Like Rap Metropolis, 106 & Park, and ComicView earlier than it, one other BET staple could also be coming to an finish.
Lately, the community introduced its plan to indefinitely “droop” the BET Hip Hop Awards whereas reimagining the way to greatest place the ceremony within the present media panorama. The Soul Practice Awards are additionally being placed on pause.
“I feel what we’re going to see are extra folks taking franchises and saying, ‘This may need began on linear tv, however now I’m going to maneuver it to a different area,” BET CEO Scott Mills informed Billboard. “We have now a group that’s actively occupied with the place these award exhibits would possibly greatest stay because the media local weather continues to evolve.”
The BET Hip Hop Awards debuted in 2006, rapidly incomes credibility with assist from the rap cyphers it could curate and air with every present. These rap classes turned an annual custom, showcasing up-and-coming stars, mixtape heavyweights, licensed legends, skilled thespians, and style nomads. With annually, they provided trending moments and dazzling shows of lyricism and showmanship. They’ll be most notably missed by this yr’s discontinuation.
With the BET Hip Hop Awards’ future hanging within the steadiness, Okayplayer seems again on the practically 100 cyphers and plucks the 12 strongest entries.
12. Boris Kodjoe, Duane Martin, J.B. Smoove, Kevin Hart (as Chocolate Droppa), Nick Cannon, Nelly
12 months: 2013
MVP: Chocolate Droppa
Greatest bar: “I am higher than all y’all, on prime like a satellite tv for pc / Matter reality none of y’all even had a spouse / Y’all introduced knives to a motherf**kin’ cannon struggle” — Nick Cannon
Some could write off this Actual Husbands of Hollywood cypher as a bit for affordable laughs. Sure, they bought jokes — however that is no mockery. There’s one thing for everybody on this hysterical rhyme session, from Boris Kodjoe’s bilingual raps to Duane Martin’s breakaway swimsuit riff to Nick Cannon going full battle mode and including much more sons to his household tree. As soon as Kevin Hart begins body-rolling mid-rap, this factor formally hits peak hilarity.
10. Lupe Fiasco, Papoose, Kinds P
12 months: 2006
MVP: Lupe Fiasco
Greatest bar: “They are saying the sport has the stomach of a beast / Blunts for fingers, hole ideas for tooth” —Lupe Fiasco
Three street-conscious MCs dropped deliciously distinct flows and flavors within the very first cypher to air throughout the storied award ceremony. Kinds discovered a pocket to levy threats and shout out civil rights icons. Papoose pulled from his punchline pouch: a blended bag of strong jabs (“I’ll have you ever defeat like a foot physician”) and regrettable whiffs (“He hop up, I clap him in his hip / You possibly can name it ‘hip-hop’”). However Lupe’s prolonged personification of the streets set the lyrical bar excessive — and dared successors to rise to the problem. Quick however potent, this cypher paved the way in which for a lot of to return.
9. Brandy, Erykah Badu, H.E.R., Teyana Taylor
12 months: 2020
MVP: Erykah Badu
Greatest bar: “Breonna Taylor appeared intentional / Black queens with desires, stunning, distinctive / Say you wanna be down however nonetheless ain’t arrest them, although” —H.E.R.
Teyana Taylor was 4 years outdated when Brandy Norwood’s “I Wanna Be Down” dropped. H.E.R. was born three years later. Nonetheless, these two ’90s infants linked with ‘90s soul royalty — Brandy and Badu — for a cross-generational replace that retained the basic monitor’s hook, sounding extra like an A&R’ed rap remix than a cypher. Everybody understood the project on this group undertaking, bringing empowerment, swagger, sexiness, and divine female power. Can we get this on music streamers, pronto?
8. Artists: Buckshot, Crown Royyal, Joe Budden, Nicki Minaj
12 months: 2009
MVP: Nicki Minaj
Greatest bar: “I’d cock again to get even / It is not a moist dream; you simply gettin’ shot at when you sleepin’” —Joe Budden
Nicki Minaj seized one among her earliest main platform moments, dressing up her rhyme with the sharp one-liners and quirky aura that made her a star inside a yr. These qualities had been magnified alongside Tri-State traditionalists like Buckshot and pre-podcast Joe Budden. Whereas the Boot Camp Clik chief held his personal, Budden additional cemented his position as music trade outsider and underground king with a self-mythologizing rap that was calm, collected, and funky as hell.
7. 2 Chainz, Busta Rhymes, Ludacris, Reek da Villian
12 months: 2011
MVP: Busta Rhymes
Greatest bar: “Ludacris I made soccer mothers rap / Albums, I drop eight like Octomom’s snatch” —Ludacris
Busta-Bus was 20 years faraway from his breakout verse on A Tribe Known as Quest’s 1991 basic “Situation” — one among hip-hop’s G.O.A.T. posse cuts — when he bodied this showcase in an identical method. However as an alternative of dungeon-dragon power, he flashed a fly unc persona that exhibited slick punchlines and an animated supply. Ludacris was set as much as dominate — and he blacked out. Ditto for his former Disturbing Tha Peace signee 2 Chainz and Flipmode’s Reek da Villain. All of them greater than did their factor. And but, as he did 20 years beforehand, Busta went off the planet, reminding the rap world that it was nonetheless the identical situation.
6. Huge Okay.R.I.T., B.o.B, Kendrick Lamar, Tech N9ne, Machine Gun Kelly
12 months: 2011
MVP: Kendrick Lamar
Greatest bar: “What are your plans? To win a Grammy? / Candy style of victory, like Oprah’s punani?” —Kendrick Lamar
This cypher represented the weblog period in a nutshell — an ethernet connection between rappers representing Atlanta, Cleveland, Compton, Kansas Metropolis, and Mississippi. It’s straightforward to listen to the variations of their kinds, influences, and drawls. Everybody killed it, however Kendrick Lamar is the star of the present, and his ambitions of turning into rap’s prime rhymer are obvious in his crowd-pleasing quotables and understated supply with simply sufficient eruptions to maintain you hanging onto his each phrase.
5. Black Thought, Eminem, Mos Def (now Yasiin Bey)
12 months: 2009
MVP: Eminem
Greatest bar: “I’m a f**kin’ cross between Osama / Dahmer / Obama / And Dalai Lama” —Eminem
The time period “backpack rap” nonetheless meant one thing when these three totems of the subgenre linked up over a easy breakbeat. The artist then often known as Mos Def gave an aural tour of Brooklyn, a then-underrated Black Thought demanded his respect, and Slim Shady dropped twisted inside rhymes and lyrics as solely he may: one second threatening to homicide a marsupial, the subsequent spilling a few NSFW pic he swears he despatched to Taylor Swift.
4. Ace Hood, Fabolous, Jadakiss, Juelz Santana
12 months: 2008
MVP: Fabolous
Greatest bar: “So get your little cash, you isn’t a risk / After we was making it rain, you wasn’t drizzlin’ but” —Fabolous
What would occur for those who throw the man who made “Bugatti” into the ring with a few of New York Metropolis’s most deadly wordsmiths? Effectively, that’s the magic of the BET cypher, and the sickos curating these units simply needed to discover out for themselves. Luckily, Ace Hood held his personal as leadoff batter whereas Kiss cleared the bases. However Fab and Dipset’s personal Juelz Santana went bar-for-bar with top-tier bravado raps. Loso eked out a win with an environment friendly verse and immaculate rhyming of former Alaska governor “Sarah Palin” and “parasailin’.’”
3. Huge Sean, Frequent, CyHi the Prynce, Ye, Pusha T
12 months: 2010
MVP: Huge Sean
Greatest bar: “Whoever informed you sky’s the restrict is wanting dumb/’Trigger I’m 22 and I’m moonwalking on the solar” —Huge Sean
True to the ethos of Yeezy’s Rosewood period, G.O.O.D. Music’s sluggers pulled as much as this cypher in matching tailor-made fits, wanting and sounding like hip-hop’s freshest crew. And pound-for-pound, this one is among the many most well-balanced, unquestionably dope lyrical shows within the present’s historical past. Everybody introduced their A-game — together with bars that resurfaced on Lastly Well-known and My Lovely Darkish Twisted Fantasy — however Motown’s personal Huge Sean stunted hardest. Flaunting apex punchline effectivity, he layered quippy build-up bars atop climactic one-liners with a feline’s agility and a comic book’s intuition for timing. Get these jokes off all you need, however anybody who can spit bars like, “They having a kissing struggle, and I’m Don King/And everybody know I’m coming quickly, like LeBron’s ring” and steal consideration from rap legends is certainly an all-star. Perhaps not LeBron, however who doesn’t love watching Kyrie Irving embarrass defenders?
2. Ab-Soul, Isaiah Rashad, Jay Rock, Kendrick Lamar, ScHoolboy
12 months: 2013
MVP: Kendrick Lamar
Greatest bar: “Nothing was the identical since they dropped ‘Management’ / and tucked a delicate rapper again in his pajama garments” —Kendrick Lamar
It was the high-five heard across the hip-hop world — an exclamation level on a sparring session that had already seen extra highs than a crackhouse. Mobb Deep’s “Shook Ones” instrumental served up the vibes however not one of the TDE spitters had been petrified of the second. Soul declared his crew’s battle readiness, ScHoolboy floated with avenue slang, and newcomer Isaiah Rashad practically stole the present by sizing up his contemporaries. After which Kendrick occurred. Rapping for 2 minutes straight, Okay-Dot saved the aggressive power he’d exhibited on “Management” months earlier, this time seemingly singling out Drake with a reference to the Toronto rapper’s newest album title. The hand slap with Q that adopted was so crisp and well-timed, however the bars saved coming. His closing salvo — an enunciation of “King Kendrick” — had by no means sounded so plausible, and his repeat appearances on the Hip-Hop Award festivities performed a serious position in his coronation.
1. Crooked I, Eminem, Joell Ortiz, Joe Budden, Royce da 5’9”, Yelawolf
12 months: 2011
MVP: Eminem
Greatest bar: “Suppose my bread is her paper to burn / So I lock her out, and now she doubt David is Stern” —Joe Budden
The best cypher of all is like hip-hop Minesweeper: You could possibly fast-forward to just about any timestamp and land on an explosive quotable from the Shady Data crew (dubbed Shady 2.0). Yelawolf flipping a Peter Piper tongue tornado. Joe Budden pouring out a little bit liquor for Amy Winehouse. Joell Ortiz clowning skinny denims. Royce taking pictures his shot at Rihanna. Eminem performed class clown all through, earlier than launching into an insane sequence of punchlines and prolonged metaphors more odd than his D-12 homie. When it got here to the Hip-Hop Awards cyphers, Slaughterhouse and Shady had been perennial kings of the courtroom. Salute.
