If there's one awards show that pays proper homage to hip hop, it’s the BET Hip Hop Awards. While other awards shows tend to mostly award hip hop songs in categories dedicated to the genre, with a few exceptions in overall awards depending on the year's most popular songs, the BET Hip Hop Awards are a testament not only to popularity, but also the skill and craftsmanship of the music. It’s an awards show for hip hop, by hip hop, and I’m always of the mind that these more specific awards shows are more entertaining and true to whatever they’re honoring than the others. As a bonus, many hip hop stars show up for these shows, but this year, there was an exception. Where was Kanye West during the 2016 BET Hip Hop Awards?
Unsurprisingly, West was nominated for eight BET Hip Hop Awards this year, including Best Hip Hop video (for “Famous”), Best Live Performer, Lyricist Of The Year, Video Director Of The Year, MVP Of The Year, Album Of The Year (for The Life Of Pablo), Hustler Of The Year, and the Made-You-Look Award, which is an award for style. These are the biggest awards of the night, but still, Kanye wasn’t there when the 2016 BET Hip Hop Awards were filmed on Sept. 17, 2016. But don’t worry — he had a great reason.
He’s on tour! West is currently on his Saint Pablo tour, and on Sept. 17, he was blowing his fans’ minds at the American Airlines Arena in Miami. The 2016 BET Awards were filmed at the Cobb Energy Performing Centre in Atlanta, and since teleportation has not been invented yet, West had to perform his concert and sit out the awards show. Understandable, obviously. The Saint Pablo Tour runs through Dec. 22 when it ends in Detroit, Michigan, and there are still tickets available if he hasn’t made it to your town yet. Give someone you love the gift of Yeezy for the winter holidays — they’ll love it.
So West had a valid excuse as to why he couldn’t come to accept any awards at the 2016 BET Hip Hop Awards, but he’s not the only hip hop star in the world and others were definitely there. Snoop Dogg, who hosted the BET Hip Hop Awards for three straight years, passed on the MC microphone in lieu of being honored by BET with the “I Am Hip Hop” Award. DJ Khaled is the new host (hopefully, he'll put the whole show on his Snapchat), and audiences can expect killer performances by T.I. , Gucci Mane, Young Thug, and Desiigner.
Even without Kanye, there are plenty of reasons to tune into the 2016 BET Hip Hop Awards on Tuesday night.
