The 2019 BET Awards: Highlights, List of Winners, and Nominees

I watched The 2019 BET Awards, which aired on BET on June 23, 2019. The star-studded event had many amazing performances and special moments. Regina Hall hosted it and did a fantastic job. Here are some of the highlights from the show:

Opening Act- Cardi B and Offset

Cardi B and her husband Offset kicked off with an astounding opening performance of their song “Clout.” The audience went crazy as she straddled hubby and gave him a lapdance. She also performed “Press.”

Host Regina Hall’s Entrance

Regina Hall made her appearance by taking us back to the ’80s and paying homage to D.C., which is known for its roots of go-go music. She performed a snippet of “ Do Know What Time It Is” with James Funk from Rare Essence and “Da Butt” with Suga Bear from EU. She was joined on stage by Taraji P Henson, who, like Regina Hall, is also from the DMV area. They represented their hometowns very well. This performance was amazing; I loved it!

Fantasia- “Enough”

Fantasia brought the house down (as usual) with a soulful performance her latest song, “Enough”. The guitarist did her thing and complimented her vocals perfectly. The background singers also did an excellent job. She looked and sounded fantastic and gave us bawdy and soul. (Ironically Anita Baker, who has a hit single“Body and Soul” was the sound engineer for this performance). It does not make sense to have a gospel segment after Fantasia performs, because she takes us to church every time.

Lizzo- “Truth Hurts”

Words can’t express how dope this performance was. Lizzo made her grand entrance in a wedding dress on top of a cake. She started off the song with a little bit of “Here Comes The Bride” before continuing it in its original rhythm. However, the beat switched up again for part of the second verse, and if I’m not mistaken, it sounds like the reggae song “Ring The Alarm” instead of its usual piano arrangement. As if she didn’t already slay her performance, for good measure, she twerked and played the flute! Everyone was on their feet. The whole concept was absolutely genius! This performance validated, as she stated, that Lizzo is 100% that B#ch!

Lil Nas featuring Billy Ray Cyrus  “Old Town Road.”

Lil Nas and Billy Ray Cyrus made their entrance by riding in on horses before giving us a dope performance.

The Exonerated Five

The Exonerated Five, previously known as the Central Park Five, were at the awards show. Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salam, Raymond Santana Jr, and Corey Wise, who were teenagers at the time, were falsely accused of raping and assaulting a jogger in Central Park in NYC. The men were wrongly convicted and given harsh sentences ranging from five to fifteen years.

Their story was recently told in When They See Us, a mini-series that was directed and co-written by Ava DuVernay. Shown on Netflix, the four-part documentary chronicles the events of the 1989 incident. They received a standing ovation as they introduced singer H.E.R.

H.E.R. and YBN Cordae “The Lord Is Coming”

H.E.R started her performance by playing the bass and then recited a poem that focused on current events and religion. She was joined on stage by rapper YBN Cordae who recited his verse. She ended her extraordinary performance by playing the bass and received a well-deserved standing ovation.

Rihanna Presents Mary J. Blige with the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award

Rihanna gave a speech before presenting Mary J. Blige with the 2019 Achievement Award. She praised the Queen of Hip Hop Soul for setting the bar with timeless music and paving the way for the young women who came after her.

Mary J. Blige Award Acceptance and Performance

Mary performed after accepting a well-deserved Lifetime Achievement Award. She sang a medley of her hits and gave a stellar performance. “What’s the 411” played in the background as she was introduced to the stage by none other than P. Diddy before making her entrance. Here is a list of the songs she performed:

• “My Life”
• “No More Drama”
• The audience sang along with her as she performed “I’m Going Down.”

• She bought the dancers out and performed “Real Love”; the remix and then the original version with dance moves exactly like the music video.
• A Snippet of “Reminisce”
• “You Remind Me” (Remix)
• “Be Happy”
• She performed her signature dance moves while singing “Love Without a Limit” (Remix).
• Lil Kim joined her on stage to perform “I Can Love You” ( I was watching this with my daughter, and we acted like fools!).
• Method Man also joined in, and  they performed  “All I Need.”
• She ended her performance with the upbeat song “Just Fine.”

I feel that Mary is at the level where she can sit back and have other artists sing her songs, and then she sings a song or two at the end. But the Queen of Hip Hop Soul was like “I’m doing my own damn tribute.” And she killed it!

DJ Khaled, Meek Mill & Jeremih & Lil Baby

As usual, DJ Khaled gives us high energy in his performances. He performed “Whether The Storm” with Meek Mill. Jeremih and Lill Baby joined them and performed “You Stay.”

Tyler Perry’s Acceptance Speech

Tyler Perry gave an inspirational acceptance speech as he was being honored with the Ultimate Icon Award. He talked about his childhood, the tumultuous relationship between his parents, and his spiritual journey that led him to where he is today. He urged us to pursue our dreams and stressed the importance of ownership.

Kirk Franklin, Johnathan Mc Reynolds, Erica Campbell, & Kelly Price

What would the BET Awards Show be without taking us to church? And who better to do that none other than Kirk Franklin? Along with Johnathan Mc Reynolds, Erica Campbell, and Kelly Price, he performed his hit song “Love Theory.” Johnathan McReynolds kicked off the gospel song by playing the guitar, which accompanied his beautiful vocals. He was joined on stage by Erica Campbell, who, of course sounded wonderful and was followed by Kirk Franklin and his choir. Then Kelly Price came out and blessed us with her rich, soulful and powerful voice. The band and the choir were fabulous, and you can count on Kirk Franklin to deliver an energetic and moving performance.

Nipsey Hussle Tribute

Marsha Ambrosius, YG, DJ Khaled, and John Legend performed the tribute for the late rapper Nipsey Hussle. Marsha Ambrosius started off the performance by singing her part of her feature on “Real Big,” and YG did “Last Time I Checced.” These were songs from Nipsey’s 2018 album, Victory Lap. DJ Khaled and John Legend performed ”Higher.” The song is featured on DJ Khaled’s album Father of Ashad. Also, Nipsey’s verse was included in the performance.

I loved this performance; they all did him justice. It was heart-wrenching to see his family in the audience. His daughter appeared to be fighting to hold back her tears, and Lauren London is still hurting, as we all are. I am just amazed by his mother’s strength, and she is so spiritually grounded.

List of Nominees and Winners:

Here is a full list of nominees for the 2019 BET Awards. Winners are highlighted in bold.

Best Female R&B/Pop Artist

• Beyonce’-WINNER
• Ella Mai
• H.E.R.
• Solange
• SZA
• Teyana Taylor

Best Male R&B/Pop Artist

• Anderson.Paak
• Bruno Mars-WINNER
• Childish Gambino
• Chris Brown
• John Legend
• Khalid

Best Group

• Chloe X Halle
• City Girls
• Lil Baby & Gunna
• MIGOS-WINNER
• The Carters

Best Collaboration

• 21 Savage Featuring J. Cole, “A lot.”
• Cardi B & Bruno Mars “Please Me”
• Cardi B Featuring Bad Bunny & J Balvin, “I Like It”
• Travis Scott Featuring Drake, “Sicko Mode”-WINNER
• Tyga Featuring Offset, “Taste”

Best Male Hip Hop Artist

• 21 Savage
• Drake
• J.Cole
• Meek Mill
• Nipsey Hussle-WINNER
• Travis Scott

Best Female Hip Hop Artist

• Cardi B-WINNER
• Kash Doll
• Lizzo
• Megan Thee Stallion
• Nicki Minaj
• Remy Ma

Video of the Year

• 21 Savage Featuring J. Cole, “A lot”
• Cardi B, “Money”
• Cardi B & Bruno Mars, “Please Me”
• Childish Gambino-” This Is America”-WINNER
• Drake, “Nice For What”
• The Carters, “ApeS#!t”

Video Director of the Year

• Benny Boom
• Colin Tilley
• Dave Meyers
• Hype Williams
• Karena Evans-WINNER

Best New Artist

• Blueface
• City Girls
• Juice Wrld
• Lil Baby-WINNER
• Queen Naija

Dr. Bobby Jones Best Gospel/Inspirational Award

• Erica Campbell Featuring Waryn Campbell, “All Of My Life”
• Fred Hammond, “Tell Me Where It Hurts”
• Kirk Franklin, “Love Theory”
• Snoop Dogg Featuring Rance Allen, “Blessing Me Again”-WINNER
• Tori Kelly Featuring Kirk Franklin, “Never Alone”

Best International Act

• Aka (South Africa)
• Aya Nakamura (France)
• Burna Boy (Nigeria)-WINNER
• Dave(UK)
• Dosseh (France)
• Giggs(UK)
• Mr. Eazi (Nigeria)

Best New International Act

• Headie One (UK)
• Jokair (France)
• Nesly
• Octavian (UK)
• Sho Madjozi (South Africa)-Winner
• Teni (Nigeria)

Best Actress

• Issa Rae
• Regina Hall
• Regina King-WINNER
• Taraji P. Henson
• Tiffany Haddish
• Viola Davis

Best Actor

• Anthony Anderson
• Chadwick Boseman
• Denzel Washington
• Mahershala Ali
• Michael B. Jordan-WINNER
• Omari Hardwick

Young Stars Award

• Caleb McLaughlin
• Lyric Ross
• Marsai Martin-WINNER
• Michael Rainey, Jr.
• Miles Brown

Best Movie

• BlacKkKlansman -WINNER
• Creed 2
• If Beale Street Could Talk
• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
• The Hate U Give

Sportswoman of the Year Award

• Allyson Felix
• Candace Parker
• Naomi Osaka
• Serena Williams-WINNER
• Simone Biles

Sportsman of the Year Award

• Kevin Durant
• Lebron James
• Odell Bekham Jr.
• Stephen Curry-WINNER
• Tiger Woods

Album of the Year

• Astroworld, Travis Scott
• Championships, Meek Mill
• Ella Mai, Ella Mai
• Everything is Love, The Carters
• Invasion of Privacy, Cardi B-WINNER

BET HER Award

• Alicia Keys, “Raise a Man”
• Ciara, “Level Up”
• H.E.R., “Hard Place”-WINNER
• Janelle Monae, “Pynk”
• Queen Naija, ‘Mama’s Hand”
• Teyana Taylor, “Rose In Harlem”

Coca-Cola Viewer’s Choice Award

• Cardi B, Bad Bunny & J Balvin, “I Like It”
• Childish Gambino, “This Is America”
• Ella Mai, “Trip”-WINNER
• J. Cole, “Middle Child”
• Travis Scott Featuring Drake, “Sicko Mode”

Special Awards/Honorees

Here is a list of honorees who received special awards at the event:

Lifetime Achievement Award: Mary J. Blige

Humanitarian Award: Nipsey Hussle

Ultimate Icon Award: Tyler Perry

Global Good Award: Chakabars

The BET Awards Show never fails to disappoint, and I think this year will be one of the best and most memorable for years to come.