The 2013 BET Awards was the place to be. The show was fabulous! Even the red carpet was an event and packed with artists, actors, athletes, and performers all dazzling in their Hollywood best.
Actor and comedian Chris Tucker hosted the broadcast appropriately titled, Anything Can Happen, and it certainly did.
The BET Awards performance line up was so chock full of amazing artists, that there is no way to show them all in this post, but let me do a little name dropping here so you can get a better idea of just how fabulous the performance line up that BET pulled together really was – Janelle Monie, T.I., Robin Thicke, Justin Timberlake, Snoop Lion, Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj, Ciara, Miguel, Kendrick Lamar, Chris Brown, R. Kelly, Stevie Wonder, Erykah Badu, India Arie, Charlie Wilson, J. Cole, Jamie Foxx, 2 Chainz, Kirk Franklin, Tamela Mann, and Pharrell Williams.
Need I say more?
Chris Brown’ s performance was one of the evening’s standouts, as he took the stage joined by Nicki Minaj as she floated over the audience on an elevated platform.
Robin Thicke broke out with his summer hit, Blurred Lines and was joined by Pharrell and Justin Timberlake, and these three got the crowd on their feet. When Kendrick Lamar hit the stage he got the crowd standing again with a hot rap, and was joined by Erykah Badu as they mixed it up with soul and jazz.
Groups of singers lined the aisles in dramatic form to open R. Kelly’s performance, which was a mash-up of some of his hits. He sang short portions of each song, but his seaways were abrupt. Unfortunately, Kelly’s set didn’t have a smooth flow to it.
Mariah Carey performed Beautiful with Miguel, and when Miguel performed his own set he was joined by rapper Kendrick Lamar.
One of the nights true show stoppers was the Cadillac Lifetime Achievement Tribute honoring the career and the voice of Charlie Wilson. India Arie and Jamie Foxx sang to him, and so did Stevie Wonder to the complete delight of Charlie Wilson.
And it got even better when Charlie Wilson performed in true Wilson style joined by Snoop Lion, Pharrell, and Justin Timberlake. This group had too much fun performing one of Charlie’s hits Outstanding, and the audience did too.
As usual, BET provided non-stop excitement and rocking out from beginning to end. Go to BET.Com to watch the full line up of replays of all the performances.
I had a ball!
Tanya Hart
Tanya Hart, Austin Brown & Mom Rebe Jackson