Okay, here we have the 2022 BET Hip Hop Awards held in Atlanta and I just watched them approximately a month after they took place and I want to share some of my thoughts on this even in a somewhat brainstorming kind-of fashion. These are among the newest awards shows as the first edition happened in the 2000s, which still means that the amount of editions by now is also in double-digit territory. The name of the event gives away that BET is behind all this and I must say I am still highly skeptical when it comes to the existence of this cable channel network. I don't think at all that the existence of such an institution that almost exclusively airs programs that are designed to appeal to Black people because they also mostly include Black people is going to help when it comes to doing away with discrimination and prejudice. This awards show here, just like the similar one that is not reduced to hip hop artists, is just one seed coming from the plant. Of course, you will also see almost exclusively Black artists during this broadcast. I am not entirely sure with the host Fat Joe, but pretty much everybody else that was a part of it was African American here. Just imagine the backlash a similar event would get if it focused on music or hip hop in particular and you would (almost) exclusively see White artists as part of the show. If you look at the names of the two people who directed this show and the trio of people who write it, you find an Emmy winner even and every single one of those has worked on previous BET Hip Hop Awards editions. So you could say that experience works in everybody's favor here when it comes to reaching a certain level of quality, but the truth is that the previous editions were also somewhere between poor and abysmal and so is this one here. During its best moments, it is forgettable. During its worst moments, it is awful to watch.
Luckily, this did not run for three hours or so like the Grammys, but only for 100 minutes excluding commercials, so I think maybe exactly two hours with commercials. Then again, you can say that the show as a whole was a commercial itself. An absolute travesty how they are allowed to advertise other programs from beginning to end in the bottom (not even) corner of the screen and most of it was linked to upcoming Tyler Perry programs. If it had been concerts at least, then it could have been somewhat tolerable, but nope. Also Fat Joe in the end tells us all that he has a (new) book coming out, well not exactly a humble inclusion either, but this was what I could somewhat forgive. The constant display is absolutely unforgivable and same is true when in the second half of the event they give us a trailer or something for a new and upcoming show on BET. Complete no-go. As for the program itself, it was also a chaotic mess. I feel really sorry to learn that Coolio has died as we are informed at the beginning already, but at least he did not have to watch this mess we have here. He was ten times better than everything that was part of the show. I applaud the winner(s) that decided to not show up for the evening and I can also see why many of the really established rappers like Snoop, LL Cool J, Ice-T, Ice Cube etc. Would not want to be a part of this show. This was all for the new generation to shine, but they did no such thing. Well, they had Wu-Tang Clan present in a way, but that was pretty much it. Missy Elliott was part of a pre-recorded snippet in which she praises an up-and-coming artist named Glorilla. Okay, that play on words is not too shabby, but that does not mean she is a good rapper. I guess we can be grateful that she did not come to the stage gloating about how she is the baddest b***h out there and praising other women in a way that when one wins, they all win. I hope there is a few that prefer rather not to be associated with this.
In general, the language was an issue. I mean the swearing was no surprise, just maybe the sheer quantity and frequency of swearing here. What I personally found worrying was the use of grammar on quite a few occasions. Terrible role models. No surprise that young rising Black kids who watch this show do not care about proper English when these role models keep using the 3rd person s (or not using it) in a way that has nothing to do with the rules (with "he, she, it" they sometimes don't use it, but with "they" they do) and this way, these kids will always have a hard time to lead a financially rewarding life in the long run, if this key foundation is literally stepped on. And they will not become performing artists (although I struggle with the word "artist"/"art" in this context). They are literally held back by the people they admire. Another big problem with this show is one that almost every music awards show has these days, namely that it is simply not much of an awards show anymore. I am totally fine with three stage performances or so throughout the night, but not with a double-digit quantity. This is not how it should be. This is in theory not a concert show, but an awards show and this is a massive deal breaker. It is like when you are told at school to write an essay on a particular subject and you write one on another and no matter how good it may be, it is still not what it should be. This is not how it works. Besides, it certainly wasn't the case that the show here was good. Not even close.
I think they had some interesting inclusions that have a tradition with this event, namely the solo performances outside in some warehouse or something when we see several rappers, males and females, perform something that you would call a quick stand-up in the comedy industry. I am not an expert on the rap music industry, so I cannot say what it is called here, especially not in a language that is not my native language. Anyway, the performers there were also pretty mediocre at best, most rather weak. They also had nothing of value to rap about, just random stuck-up rambling. So only in theory a good inclusion. I think I remember that with previous editions they even had some that were big names in the past as part of this special, but this time I did not recognize anybody. Good for everybody who decided to stay out. Towards the end, there was some kind of live battle between two rappers then on stage and the winner got 25,000 bucks. Not too shabby. The amount I mean. I think both were fairly weak and if these are the finalists already, then this says quite something. It was also cringeworthy to watch the people in the audience react as if we were watching something truly magnificent. On another note, it is also telling in terms of this event's prestige that apparently the show took place in late September, but was aired in early October, so only a week later or so. Best quality is always live, otherwise it is already a loss by definition. Could you imagine a one-week delay between when the Oscars, Golden Globes etc. Take place and when they are shown to everybody. Absolutely not. There was really so much wrong with this event, most of all the defining exclusion of non-Black musicians or even people in the crowd that I personally think it would be best if this event gets discontinued in the future and there will be no further editions. Of course, this is not happening and there will be many more. Shame. I give my lowest rating here and I highly recommend skipping the watch. This one will be forgotten so quickly. I almost forgot about it despite watching an hour ago and I am positive most people who watched it roughly a month ago have also forgotten by now what happened here and let's not even talk about the 2021 edition or the ones before that. Stay far, far away.
Luckily, this did not run for three hours or so like the Grammys, but only for 100 minutes excluding commercials, so I think maybe exactly two hours with commercials. Then again, you can say that the show as a whole was a commercial itself. An absolute travesty how they are allowed to advertise other programs from beginning to end in the bottom (not even) corner of the screen and most of it was linked to upcoming Tyler Perry programs. If it had been concerts at least, then it could have been somewhat tolerable, but nope. Also Fat Joe in the end tells us all that he has a (new) book coming out, well not exactly a humble inclusion either, but this was what I could somewhat forgive. The constant display is absolutely unforgivable and same is true when in the second half of the event they give us a trailer or something for a new and upcoming show on BET. Complete no-go. As for the program itself, it was also a chaotic mess. I feel really sorry to learn that Coolio has died as we are informed at the beginning already, but at least he did not have to watch this mess we have here. He was ten times better than everything that was part of the show. I applaud the winner(s) that decided to not show up for the evening and I can also see why many of the really established rappers like Snoop, LL Cool J, Ice-T, Ice Cube etc. Would not want to be a part of this show. This was all for the new generation to shine, but they did no such thing. Well, they had Wu-Tang Clan present in a way, but that was pretty much it. Missy Elliott was part of a pre-recorded snippet in which she praises an up-and-coming artist named Glorilla. Okay, that play on words is not too shabby, but that does not mean she is a good rapper. I guess we can be grateful that she did not come to the stage gloating about how she is the baddest b***h out there and praising other women in a way that when one wins, they all win. I hope there is a few that prefer rather not to be associated with this.
In general, the language was an issue. I mean the swearing was no surprise, just maybe the sheer quantity and frequency of swearing here. What I personally found worrying was the use of grammar on quite a few occasions. Terrible role models. No surprise that young rising Black kids who watch this show do not care about proper English when these role models keep using the 3rd person s (or not using it) in a way that has nothing to do with the rules (with "he, she, it" they sometimes don't use it, but with "they" they do) and this way, these kids will always have a hard time to lead a financially rewarding life in the long run, if this key foundation is literally stepped on. And they will not become performing artists (although I struggle with the word "artist"/"art" in this context). They are literally held back by the people they admire. Another big problem with this show is one that almost every music awards show has these days, namely that it is simply not much of an awards show anymore. I am totally fine with three stage performances or so throughout the night, but not with a double-digit quantity. This is not how it should be. This is in theory not a concert show, but an awards show and this is a massive deal breaker. It is like when you are told at school to write an essay on a particular subject and you write one on another and no matter how good it may be, it is still not what it should be. This is not how it works. Besides, it certainly wasn't the case that the show here was good. Not even close.
I think they had some interesting inclusions that have a tradition with this event, namely the solo performances outside in some warehouse or something when we see several rappers, males and females, perform something that you would call a quick stand-up in the comedy industry. I am not an expert on the rap music industry, so I cannot say what it is called here, especially not in a language that is not my native language. Anyway, the performers there were also pretty mediocre at best, most rather weak. They also had nothing of value to rap about, just random stuck-up rambling. So only in theory a good inclusion. I think I remember that with previous editions they even had some that were big names in the past as part of this special, but this time I did not recognize anybody. Good for everybody who decided to stay out. Towards the end, there was some kind of live battle between two rappers then on stage and the winner got 25,000 bucks. Not too shabby. The amount I mean. I think both were fairly weak and if these are the finalists already, then this says quite something. It was also cringeworthy to watch the people in the audience react as if we were watching something truly magnificent. On another note, it is also telling in terms of this event's prestige that apparently the show took place in late September, but was aired in early October, so only a week later or so. Best quality is always live, otherwise it is already a loss by definition. Could you imagine a one-week delay between when the Oscars, Golden Globes etc. Take place and when they are shown to everybody. Absolutely not. There was really so much wrong with this event, most of all the defining exclusion of non-Black musicians or even people in the crowd that I personally think it would be best if this event gets discontinued in the future and there will be no further editions. Of course, this is not happening and there will be many more. Shame. I give my lowest rating here and I highly recommend skipping the watch. This one will be forgotten so quickly. I almost forgot about it despite watching an hour ago and I am positive most people who watched it roughly a month ago have also forgotten by now what happened here and let's not even talk about the 2021 edition or the ones before that. Stay far, far away.