL BORING HE SHOULDVE DID "GOT MONEY" WITH T-PAIN, NE-YO WAS TRING TO LIKE MICHEAL JACKSON, HE SHOULDVE STOPED, NELLY WAS ARIGHT, I LIKE FERGIE AND CIARA PARTS, ALICIA SHOULDVE GOT AN A TOO, SHE BOUGHT EVERYONE OUT, I LOVED HER PERFORMANCE, RIHANNA WAS BORING SHE DIDNT DO ANYTHING,KEYISHA WAS ALRIGHT