THE BET AWARDS 2007: PERFORMNCES AND FULL SCOOP INSIDE ....

So last night, the 2007 BET Awards took place at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Some of entertainment's most celebrated R&B and Hip Hop performers took to the stage and honoured it with tributes to living legends and recently departed giants that evoked the most emotion. Lifetime achievement honoree Diana Ross urged younger performers to "keep it classy" and refrain from foul behaviour. A tearful Patti LaBelle joined an all-star tribute to R&B crooner Gerald Levert, who died last year. Also, I am glad to report that Beyonce was victorious for winning awards such as best female R&B artist and video of the year for "Irreplaceable" (although Irreplaceable wasn't an outstanding video). The most shocking thing of all is that she ACKNOWLEDGED Ne-yo by thanking him. In the past she use to act like she wrote the song by herself when the reality is, she probably only contributed two words to the song. Anyway, she delivered a show-stopping performance of her own with her dance anthem, "Get Me Bodied," appearing on stage in gold robot gear, which she freed herself from only to reveal sleek gold figure-hugging pants and a matching bra top:

It also appeared that Beyonce was rocking a metallic/tin foil type theme for the night as she stepped onto that red carpet. I absolutely hated the dress but it does look like something Diana would have worn during her Supremes heyday. Maybe that's why Bey decided to wear it, who knows? If so, she could easily have been forgiven.

Destiny's Child also hooked up together for the photo op:

During Bey's Get Me Bodied performance, she was joined on stage by her sister Solange who was doing more pop-locking than anyone else, and Michelle Williams also did her thang. I guess many of you were right in guessing the "special guest". It was indeed host Monique who joined Bey on stage. Rihanna and Beyonce chilled proving to the world that they are cool and have no beef with one another at all contrary to many reports. However, Jay-Z was listed as a guest and he was nowhere to be seen (instead Beyonce's dad Matthew took his seat). It's very possible that he was jet-lagged after all that traveling on vacation and decided he needed a full on rest. And Kelly Rowland couldn't even get any damn shine. Her performance was a left-over from Beyonce's performance. Just sad. Not to mention that vocally, she sounded horrible bringing it to the forefront that she can NOT sing live.

More [HQ] pics of Ms Knowles rocking that stage:



Best performance of the night. Sadly.

And Beyonce changed off into a stunning figure-hugging black number when she accepted her awards:

Much better.

R&B stunners Alicia Keys and Letoya Luckett took to the red carpet and showed how glam they truly were:

They both looked absolutely amazing but I still say Rihanna was the best dressed girl of the night. Besides, I thought that Alicia was supposed to be performing. In fact, a lot of artists were listed as performers and ended up not performing. Talk about false advertising.

More hot pictures of the other R&B songstresses:

Ashanti, Rihanna, Alicia Keys, Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger, Letoya Luckett and Amerie turned heads a thousand times.

Rihanna and Chris Brown also took to the stage to reward Jennifer Hudson:

LMAOOOO at Chris Brown. What the hell is he looking like with those funky ass coke-bottle glasses? He is such a goofball.

And here are more pictures of the lovely Rihanna:

Rihanna had the best dress of the night and she looked absolutely stunning. I loved the hair. This chick was nothing but immaculately gorgeous.

And Amerie and Kelly strutted their stuff on the red carpet:

I really liked Kelly's dress.

Ciara also looked amazing with her new cut and newly dyed brown hair. This is MY look to a tee. EVERYBODY is rocking a bob these days. It must be a new trend that's come back in fashion:

... as long as she doesn't go any lighter with the hair, she will continue to look great. Deep down Ciara has a beauty about her that she's not aware of. She downplays her femininity all because of her tom-boyish qualities and this is one of her major concerns. Still, it was nice to see her not wearing the ridiculously false weave bunged up in her head. Anyway, Ciara performed her latest track Like A Boy. And it was WIDELY speculated that Ciara and rapper 50 Cent are truly a couple and even sat TOGETHER at The Awards Show. This pairing was reported months ago but Ciara has always denied they were dating and that they were just friends. They've become close since shooting her latest new video. Anyway during last night's performance, word has it that Ciara was vex like mad that she ranked at only 25 on BET's Best Dancer's Of All Time list which is why she had on that boxing jacket that said "25?" on it.

Keyshia Cole performed Last Night with Diddy, and was later joined by rapper Lil Kim:

American Idol winner Jordin Sparks also presented.

Jennifer Hudson and Jennifer Holiday united to sing what is now both of their signature song And I'm Not Telling You:

I am sick and tired of hearing this song now. It needs to be retired. This performance didn't sound right to me. It was nothing but the deficiency's of two screaming hyena's scrabbling in a pack of heat. Such disappointment, and J.Hud is in sheer need of a girdle. The BIG upset of the night was when J.Hud won the award for Best Newcomer. Even that one made me raise an eyebrow because J.Hud has yet to release an album. I thought that the Best Newcomer Award was only honoured to an actual ARTIST who released a successful album. Unless the rules have changed because it appears the BET Awards are only riding the coattails of Jennifer's Oscar glory. J.Hud is currently recording her debut album on J Records so when she does release the album (and it becomes a success), she will not be able to win the Best Newcomer Award because she'd have won it already (under unfair circumstances).

Other R&B/Soul artists that were there included Musiq Soulchild, Robin Thicke, BET hosts Terrence and his co-host, as well as Ne-yo (who also performed) and R&B crooner Brian MsKnight:

Interesting line-up but the BET Awards certainly didn't appear to live up to the hype and the performances were so-so.

Brandy was spotted at the 2007 BET Awards afterparty:

Still not looking any better.

But an R&B songstress that DID look beautiful was Ashanti and her rapper boyfriend Nelly who attended a pre-Bet Awards bash:

Hot! It was nice to see that these two are still going strong after over three years, though, Nelly needs to keep his mouth firmly shut.

Ashanti and Nelly also attended Jermaine Dupri's BET After Party which took place at the Highlands in LA:

Cute.

And of course the man himself who actually hosted the party was there too alongside his superstar girlfriend Janet Jackson:

Not feeling that hair at all. Anyway, Jermaine has stated that after Janet releases her new album next year, they are going to start trying for a baby. About damn time too.

Oh, and Rihanna attended the party as well:

Cute! I am pretty shocked that Mariah wasn't there because being a very close-knit pal of JD she always attends his parties. I guess she was busy recording in the studio. Mariah is going to come back at us with another Emancipation and I can't wait.

Michelle Williams attended the ASCAP's Rhythm & Soul Awards at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in LA as did:

Mary J Blige, American Idol winner Jordin Sparks, Letoya Luckett, Ne-yo and Keyshia Cole. For once, Keyshia looked mad fly. She is reminding me of a younger Mary J Blige.

Amerie attended the BET Awards 2007 - Media Day, as did:

... the Cheetah Girls, Brian McKnight, Monique, Lyfe Jennings, Robin Thicke, Lloyd and Ginuwine. What the hell has happended to G? His looks have faded COMPLETELY. Wow.

And just before the event took place, you know that there were a couple of rehearsals that went down. Peep Ciara and Robin Thicke preparing themselves:

... though neither of their performances really impressed me. I'm going to have to say that Beyonce had the best performance that night and she didn't even shut it down.

This week, Janet Jackson was spotted outside Butter's nightspot in NYC:

She looked great here.

Well, as promised, here are all of the R&B performances that went down last night at the 2007 BET Awards:

Get Me Bodied - Beyonce (BET Awards 2007)

Like This - Kelly Rowland (BET Awards 2007)

Like A Boy - Ciara feat Lil John (BET Awards 2007)

Because of You/Make Me Better - Ne-yo feat Fabulous (BET Awards 2007)

Last Night - Diddy feat Keyshia Cole (BET Awards 2007)

Lost Without You - Robin Thicke (BET Awards 2007)

And I'm Not Telling You - Jennifer Hudson and Jennifer Holiday (Pre BET Awards 2007)