"The 2023 BET Awards-An Opinion Piece"

Sey
Jul 12, 2023
3 min read

Updated: Jul 26, 2023

Do you love Black music? Are you into celebrity looks and fire 8 counts of choreography? Were you apart of Culture's Biggest Night? If you answered no then you missed out! But, don't worry this is #TheMove to catch up on the results of this year's BET awards.

This year's award show started out with a bang in Lil Uzi's opening act. He performed a song off his new album before launching into his more popular fan favorites like "I just wanna rock". He definitely shut the stage down!

ree — Courtesy of @bet and @betawards on IG

This year's awards did not feature a traditional host. Instead Dj Kid Capri and Mc Lyte transitioned the show and introduced all the acts and presenters. Lyte also performed this award show as they did a medley of Hip Hop across the years to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Hip Hop. This medley was intertwined throughout the whole show causing portions to be dedicated to certain time periods and eras.

The medley was clearly a show stopper bringing back artists such as Big Daddy Kane, Trina, Trick Daddy, Kid n Play, Spice, and more. My favorite section of the medley was the early 2000's era. Obviously I'm biased because I was growing up around this time. I remembered all the dances and songs so it was a nostalgic feeling for me. I watched the awards with my sisters (I watch the awards every year with family or friends) this year and watching my older sister who's in her late 30's TURN UP was a highlight for me. The early 2000's was also when a lot of people were going to college, so they experienced songs like "Knuck if you buck" and "Swag Surf" when it was first concepted. Yea that sounds pretty lit to me too lol. Can you imagine hearing Knuck if you Buck for the first time on the radio or in person? You can view the full finale here.

Outside of the amazing 2000's portion some performances I loved were Coco Jones, Doechii, Quavo + Offset, and Ice Spice. Coco was executing her vocals live just as good as it was on the track. Doechii and Ice Spice both gave energetic performances that showcased their music and stage presence (moreso Doechii-I still love you Spice <3). Last but not least, Quavo and Offset showed a beautiful sense of unity and brotherhood to honor Takeoff. It was really a heart warming performance that made people shed tears (it's me. I'm people).

For a look at the performances you can click on the links below:

The coveted Lifetime Achievement award was presented to Busta Rhymes this year. I loveeee Busta Rhymes mostly for his creativity and his ability to make songs unique. One of my favorite songs by him is "Touch It remix". In his tribute video, Busta's peers had nothing but good things to say about him. He also made it clear in his acceptance speech that he was the pioneer of the "feature" in Hip Hop music. He used to be scared of being a solo artist and took pride in having the best verse amongst a group. That's partially how he got the name "Busta". In his words he, "busts n****s a**" when he hops on a track with them. Busta continued to show why everyone loves him as he showed love to one of his great friends that has been in support of his career, a plethora of female artists, and his roots in Jamaica. It definitely embodied Busta with plenty energy and action. You can watch the full thing here (he did sooo good. love me some him).