In 2007, the BET Awards gave KRS-One a lifetime achievement award, we watched Common grabbing a plaque, and even Hip-Hop’s intellectual friends Cornel West and Eric Michael Dyson graced us with their presence. For those of us who know how Hip-Hop award shows really get down, we need a little something more than make-up over the buc-fifties on Hip-Hop’s face.
We expect acceptance speeches to be essentially diss skits to rival rappers. The excitement of a rapper bringing his whole housing project to the awards and, of course, the ensuing brawl with another rapper’s housing project is always par for the course.
Leave it to T.I. (or maybe T.I.P.) to bring the drama back. He got knocked hours before the award show for allegedly (remember that the man deserves a trial) trafficking machine guns. Act like you know! Being held back by the boys, the King of the South missed his performance and could not accept his award. Lucky for you, we got the five copies of the BET Hip-Hop Awards DVD, with exclusive footage of his rehearsal performance. If you want one, email your home address and the answer to this question:
Why did label execs ask T.I. to shorten his name from T.I.P. to just T.I.?
