Sunday July 1: BET Awards

            For the African-American community, the most anticipated award show in history, known as the BET Music Awards was celebrated today. 

            This year’s was a bit different with Samuel L. Jackson as the host. Traditionally, the BET Award’s host is a popular comedian, which ensures for a very entertaining show. When Jackson was announced as the 2012 host, many people were skeptical because of his hardcore and aggressive personality portrayed in many of his films. Sadly, I missed the opening performance because I had to take care of an important task that ran over to about 2 hours into the show. 

            I was preparing a list for potential guests for the Tom Joyner Morning Show for Tuesday and Friday. Finding a guest seems like an easy thing to do, but it requires plenty of research to obtain accurate sources and information. I’m constantly scrolling, looking, and reading various online articles until I come across one that’s attention grabbing because the key is find a topic that will be the most talked about story of all week.  Researching is a tedious job but when you’re determined to produce a great segment than the hard work pays off. The time was now 10:00 p.m. and Destinee Richardson and I accepted that we missed half of the BET Awards, so we quickly finalized our pitch ideas and emailed them to Ms. Reid. Richardson. We found 4 great solid topics (confidential) that impressed Ms. Reid. Deep inside, it felt good to know that we were capable of pitching great ideas for a popular syndicated radio show.

            I closed my laptop, grabbed my phone, and ran downstairs to the lobby to catch a few performances.  Everyone in the lobby agreed that I didn’t miss anything too spectacular; except for D’Angelo’s.  The only thing I was worried about missing, was the Whitney Houston’s tribute.  BET always does justice with musical legendaries tributes, so watching Houston’s was crucial.   Mariah Carey introduced the tribute with an emotional speech about their genuine relationship, while joking at very end. I could already tell this tribute will be a tearjerker. Monica amazed me with her talented vocals, by giving me chills, as she sung Houston’s legendary song from “The Preacher’s Wife,” entitled “I Love the Lord.  At this moment, everyone in lobby was in complete silence as tears were held back. Brandy tribute to Houston was remarkable, from the choreography, to her strong vocals, everything was perfect as she greatest hits: “I’m Your Baby Tonight” and “I Wanna Dance With Somebody. The beautiful Chaka Khan lighten up atmosphere with the song “I’m Every Woman” as we embraced the inner and outer beauty of Houston. But what stole the show was Houston's mother, Cissy Houston's traditional gospel song in honor of her daughter.  Cissy had everyone in the audience in tears, even hardcore rappers. She also touched many people from behind the television screen as many people fought back tears in the lobby. The tribute ended with the cast from Waiting to Exhale as they shared they personal memories of Houston. Honestly, the tribute was so emotional I felt like I was at Houston's funeral all over again.

        The 2012 BET Awards did an excellent job this year and I was impressed with the tribute to Whitney Houston. I'm glad that I was able to witness that because Houston's tribute wast the star of the awards.

✌ ❤☺-Demeshia Jackson