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BET Hip-Hop Awards: 5 Things That Need Fixing In 2025

October 26, 2024 by newhiphopnews

The BET Hip-Hop Awards are a far cry from what they used to be. Over the last few years, interest in what used to be one of the most anticipated events on the hip-hop calendar has dwindled. This comes down to several issues, primarily with BET as an institution no longer being in touch with modern hip-hop beyond what’s popular today. As the show’s presentation continues to change, things have gone away that need to return. Fans view the show more negatively thanks to many unneeded changes over the years. Here are five things that the BET Hip-Hop Awards are missing that could improve the quality of the once-culturally significant event if they were implemented when the next one happens in 2025.

1. Bring Back The Cyphers

Every year, the BET Hip-Hop Awards used to play host to a series of cyphers. They featured different groups of rappers aiming to outdo each other in their freestyle verses. Some of the biggest names in the game appeared in these cyphers, often to promote recent work or remind fans how good they are. The first-ever cypher at the 2006 event featured Lupe Fiasco and Styles P. At the time, the two recently released their debut and sophomore efforts, respectively. The 2011 iteration of the show featured Eminem introducing the greater hip-hop world to Slaughterhouse. They had signed to Shady Records and were building buzz as a group online for years ahead of their debut album, Welcome To Our House.

In 2010, the G.O.O.D. Music roster of Kanye West, Big Sean, Pusha T, CyHi The Prynce, and Common delivered verses shortly before the release of West’s opus, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. The showing helped put CyHi on the map and solidified Big Sean as a rapper to look out for in 2011. The year prior, Yasiin Bey, Black Thought, and Eminem rhymed together. It was a friendly clashing of the titans that fans almost never get to experience anymore. Top Dawg Entertainment’s roster came together in 2013 for a performance that famously saw Kendrick Lamar fire shots at Drake long before their feud dominated headlines. And who could forget when Eminem returned solo in 2017 to deliver a scathing takedown of then-president Donald Trump in a winding four-and-a-half minute verse?

Since those late-2000s and early-2010s glory days, the cyphers have had diminishing returns. The greats no longer come out to show out. The effects of this change culminated in BET completely doing away with the cyphers in 2024, ending a tradition that existed for seventeen years. Asking superstars to sign on in 2025 may be a tough request. The most popular names around rarely freestyle these days as is. But, the cyphers do still need to return. Preferably with rappers who are more in-demand than those who populated them in the last few years. Names like the ones in the Griselda camp or legends reclaiming their spots in the game like Common and LL Cool J, two MCs who made major comebacks in 2024, could be fun to see next year.

2. Improved Advertising

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I did not know the BET Hip-Hop Awards were airing on the night of Tuesday, October 15, until over halfway through the show. Nor did people I know. The only reason I found out the show was on that night is because of a Twitter post criticizing the lack of cyphers. In previous years, the BET Hip-Hop Awards (and the all-encompassing BET Awards earlier in the summer) made sure that fans knew when and where the event was taking place.

There was little advertising for the 2024 event. Going into what is usually one of the network’s biggest ratings boons of the year without substantial promotion will almost certainly be reflected in their viewership this year. It is hard to build interest in a show without marketing the show as heavily as possible. Next year, a point of emphasis has to be on advertising. There is no other annual hip-hop award show as significant as the BET Hip-Hop Awards. It should feel like that every single year.

3. More (Currently) Relevant Performers

In 2023, Fat Joe hosted the BET Hip-Hop Awards. In 2024, he came back to do it again. Joe, for better or for worse, is a legendary figure in New York City’s hip-hop scene. In a vacuum, having him host the show is not a bad thing. He is not necessarily musically relevant anymore. But he’s a regular attendee of different events throughout the year and still clearly loves hip-hop. However, giving him the opportunity to perform “Make It Rain,” a single from 2006, at a show in 2024, is inexplicable.

Doubly so for the Soulja Boy and Roscoe Dash joint performance that took place later in the night. While fun, Dash was popular over a decade ago. These days, Soulja Boy is more known for his antics than his music. “All The Way Turnt Up” is still a great song. It is still a damning indictment on the state of the show when the performance of a song from 2010 is a highlight of the night over some of the newer acts that showed up (Bossman Dlow and GloRilla, for example). The BET Hip-Hop Awards may no longer have the cache to convince contemporary superstars to perform. But most of the valuable TV time should be used to spotlight bubbling acts. Not people who haven’t been on the public’s mind in over a decade.

4. Nominate Non-Mainstream Acts For Awards

The BET Hip-Hop Awards are the only major televised hip-hop award show in the United States. As such, the awards should be more reflective of everything happening in hip-hop. There is nothing inherently wrong with mainstream acts being on the nominees list. Popular acts should always be acknowledged. And all things considered, Kendrick Lamar was more than worthy of the eight awards he took home. However, hip-hop is healthiest when both mainstream and acts who are not in the mainstream receive acknowledgment on big stages. The underground and “middle ground” are the strongest they’ve been in years. Moreover, it would have been nice to see mainstays like Roc Marciano, Blu, and Vince Staples, or younger rappers like MAVI and Rae Khalil, be nominated for their work. There are big things happening outside of the mainstraeam at the moment.

5. Return To A Larger Venue

The 2024 BET Hip-Hop Awards emanated from Drai’s Nightclub. Drai’s Nightclub is a venue in The Cromwell Las Vegas, a luxury hotel in Paradise, Nevada. They should never return there. Presentation is everything, and despite the performers’ best efforts, the event still felt small. It felt more like a Friday night in a city than a program set to be viewed by between 800,000 and a million viewers (2023’s show drew 953,000 the night it aired).

The stage itself was remarkably limited. Despite every camera cut suggesting otherwise, the crowd was so poorly mic’d that it often felt like they were apathetic. The most recent Grammy Awards took place at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. While the BET Hip-Hop Awards are not nearly as popular as the Grammys, they should be above hosting them in such an awkward venue. They need to return to a larger venue in 2025, one that makes the show feel important. The vibes in Drai’s Nightclub were not befitting of an awards show that’s nearly two decades into its run.

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Eminem VS. Slim Shady: 5 Takeaways From “The Face-Off”

July 31, 2024 by newhiphopnews

Eminem recently appeared on Complex’s YouTube channel to sit down with an AI-generated version of his alter ego, Slim Shady. The conversation comes just a few weeks after Eminem released The Death Of Slim Shady. The album is one that he also billed as a farewell to the character that helped launch him into superstardom. Eminem and Shady touch on a variety of topics, including Em’s post-Slim Shady career and recovery from addiction. They also deliver a number of barbs at the expense of MGK and Caitlyn Jenner. Here are five takeaways from Eminem and Slim Shady’s conversation.

Eminem Still Sees All

One might expect a man in his early 50s to not be as in tune with pop culture as he may have been two decades ago. That is not the case with Eminem. “Every other week on TikTok, Gen Z discovers you on Monday and cancels me on Tuesday,” he tells Slim Shady early in their conversation. Later in the video, Em and Shady reference the infamous Drake and LeBron James “am I letting you down?” conversation from The Shop after Pusha T released “The Story of Adidon.”

During a talk about fatphobia and body positivity, Em tells Shady that they “cured fatness” with a shot. He warns him that the shot “comes with a side of jealousy,” referring to a line Drake had for Rick Ross on his “Family Matters” diss track. Em also calls Shady “BBL Slizzy,” referring to Metro Boomin’s response to Drake. When the two of them come to a mutual understanding at the end, they do the “look at us, who’d have thought?” meme from Paul Rudd’s Hot Ones interview. Clearly, Em is still very in touch with what’s going on today, even if his new music doesn’t always suggest that.

**He Still Hates Relapse, Kind Of**

Eminem and Slim Shady discuss the creative missteps Em took after his first three albums at length. They argue over “FACK,” which fans and Eminem alike agree is one of his worst songs ever. They blame each other for writing the song. Em then mentions that since it’s on his greatest hits album Curtain Call, the song technically went Diamond. From there, they dive into talking about Relapse, Eminem’s 2009 comeback effort. “I was in recovery. I had to relearn how to rap,” Em tells Shady After Shady makes fun of him for rapping in different accents across the album. “And for what it’s worth, there’s an entire generation of people who think that’s a f***ing classic.” Eminem previously disavowed Relapse and has often called it his worst release. It seems that some reappraisals of his first post-rehab work led to him softening his own stance on the album.

He Knows That Some Of His Early-Career Feuds Were Silly

“Let’s talk about the people you dissed. Lyrical titans. Ja Rule, Moby, Fred Durst, who else? Christina Aguilera? Who’s really punching down?” Slim Shady asks Eminem about halfway through the conversation. Those few names are only a handful on a much larger list of people Em took shots at over the course of his career. He has the self-awareness to recognize that, in hindsight, many of those feuds were pointless. Most of those he attacked weren’t rappers, and the rappers he did go back and forth with were not comparable to him. He also addresses his one-sided feud with deceased actor Christopher Reeve, whose paralysis is something that Eminem has made fun of for decades. “Yeah, the guy fell off a horse. He’s dead! He’s been dead for twenty f***ing years! Leave him alone,” Em yells at Shady. The segment was not necessarily an apology for his past feuds. Rather, it was more of a backhanded admission that he could have picked better opponents to feud with.

Slim Shady Almost Ruined The Real Eminem’s Life

The conversation with Shady serves primarily as an opportunity for Eminem to reflect on his career, as well as the impact that the persona had on it. “If we’re being honest, the music that you’ve dropped since I bounced ain’t it,” Shady says near the beginning of the conversation. Em immediately points out that once he dropped the Slim Shady character, he released his most commercially successful singles ever. Later on, Em criticizes the fame he achieved as Slim Shady. “I invented you because my life was f***ed up […] But you didn’t fix anything, you actually made s**t worse. You’re the reason I had to self-medicate, and you’re the reason I almost lost my career, my family, and my life.” Of course, Shady responds by ignoring Eminem and opening a can of Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre’s new Gin & Juice drink, to which Em mentions that he’s 16 years sober. It is nice to see Eminem in a better mental space, one where he’s able to poke at various parts of his career.

Read More: Eminem’s Albums, Ranked

Eminem Has Few Regrets

“No one understands how f***ing toxic it is to always be the bad guy,” Slim Shady laments near the end of the video. “Don’t be so hard on yourself, snowflake. We all know you mean well,” Em responds. Eminem has often said that Slim Shady is a character. Fans know that Em is not usually trying to harm people with his words, but that hasn’t stopped him from getting swipes in at everyone he can. By the end of the discussion, after working through everything with Shady, it’s clear that Eminem does not feel much regret at this point in his life. Because of his recovery, he is sober and his relationships with his children are stronger than ever. And, he has both publicly apologized to and forgiven his ex-wife and his mother, two extreme sources of anger for him in his early music and two people who suffered the most from the creation of Slim Shady in the first place. For Em, it seems that the past is the past. The Death Of Slim Shady, as well as this conversation, attempts to put his old persona behind him as well.

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Danny Brown x Drink Champs: 5 Takeaways

March 19, 2024 by newhiphopnews

Danny Brown’s recent Drink Champs interview was definitely one for the books. The Detroit native joined hosts N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN to discuss several topics, from sobriety to meeting Nas and his thoughts on the current state of hip-hop, among others. However, the 2-hour interview had some important moments worth highlighting. Here are some of the biggest takeaways from Danny Brown’s time on Drink Champs.

Finally Sober

A major takeaway from Danny Brown’s Drink Champs interview was his sober announcement. He revealed that he has remained abstinent from drugs and alcohol for a year. When he was asked about his decision to get sober, he bluntly stated: “I was just fucking up.” N.O.R.E and DJ EFN then inquired about how he manages to have fun now without the drugs. “I don’t. But I’m 42 years old,” Danny responded. “The fun got to be done or you gon’ die. My fun was deadly. I was like a living skydiver. You can’t keep jumping out the plane every day.”

Later on in the conversation, the trio discussed the common belief that people are more creative when under the influence. However, Danny disagreed, using himself as an example. “Now that I’m sober, I realized that shit is just in me,” he said. “If anything, the drugs and alcohol was fucking me up more. It was taking me more out of who I was. But I’ve always been a funny motherfucker or just being able to fucking rap.”

The Evolution Of Rap Through Danny Brown’s Eyes

Danny Brown drink champs — PHOENIX, AZ – OCTOBER 22: Rapper Danny Brown performs at the Lost Lake Music Festival on October 22, 2017 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images)

Danny Brown has spent over two decades in the rap game. As a result, he has witnessed the evolution of the genre firsthand. He spoke candidly about his sentiments regarding the current state of rap. “I just wish it was more emphasis on creativity than anything else,” he said. “Because right now, it’s just copy and paste. You see some shit work, and you’re like, ‘Alright, I’m doing that shit too.’ And then it works! It needs to be more gatekeeping around this motherfucker, if anything.”

Although his commentary may have kicked off in a critical way, he later acknowledged the time and effort it takes to create music. He also spoke about how much easier it is to make your way into the rap genre nowadays. “I do like the fact- I’m not saying it’s easy- but you can make some shit and the people fuck with it, you’re on,” he said. “You ain’t gotta go through all of these pipelines and shit, how it used to be before. So, I do like that part of it.”

Read More: Who Is Danny Brown?

The Map To Success

Later in the discussion Drink Champs host N.O.R.E. expressed the idea that Danny Brown, who has dedicated his life to making music, embodied the essence of 1990s rap. Concurring with the sentiment, Danny elaborated on his own experience. He noted that while he was rapping during that era, he only found success after adjusting his approach. “I didn’t really get no traction like that until I was 30,” he said. “But I would admit that in my 20s, it was more so just rapping to try and get a record deal. I still didn’t find myself yet. It didn’t start working for me until I stopped giving a fuck about what other people thought about my music. I started to realize, like man, the music I listen to ain’t on TV or on the radio. So, I just started to pull my influences from that.”

J Dilla’s Impact

Towards the end of the Drink Champs interview, Danny Brown spoke honestly about the late record producer J Dilla. He also spoke about how much of an impact the producer had on the music industry. “People gotta understand, man. The shit that Dilla was doing, they still talk about and do shit to this day,” he stated. “I was in fucking Sweden one time, in like a fucking five-star restaurant, and they was playing fucking Slum Village instrumentals. I heard Slum Village when I was a kid but I was too immature to even understand that shit.” Danny shared that he didn’t fully grasp the brilliance on the record during his younger years. ”I was like, ‘These n**gas ain’t shooting nobody or nothing? They ain’t getting high or nothing, man. I can’t get jiggy with this shit,’” he joked. “But then when I grew up, I understood the genius in the music.”

The Kendrick Lamar Shoutout

danny brown kendrick lamar drink champs — MANCHESTER, TN – JUNE 07: Rappers Kendrick Lamar and Danny Brown perform onstage at This Tent during Day 1 of Bonaroo 2012 on June 7, 2012 in Manchester, Tennessee. (Photo by FilmMagic/FilmMagic)

Danny Brown and Kendrick Lamar, who collaborated on “Really Doe,” have shared a friendship in their musical careers. When Danny was asked about how their bond was formed, he stated: “We’ve always been fans of each other. I feel like K. Dot is one of the best rappers ever.” He later elaborated on this admiration and paid homage to Kendrick. “Some motherfuckers are just naturally gifted. Like, I feel like J. Cole worked hard to get where he’s at. He studied hard… he rapped hard. I feel like Kendrick was just born with that shit. You can’t take that.”

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