The following is a combination of press releases from BET:
BET announced The “BET Awards” 2020 nominees with Drake leading the pack with six nominations. This year’s nominees reflect an abundance of creative expression and black excellence across music, television, film, sports, and philanthropy. The “BET AWARDS” 2020 will simulcast LIVE at 8 pm ET across ViacomCBS networks including BET, BET HER, and will make its national broadcast premiere on CBS on Sunday, June 28 (8:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT, 7:00-10:00 PM, CT).
Drake returns to the top spot securing six nods, including ‘Best Male Hip Hop Artist,’ ‘Video of the Year,’ and two nods for both ‘Best Collaboration’ and ‘Viewer’s Choice’ for his features alongside Chris Brown (No Guidance) and Future (Life Is Good).
Newcomers Megan Thee Stallion and Roddy Ricch garnered the second most nods with five nominations each. Megan Thee Stallion nominations include ‘Best Female Hip Hop,’ ‘Best Collaboration,’ ‘Video of the Year,’ ‘Album of the Year,’ and ‘Viewer’s Choice Award.’ Roddy Ricch’s nods include ‘Best Male Hip Hop,’ ‘Video of the Year,’ ‘Best New Artist,’ ‘Album of the Year,’ and ‘Viewer’s Choice Award.’ Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, Chris Brown, Lizzo, and DaBaby are the third-highest with four nominations each.
In its twentieth year, the “BET AWARDS,” hosted by comedian and actress Amanda Seales, continues its reign as the ultimate platform to showcase the best and most beautiful aspects of the Black experience – celebrating Black music’s present and future, and elevating the culture and being a driving force for social change. BET recognizes artists, entertainers, and athletes across 21 categories with The “BET Awards” 2020 nominations. The nominations are selected by BET’s Voting Academy, which is composed of fans and an esteemed group of entertainment professionals in the fields of television, film, music, social media, digital marketing, sports journalism, public relations, and creative arts.
The first group of performers for the 20th annual “BET AWARDS” will include Alicia Keys, Chloe X Halle, DaBaby, D Smoke, Jennifer Hudson, John Legend, Jonathan McReynolds, Kane Brown, Lil Wayne, Megan Thee Stallion, Roddy Ricch, SiR, Summer Walker, Usher, Wayne Brady and more. BET Amplified Artists, Masego and Lonr. are set to take the BET Amplified Music Stage, a platform for emerging artists.
Amanda Seales is a comedian and creative visionary. You know her as, “Tiffany DuBois” of HBO’s Insecure and her debut stand up special, “I Be Knowin”. She is a former co-host on the daytime talk show, “The Real”, host of NBC’s “Bring the Funny,” creator/host of the hit live, and now virtual, music/comedy game show, “Smart Funny & Black”, speaks truth to change via her wildly popular Instagram, weekly podcast, “Small Doses”, and book by the same my name, recently launched her membership community app, “SFB Society”! A Jedi Khaleesi with a patronus that’s a Black Panther with wings, she keeps audiences laughing, thinking, and living in their truth!
In the final countdown to the BET Awards, Terrence J and Erica Ash will host the first interactive pre-show featuring celebrities, nominees, and special guests who will be participating in Black Entertainment’s biggest night.
“BET was created to stand at the forefront of black culture. We have made strides over the past two decades to create a space where black creativity, culture, and art have the opportunity to get the celebration it deserves in a world where it is systematically muted,” said Connie Orlando, EVP Specials, Music Programming & Music Strategy at BET. “This year we’re looking forward to continuing the tradition of providing fans with those special, not to be missed moments of enrichment, entertainment, empowerment and also using our platform to create change for our community.”
Internationally, the show will simulcast on BET Africa at 2 am CAT on June 29th, followed by international broadcasts in the UK on June 29th at 9 pm BST, France on June 30th at 8:45 pm CEST and in South Korea on June 30th at 9 pm KST. BET will honor the ‘Best International Act’, along with the fan-voted category ‘Best New International Act’.
The complete list of nominees for The “BET AWARDS” 2020 are:
BEST FEMALE R&B/POP ARTIST
Beyoncé
H.E.R.
Jhene Aiko
Kehlani
Lizzo
Summer Walker
BEST MALE R&B/POP ARTIST
Anderson .Paak
Chris Brown
Jacquees
Khalid
The Weeknd
Usher
BEST GROUP
Chloe x Halle
City Girls
EarthGang
Griselda
Jackboys
Migos
BEST COLLABORATION
Chris Brown featuring Drake – “No Guidance”
DJ Khaled featuring Nipsey Hussle & John Legend – “Higher”
Future featuring Drake – “Life is Good”
H.E.R. featuring YG – “Slide”
Megan Thee Stallion featuring Nicki Minaj & Ty Dolla $ign– “Hot Girl Summer”
Wale featuring Jeremih – “On Chill”
BEST MALE HIP HOP ARTIST
DaBaby
Drake
Future
Lil Baby
Roddy Ricch
Travis Scott
BEST FEMALE HIP HOP ARTIST
Cardi B
Doja Cat
Lizzo
Megan Thee Stallion
Nicki Minaj
Saweetie
VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Chris Brown featuring Drake – “No Guidance”
DaBaby – “Bop”
DJ Khaled featuring Nipsey Hussle & John Legend – “Higher”
Doja Cat – “Say So”
Megan Thee Stallion featuring Nicki Minaj & Ty Dolla $ign– “Hot Girl Summer”
Roddy Ricch – “The Box”
VIDEO DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR
Benny Boom
Cole Bennett
Dave Meyers
Director X
Eif Rivera
Teyana Taylor
BEST NEW ARTIST
DaniLeigh
Lil Nas X
Pop Smoke
Roddy Ricch
Summer Walker
YBN Cordae
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
“Cuz I Love You” – Lizzo
“Fever” – Megan Thee Stallion
“Homecoming: The Live Album” – Beyoncé
“I Used to Know Her” – H.E.R.
“Kirk” – DaBaby
“Please Excuse Me For Being Antisocial” – Roddy Ricch
DR. BOBBY JONES BEST GOSPEL/INSPIRATIONAL AWARD
The Clark Sisters – “Victory”
Kirk Franklin – “Just for Me”
Fred Hammond – “Alright”
John P. Kee featuring Zacardi Cortez – “I Made It Out”
Kanye West – “Follow God”
PJ Morton featuring Le’Andria Johnson & Mary Mary – “All In His Plan”
BEST ACTRESS
Angela Bassett
Cynthia Erivo
Regina King
Issa Rae
Tracee Ellis Ross
Zendaya
Jennifer Lopez
BEST ACTOR
Jamie Foxx
Omari Hardwick
Michael B. Jordan
Eddie Murphy
Billy Porter
Will Smith
Forest Whitaker
YOUNGSTARS AWARD
Asante Blackk
Miles Brown
Alex Hibbert
Marsai Martin
Storm Reid
Jahi Di’Allo Winston
BEST MOVIE
“Bad Boys for Life”
“Dolemite Is My Name”
“Harriet”
“Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé”
“Just Mercy”
“The Lion King”
“Queen & Slim”
SPORTSWOMAN OF THE YEAR
Simone Biles
Coco Gauff
Naomi Osaka
Claressa Shields
Serena Williams
Ajeé Wilson
SPORTSMAN OF THE YEAR
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Odell Beckham Jr.
Stephen Curry
LeBron James
Kawhi Leonard
Patrick Mahomes II
BET HER AWARD
Beyoncé featuring Blue Ivy, WizKid & Saint Jhn – “Brown Skin Girl”
Ciara featuring Lupita Nyong’o, Ester Dean, City Girls & La La – “Melanin”
Layton Greene – “I Choose”
Lizzo featuring Missy Elliott – “Tempo”
Alicia Keys – “Underdog”
Rapsody featuring PJ Morgan – “Afeni”
VIEWER’S CHOICE AWARD
Chris Brown featuring Drake – “No Guidance”
DaBaby – “Bop”
Future featuring Drake – “Life is Good”
Megan Thee Stallion featuring Nicki Minaj & Ty Dolla $ign– “Hot Girl Summer”
Roddy Ricch – “The Box”
The Weeknd – “Heartless”
BEST INTERNATIONAL ACT
Burna Boy (Nigeria)*
Innoss’B (DRC)
Sho Madjozi (South Africa)
Dave (UK)
Stormzy (UK)
Ninho (France)
S.Pri Noir (France)
BEST NEW INTERNATIONAL ACT
Celeste (UK)
Hatik (France)
Rema (Nigeria)
Sha Sha (Zimbabwe)
Stacy (France)
Young T & Bugsey (UK)
Connie Orlando, EVP of Specials, Music Programming & Music Strategy at BET and Jesse Collins, CEO of Jesse Collins Entertainment serves as Executive Producers for The “BET Awards” 2020 broadcast special.
For the latest The “BET AWARDS” 2020 news and updates, please visit BET.com/Awards.
ABOUT BET NETWORKS
BET, a subsidiary of ViacomCBS Inc. (NASDAQ: VIACA, VIAC), is the nation’s leading provider of quality entertainment, music, news, and public affairs television programming for the African-American audience. The primary BET channel is in 90 million households and can be seen in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, sub-Saharan Africa, and France. BET is the dominant African-American consumer brand with a diverse group of business extensions including BET.com, a leading Internet destination for Black entertainment, music, culture, and news; BET HER, a 24-hour entertainment network targeting the African-American Woman; BET Music Networks – BET Jams, BET Soul and BET Gospel; BET Home Entertainment; BET Live, BET’s growing festival business; BET Mobile, which provides ringtones, games and video content for wireless devices; and BET International, which operates BET around the globe.
ABOUT “BET AWARDS”
The “BET Awards” is one of the most watched award shows on cable television according to the Nielsen Company. The “BET Awards” franchise remains as the #1 program in cable TV history among African-Americans, and it is BET’s #1 telecast every year. It recognizes the triumphs and successes of artists, entertainers, and athletes in a variety of categories.
ABOUT JESSE COLLINS ENTERTAINMENT
Jesse Collins Entertainment (JCE) is a full service television and film production company founded by entertainment industry veteran, NAACP Image(R) Award winner and Emmy(R) Award nominee Jesse Collins. For more than a decade, the company has played an integral role in producing some of television’s most memorable moments in music entertainment. JCE produced the critically acclaimed biopic The New Edition Story, the story on the boy band that aired as a 3-part mini-series and posted record ratings for BET and attracted nearly 30 million viewers. It was followed by The Bobby Brown Story, which chronicled the talented but troubled singer’s exit from the popular ’80s boy band through his solo success, and was the highest rated non-tentpole program on the network since The New Edition Story. The next mini-series for JCE is Uptown, a 3-part original scripted miniseries for BET that will chronicle the story of producer Andre Harrell’s iconic record label, Uptown Records. The company’s current scripted TV series is American Soul, the story about the struggle to make the dream of Soul Train, the first nationally-syndicated Black music show, come true. It ended its first season as the #1 new cable scripted drama for African Americans 18-49 and its second season debuts in May 2020. Previously, JCE produced BET’s hit TV series Real Husbands of Hollywood starring Kevin Hart that ran for 5 seasons. On the unscripted side, JCE produces annual live specials – the BET Awards, Soul Train Awards and the BET Hip Hop Awards. Past credits include Black Girls Rock!, UNCF’s An Evening of Stars, ABFF Honors, BET Honors, Love & Happiness: An Obama Farewell, VH1’s Dear Mama, HBO’s Amanda Seales I Be Knowin;’ Netflix’s Def Comedy Jam 25 and Leslie Jones: Time Machine. JCE’s game shows include VH1’s Hip Hop Squares with Ice Cube and CMT’s Nashville Squares. Its music competition series on BET, Sunday Best is now in its 10th season and Netflix’s Rhythm & Flow featuring judges Tip “T.I.” Harris, Cardi B and Chance the Rapper will soon begin production on its second season that will air in 2021. Collins is also a producer for The Grammy Awards. He was on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop 100 Power Players list, has been featured on the cover of Vibe magazine and in numerous publications including Ebony magazine’s Power 100 issue. Go to http://www.jessecollinsent.com/ for more information on the company.
Culture Representation: This official documentary about the first 20 years of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival (an annual event in Indio, California) includes interviews with a racially diverse group of Coachella employees, artists and other associates.
Culture Clash: Coachella was a money-losing festival in its first few years and has grown into a major money-making event in pop culture, even though some critics believe Coachella has become too trendy and high-priced.
Culture Audience: “Coachella: 20 Years in the Desert” will primarily appeal to music fans and people who want to learn more about Goldenvoice, the concert-promotion company behind Coachella.
If you’re looking for shocking behind-the-scenes stories in the documentary “Coachella: 20 Years in the Desert,” then you’ll probably be disappointed. But this feel-good movie, directed by Chris Perkel, is a traditionally made chronicle of one the world’s most famous music festivals. The reason for this family-friendly portrayal of Coachella’s history (besides the fact that it’s available for free viewing on YouTube) is because Goldenvoice, the Los Angeles concert-promotion company behind Coachella, is one of the production companies that made this movie. In other words, this is not really an investigative documentary as much as it is a feature-length promotional video for Coachella.
Although some people in the movie talk about the festival’s early problems, there is absolutely no criticism of Coachella. Pretty much everyone who’s interviewed in the film gives praise to Coachella is some way. The movie’s biggest strengths are the musical performances that are in the film, as well as some interesting tidbits of information that aren’t very surprising, since most of the information in the movie has already been revealed in previous media coverage of Coachella.
The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, like most pop-culture phenomena, didn’t start out as something that people immediately thought would be a hit. The festival was launched in 1999, the same year that large-scale music festivals got a very bad name because of the disastrous Woodstock ’99 Festival, which ended with riots, arson, assaults and thefts. The first Coachella, which took place in October 1999, was announced the Monday after Woodstock ’99 (which took place in August in upstate New York) got a lot of backlash for ending in such a catastrophe. And the site for Coachella was an unorthodox risk—the Empire Polo Club in the desert city of Indio, California, which is about 128 miles east of Los Angeles.
According to Goldenvoice president/Coachella co-founder Paul Tollett (the person with the most screen time in the movie), Coachella had two things going for it that most other large-scale music festivals did not: The promise of a laid-back California vibe and California’s sunny weather, which made the chances very slim that Coachella would be plagued by the kind of rain that often wreaks havoc on festivals that are east of California.
Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) founder Pasquale Rotella, who says his business models for EDC and his other festivals were heavily influenced by Coachella, had this to say: “Some people who see Coachella now think, ‘Oh, that’s a no-brainer.’ Coachella is beautiful now [but] it was difficult. It took the concert promoter Goldenvoice several years to make it happen. And if it wasn’t for Goldenvoice’s roots, I don’t think Coachella would be what it is today.
“Coachella: 20 Years in the Desert” is divided into five chapters, with two chapters focused on specific music genres: “Chapter One: Origins,” “Chapter Two: The Early Years”; “Chapter Three: The Rise of Robots” (focusing on electronic dance music); “Chapter Four: The New Beats” (focusing on hip-hop); and “Chapter Five: The Next Generation.”
“Chapter One: Origins” has the history of the early years of Goldenvoice, which Gary Tovar launched in 1981 as an independent concert-promotion company whose specialty was booking punk and alternative rock bands at small venues in the Los Angeles area. Tovar says in the documentary: “When I started doing concerts, the punk rock that I did was too wild for some people.” Slamdancing and violence were very common at these shows, so many venues were reluctant to have shows that Goldenvoice was promoting.
By the mid-1980s, Goldenvoice’s influence grew to booking larger venues and helped launch the careers of acts such as Jane’s Addiction, Fishbone and Red Hot Chili Peppers. By the late 1980s and early 1990s, many of those acts had outgrown Goldenvoice, which was still mainly booking nightclubs and small theaters. But the relationships that Goldenvoice had with these artists were the foundation of what would become Coachella.
Tollett got his start booking ska shows in Pomona, California, in the mid-1980s. When he first met Goldenvoice’s Tovar, he thought Tovar would be an unfriendly rival, but “We hit it off instantly,” Tollett remembers. Later, “He gave me a box of flyers to pass out, and that was the first day that I worked at Goldenvoice.”
Dani Lindstrom, a longtime Goldenvoice employee, remembers that back in the late 1980s, the Goldenvoice office, which was located at the time above The Palladium, was “basically about five people booking shows.” Tollett adds that in the early 1990s, it looked like Goldenvoice was doing well, but the reality was that company was struggling financially.
And then, Goldenvoice experienced a major blow when Tovar was busted for what he describes in the documentary as his “side business”—smuggling and selling marijuana. In 1991, he was arrested and later sentenced to seven years in prison. The scandal effectively ended Tovar’s career as a concert promoter, but he refused to let Goldenvoice go bankrupt while he was in prison. Tovar sold the company to Goldenvoice employees Tollett and Rick Van Santen, who became presidents of the company.
The documentary names two events that also planted the seeds of Coachella. First, during Pearl Jam’s feud with Ticketmaster in 1993, the band was looking to do a gig in Southern California at a venue that wasn’t associated with Ticketmaster. Goldenvoice stepped in and booked Pearl Jam at the Empire Polo Grounds in Indio. The concert was a sold-out success (25,000 people attended), and it put the concert industry on notice that a show of this size could be done without Ticketmaster.
The other important event that helped give birth to Coachella was Goldenvoice’s involvement in the Organic Festival for rave music. After bands like Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Rage Against the Machine became too big to book for Goldenvoice in the 1990s, Tollett says that the company began to focus more on booking rave acts. The concept of Coachella was for it to be a combination of a big rock festival and a rave party.
Moby, one of the performers at the first Coachella, says that he was one of the people who thought that bringing a “European-style festival to the U.S.” was an interesting idea, but at the time, he wasn’t sure if it was going to work in the California desert. Meanwhile, sound engineer Dave Rat of Rat Sound admits that he was one of many people who thought even the name Coachella was a bad idea at the time.
The documentary portrays Coachella as a groundbreaking large-scale U.S. music and arts festival for alternative rock and other artists whose careers were helped by college radio, but the movie doesn’t properly acknowledge that Lollapalooza had the same concept and did it years before Coachella existed. Lollapolooza was a touring festival that began in 1991 and continued to 1997, and was resurrected in 2003. Lollapalooza was then revived in 2005 as a non-touring festival, with the U.S. edition taking place in Chicago. It’s obvious from the timeline of when Lollapalooza was on hiatus that Coachella was created to fill the void left by Lollapaolooza.
Jane’s Addiction lead singer Perry Farrell, who co-founded Lollapalooza and performed as a solo artist at the first Coachella, is interviewed in the documentary. As influential as Lollapalooza was in the 1990s, even Farrell acknowledges that Coachella has a much higher profile in the consciousness of the media and pop culture: “You’re going to be judged, man, when you hit the Coachella stage, and it’s going to be talked about for the rest of the year.”
“Chapter Two: The Early Years” is one of the more fascinating parts of the documentary because it covers the years that didn’t get the level of media attention that Coachella does now. The headliners at the first Coachella Festival (which was only a two-day event back then) included Beck, Morrissey (footage of his performance is in the documentary), Rage Against the Machine, the Chemical Brothers, Tool, Farrell and Ben Harper.
Tollett says that Coachella was such a financial disaster in its first year (he estimates the festival lost between $850,000 to $1 million) that he had his bank card taken away and “I got kicked out of a bank.” He adds that Coachella was able to continue because of Goldenvoice’s good relationships with people in the music industry. “The only reason why we were able to keep going was because we had a good reputation,” he says, adding that people such as Lollapalooza co-founders Don Muller and Marc Geiger lent money to Goldenvoice.
The financial losses of the first Coachella caused the festival to go on hiatus in 2000. But then, the financial fortunes of Goldenvoice changed in 2001, when the company was bought by AEG Live (now called AEG Presents) for about $7 million. Goldenvoice then became part of the AEG subsidiary Concerts West, with Tollett and Van Santen retaining their presidential roles at Goldenvoice. AEG had recently constructed the Staples Center arena and wanted to have a major festival as part of its portfolio, so the company gave the go-ahead for Goldenvoice to revive Coachella. And the rest is history.
The documentary then goes over some of the biggest highlights in those early Coachella years. In 2001, there was the reunion of Jane’s Addiction, which Tollett says largely happened because Van Santen convinced the band to get back together. But the festival had a serious garbage-disposal problem that year because, as Tollett says, they didn’t have enough trash cans on the site.
However, the reunion of Jane’s Addiction at Coachella set a precedent for Coachella being a leading festival for bands to stage reunions. Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA says in the documentary that seeing Rage Against the Machine’s 2007 reunion performance at Coachella was when he knew that Wu-Tang Clan would eventually do a reunion show at Coachella, which happened in 2013. Other artists who have done reunion performances at Coachella include N.W.A., Pixies, Guns N’Roses and OutKast.
Coachella in 2002 was “the first year we didn’t make a mistake,” Tollett says. That year, Björk became the first female artist to headline at Coachella. Goldenvoice employee Stacey Vee remembers that the early 2000s were a great time for alternative rock bands, and that only helped Coachella. The documentary includes footage of 2003 headliners the White Stripes.
The year 2004 was the first time that Coachella made a profit, according to Tollett. Radiohead, Pixies and Kraftwerk were among the headliners. In 2005, there was another big alt-rock reunion: Bauhaus, which included lead singer Peter Murphy entering the stage hanging upside down like a bat for the song “Bela Legosi’s Dead.” The movie has footage of this performance. The documentary includes interviews with Bauhaus members Murphy (in an audio interview), Daniel Ash and David J, who remembers that Bauhaus wanted to release live bats during the band’s performance but couldn’t because it was illegal.
It was in the mid-2000s that Coachella became a very hot ticket. Coachella culinary director Nic Adler remembers in the first few years of Coachella, Goldenvoice was literally giving away tickets to him and his co-workers to attend. By the sixth or seventh year of Coachella, he says, those free tickets stopped. “There was that switch in the festival where you literally saw it was something you had to do, something you had to be at,” Adler comments.
Coachella in 2006 was most memorable for Madonna’s performance, which was booked on such relatively short notice that she couldn’t perform on the already-booked main stage. Instead, she performed in the tent for electronic dance music (EDM) artists. The documentary includes footage of Madonna performing “Hung Up” in the tent. Madonna was the first superstar to perform at Coachella, according to Goldenvoice’s Raymond Roker, the former editor-in-chief/publisher of URB magazine.
However, Madonna at Coachella didn’t happen without some criticism, as some of Coachella’s early fans thought that the festival wasn’t supposed to be for major pop acts. But at this point, so many Hollywood celebrities were flocking to Coachella, that it was inevitable that the festival would start having artists with more mainstream appeal. The documentary has some backstage footage from the 2007 Coachella that briefly shows actor Danny DeVito posing for a picture with singer Amy Winehouse—that pretty much says it all. Hollywood actress Rosanna Arquette, who did backstage interviews for Coachella for several years, says in the documentary: “It was the most favorite job I’ve ever had in my life.”
“Chapter Three: The Rise of Robots” covers the importance of Coachella to EDM acts. While many festivals in the 2000s were afraid to have a rave-style atmosphere, Coachella embraced it and helped boost the careers of many EDM acts. Coachella also helped usher in the era of DJs and other EDM artists staging big productions for their shows, with elaborate lighting and stunning visuals.
Two EDM performances at Coachella are singled out as major milestones: Daft Punk in 2006 (when the group performed a very “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”-inspired outer-space-themed set) and Tiësto in 2010, when he became the first EDM artist to perform on Coachella’s main stage. Steve Aoki raves about Daft Punk’s 2006 Coachella performance: “It changed people’s lives, including mine, forever.” Jason Bentley adds, “Nothing was the same after that performance.”
This chapter also mentions that Coachella influenced how EDM acts began to have more high-tech productions. Paul van Dyk says, “I’m not scared of technology. It’s something I use as a tool.” Tiësto says that the rise of EDM also coincided with the rise of social media: “Social media made a big difference. As soon as Facebook and Instagram blew up, EDM blew up. For years [EDM music] was held down by the people who controlled the [mainstream] media.”
But EDM at Coachella isn’t just about elaborate light shows or movie-quality images on big screens. Also included in this chapter are commentaries from actor Idris Elba (who moonlights as a DJ) and Nina Kraviz, who praise the low-tech vibe of Coachella’s Yuma Stage, which doesn’t have any big screens. Meanwhile, Diplo says that even though headlining sets happen at night, “Sunset is the best time to play Coachella.”
“Chapter Four: The New Beats” covers the evolution of rap and hip-hop at Coachella. Goldenvoice’s Roker notes that in Coachella’s early years, the rap acts booked at the festival tended to be those that were played on college radio and had a largely white fan base. (Jurassic 5 is named as one example.) Roker says, “It took a while for the culture to merge.”
Coachella went from booking mostly independent rap acts to acts that had major crossover success on the pop charts. Kanye West (who showed up 20 minutes late for his first Coachella performance in 2006) is cited as one of the first major crossover rap acts to perform at Coachella. Jay-Z had the biggest breakthrough as the first rap act to headline at Coachella, which he did in 2010.
According to Tollett, Jay-Z was selected for the headlining spot after Goldenvoice promoters saw him perform as a replacement for headliner the Beastie Boys at the 2009 All Points West Festival, which was also a Goldenvoice show. When Jay-Z opened the show with the Beastie Boys’ “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” (a rap song with a rock beat), the people at Goldenvoice knew that he could do a show that could appeal to Coachella’s audience, which consisted of mostly rock fans at the time.
As the 2010s became the decade that rap and hip-hop began to have more of a presence at Coachella, so too did social media. It was in this decade that Instagram became the main social-media platform for Coachella attendees to document their experiences and fashion choices. In 2011, YouTube began livestreaming Coachella for the first time.
By 2012, Coachella had become so popular (with the event usually selling out the first day it went on sale) that Goldenvoice did something that was truly groundbreaking at the time: Coachella was extended for a second weekend, with the same acts performing in the same time slots for each weekend. Tollett says that there were many naysayers to this idea at the time, but it turned out to be a major success and catapulted Coachella to become the world’s top-grossing festival, in terms of ticket sales. Although attendance numbers and ticket sales were not mentioned in the documentary, in 2017 (the last year that Coachella publicly reported this information), Coachella was attended by 250,000 people and grossed $114.6 million.
The year 2012 was also a milestone year for Coachella because it featured what Tollett calls “The single most popular thing that ever happened at Coachella.” During Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg’s performance at Coachella’s first weekend, a surprise hologram of the late Tupac Shakur appeared on stage and performed. The hologram made news worldwide and became a massive sensation on the Internet.
Dylan Brown, who created the hologram, explains in the documentary how precise the movements had to be, even down to raising an eyebrow on the hologram. “We just wanted to do it right. We wanted to be respectful to the [Shakur] family and to the fans.”
Roker adds that after this groundbreaking hologram performance, “The genie was never going back in the bottle. It established the show as part of popular culture.” Ice Cube, who was a peer of Shakur’s in the vital 1990s West Coast rap scene, comments on the Coachella hologram: “I was happy for [Dr. Dre] and happy for Tupac being able to be on stage.”
“Chapter Five: The Next Generation” covers how Coachella has evolved to stay relevant to the mostly young people who flock to the event. Gone are the days when alt-rock artists were the majority of the headliners. Coachella is now more diverse than ever before, with pop, hip-hop, Latino and Asian artists becoming more prevalent at Coachella, compared to the festival’s early years. Some of the artists highlighted via performance clips in this chapter include Ariana Grande, Travis Scott, Rosalía and Blackpink.
Roker comments on Coachella changing to fit trends in music: “That’s been the hardest pill to swallow for some of the older fans.” He notes that many of Coachella’s youngest stars share some common characteristics: “They’re coming with fashion, wealth, bravado and carefree aggression.”
As for the definitive Coachella performance in the late 2010s, people interviewed in the documentary mention Beyoncé’s show-stopping 2018 Coachella extravaganza, which was made into the 2019 Netflix documentary “Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé.” (She was also the first black woman to headline at Coachella.) Beyoncé’s performance was such a media sensation that fans affectionately renamed Coachella 2018 as “Beychella.”
Roker says of Beyoncé’s 2018 Coachella performance: “She was a woman on a mission. She came there with a script. The performance was a State of the Union for her, and she was going to deliver it.”
And the high profile of a Coachella performance means that artists often feel the need to surpass each other with elaborate productions. The documentary mentions Kanye West’s 2019 Sunday Service performance at Coachella (with hundreds of choir singers and dancers) as one of those over-the-top productions. Goldenvoice literally built a mountain on the field at his request, since a stage was too small for what West had in mind. Goldenvoice producer Jason Brown says that hundreds of trucks were needed to bring in all the dirt and grass to construct the mountain.
Coachella’s increasing diversity and its ability to evolve with the times (instead of sticking to the same musical formula from the festival’s early years) is ultimately one of the reasons why it will continue to thrive, according to artists interviewed in the documentary. Beck, one of the performers at the first Coachella, says about the festival: “If I’m in town, I usually go as a fan. It’s everything that’s happening in music at the moment.” Shepard Fairey adds that the musical variety of Coachella is its biggest draw: “It’s not one cohesive genre. It’s just more cohesive in the idea that ‘good is good.'”
And although headliners get the majority of the media attention at Coachella, most of the music fans at the festival are also there to discover new music or see lesser-known artists they wouldn’t normally see at a regular concert. Diplo, who’s performed at Coachella several times, comments on Coachella expanding beyond the festival’s original template of rock, EDM and some hip-hop: “It’s always been a festival for discovery anyway, so we’re reaching sort of a global cusp. Every year is a metamorphosis.”
“Coachella: 20 Years in the Desert” does a great job of covering the festival’s variety of music, and the concert footage is well-edited with very good sound mixing. (Try to watch this movie on the biggest screen possible.) But what’s missing from the documentary is any coverage of the “arts” at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. There have been many amazing art installations at Coachella over the years, so it would have made the documentary truly comprehensive if a little bit of time had been devoted to including a behind-the-scenes look at the festival’s art.
And curiously, the documentary doesn’t mention that Coachella co-founder Van Santen died in 2003, until a brief obituary dedication that’s flashed at the very end (“Rick Van Santen, 1961-2003”). In the documentary, the Goldenvoice people don’t talk about how Van Santen’s death (he passed away from flu complications) affected them and Coachella. Maybe it was too much of a downer for this documentary, which clearly wants to present only a positive and upbeat side to Coachella.
Since this is a Goldenvoice-produced documentary, it comes as no surprise that there’s also no mention about Coachella’s controversies, such as complaints of overcrowding and sexual harassment of attendees. Despite Coachella’s ongoing problems that this documentary doesn’t really want to address, the festival has undoubtedly become a major part of pop culture.
As pop star Billie Eilish says in the beginning of the documentary: “Everybody knows what Coachella is. If you don’t care about music, you know [about Coachella].” Goldenvoice’s Roker has this conclusion about Coachella’s evolution: “The fact that it represents a fuller picture of culture, that’s the bottom line.”
YouTube Originals premiered “Coachella: 20 Years in the Desert” on April 10, 2020.
Lizzo, Beyoncé, the dramatic film “Just Mercy” and the comedy series “Black-ish” were among the top winners at the 51st NAACP Image Awards, which were presented at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California, on February 22, 2020. BET had the U.S. telecast of the show, which was hosted by “Black-ish” star Anthony Anderson.
Lizzo was named Entertainer of the Year, and her “Juice” video won Outstanding Music Video. Beyoncé, who did not attend the ceremony, won seven prizes: Outstanding Female Artist; Outstanding Duo, Group or Collaboration (for her collaboration with Blue Ivy, Saint Jhn, and Wizkid’s “Brown Skin Girl”); Outstanding Song, Traditional (for “Spirit”); Outstanding Song, Contemporary (“Before I Get Go”); Outstanding Album (for “Beyoncé – Homecoming: The Live Album”); Outstanding Soundtrack/Compilation (for “Beyoncé & Various artists – The Lion King: The Gift”); and Outstanding Variety (Series or Special), for “Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé.”
ABC’s “Black-ish” won five awards: Outstanding Comedy Series; Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series (for Anderson); Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series (for Tracee Ellis Ross); Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (for Deon Cole); and “Black-is” co-star Marsai Martin won Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, as well as Outstanding Performance by a Youth (Series, Special, Television Movie or Limited Series). In the movie categories, Martin also won the awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture and Outstanding Breakthrough Performance in a Motion Picture, for her role in the comedy film “Little.”
Warner Bros. Pictures’ “Just Mercy,” which is based on the true story of wrongfully convicted prisoner Walter McMillian, won four prizes: Outstanding Motion Pictures; Outstanding Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture; Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture (for Michael B. Jordan); and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture (for Jamie Foxx).
According the a press release from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP): “The NAACP Image Awards honors the accomplishments of people of color in the fields of television, music, literature, and film and also recognizes individuals or groups who promote social justice through creative endeavors. The Image Awards previously aired on TV One.”
The public votes for the awards in the competitive categories. Non-competitive award recipients are announced in advance. This year, the recipients were U.S. Congressman John Lewis (Chairman’s Award), entertainment/fashion mogul Rihanna (President’s Award) and General Charles E. McGhee (Key of Life Award).
The following is the complete list of nominees and winners for the 2020 NAACP Image Awards:
“Queen & Slim The Soundtrack” – Various Artists (Motown Records)
“The Lion King: The Gift” – Beyoncé w/Various Artists (Parkwood Entertainment/Columbia Records)*
“The Lion King Original Motion Picture Soundtrack” – Various Artists (Walt Disney Records)
“Us (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)” – Michael Abels (Back Lot Music)
LITERATURE CATEGORIES
Outstanding Literary Work – Fiction
“New Daughters of Africa” – Margaret Busby (HarperCollins Publishers)
“Out of Darkness, Shining Light” – Petina Gappah (Simon and Schuster)
“Red at the Bone” – Jacqueline Woodson (Riverhead Books PRH)
“The Revisioners” – Margaret Wilkerson Sexton (Counter Point Press)*
“The Water Dancer” – Ta-Nehisi Coates (One World)
Outstanding Literary Work – Nonfiction
“Breathe: A Letter to My Sons” – Dr. Imani Perry (Beacon Press)
“STONY THE ROAD: Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow” – Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (Penguin Press)
“The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations” – Toni Morrison (Alfred A. Knopf)*
“The Yellow House” – Sarah M. Broom (Grove Atlantic)
“What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker: A Memoir in Essays” – Damon Young (HarperCollins Publishers)
Outstanding Literary Work – Debut Author
“American Spy” – Lauren Wilkinson (Random House)
“I Am Dance: Words and Images of the Black Dancer” – Hal Banfield (Author), Javier Vasquez (Illustrator), (Literary Revolutionary)*
“More Than Pretty: Doing The Soul Work To Uncover Your True Beauty ” – Erica Campbell (Howard Books)
“Such A Fun Age” – Kiley Reid (Putnam Publishing / Penguin Publishing Group)
“The Farm” – Joanne Ramos (Random House)
Outstanding Literary Work – Biography/Autobiography
“Free Cyntoia: My Search for Redemption in the American Prison System” – Cyntoia Brown-Long (Atria Books)
“Finding My Voice: My Journey to the West Wing and the Path Forward” – Valerie Jarrett (Viking Press)
“More Than Enough: Claiming Space for Who You Are (No Matter What They Say)” – Elaine Welteroth (Viking Press)*
“My Name Is Prince” – Randee St. Nicholas (HarperCollins Publishers)
“The Beautiful Ones” – Prince (Author), Dan Piepenbring (Edited by), (Random House)
Outstanding Literary Work – Instructional
“Inspire Your Home: Easy, Affordable Ideas to Make Every Room Glamorous” – Farah Merhi (Tiller Press)
“Letters to the Finishers (who struggle to finish)” – Candace E. Wilkins (New Season Books)
“More Than Pretty: Doing the Soul Work that Uncovers Your True Beauty” – Erica Campbell (Howard Books)
“Vegetables Unleashed” – José Andres (HarperCollins Publishers)
“Your Next Level Life: 7 Rules of Power, Confidence, And Opportunity For Black Women In America” – Karen Arrington (Author), Joanna Price (Illustrator), Sheryl Taylor (Forward) (Mango Publishing)*
Outstanding Literary Work – Poetry
“A Bound Woman Is a Dangerous Thing: The Incarceration of African American Women from Harriet Tubman to Sandra Bland” – DaMaris B. Hill (Bloomsbury Publishing)
“Honeyfish” – Lauren K. Alleyne (New Issues Poetry and Prose)
“Mistress” – Chet’la Sebree (New Issue Poetry and Prose)
“The Tradition” – Jericho Brown (Copper Canyon Press)
Outstanding Literary Work – Children
“A Place to Land: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Speech That Inspired a Nation” – Barry Wittenstein (Author), Jerry Pinkney (Illustrator), (Neal Porter Books / Holiday House Publishing Inc.)
“Hair Love” – Matthew A. Cherry (Author), Vashti Harrison (Illustrator), (Kokila)
“Parker Looks Up: An Extraordinary Moment” – Parker Curry (Author), Jessica Curry (Author), Brittany Jackson (Illustrator), (Aladdin Books)
“Ruby Finds a Worry” – Tom Percival (Bloomsbury Publishing)
Patrik-Ian Polk, Devon Shepard, and Alyson Fouse – “Being Mary Jane” (BET Networks)
Suzan-Lori Parks – “Native Son” (HBO)*
Yvette Nicole Brown – “Always a Bridesmaid” (BET Networks)
Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture (Film)
Chinonye Chukwu – “Clemency” (Neon)
Destin Daniel Cretton, Andrew Lanham – “Just Mercy” (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Doug Atchison – “Brian Banks” (Bleecker Street and ShivHans Pictures)
Jordan Peele – “Us” (Universal Pictures)*
Kasi Lemmons, Gregory Allen Howard – “Harriet” (Focus Features)
DIRECTING CATEGORIES Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series
Anya Adams – “GLOW” – Outward Bound (Netflix)*
Justin Tipping – “Black Monday” -7042 (Showtime)
Ken Whittingham – “Atypical” – Road Rage Paige (Netflix)
Randall Winston – “Grace and Frankie” – The Pharmacy (Netflix)
Shaka King – “Shrill” – Pool (Hulu)
Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series
Ava DuVernay – “When They See Us” – Part Four (Netflix)
Carl H. Seaton, Jr. – “Snowfall” – Hedgehogs (FX Networks)
Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson – “Power” – Forgot About Dre (Starz)*
Debbie Allen – “Grey’s Anatomy” – Silent All These Years (ABC)
Jet Wilkinson – “The Chi” – The Scorpion and the Frog (Showtime)
Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture (Television)
Codie Elaine Oliver – “Black Love” (OWN)
Janice Cooke – “I Am Sombody’s Child: The Regina Louise Story (Lifetime)
Kenny Leon – “American Son” (Netflix)
Rashid Johnson – “Native Son” (HBO)*
Russ Parr – “The Bobby Debarge Story” (TV One)
Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture (Film)
Chiwetel Ejiofor – “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind” (Netflix)*
Jordan Peele – “Us” (Universal Pictures)
Kasi Lemmons – “Harriet” (Focus Features)
Mati Diop – “Atlantics” (Les Films du Bal Presente en Co-Production avec Cinekap et Frakas Productions en Co-Production avec Arte France Cinema et Canal+ International for Netflix)
Adidas and Beyoncé have announced a multi-layered partnership that will include inspiring and empowering the next generation of creators, driving positive change in the world through sport, and identifying new business opportunities.
“This is the partnership of a lifetime for me,” said Beyoncé. “Adidas has had tremendous success in pushing creative boundaries. We share a philosophy that puts creativity, growth and social responsibility at the forefront of business. I look forward to re-launching and expanding Ivy Park on a truly global scale with a proven, dynamic leader.”
Beyoncé and Adidas are natural partners, both with a deep respect for and commitment to creativity, equity and creators. Neither ascribes to the typical stereotypes of athletes and what athleisure clothing and footwear should be, and instead, will bring to life a shared vision of inclusion that will forever alter the opportunities and landscape for all.
The partnership will result in the co-creation of exciting new products – from performance to lifestyle – and a unique purpose-driven program focused on empowering and enabling the next generation of athletes, creators and leaders. Meaningful and rich storytelling will be the foundation for both Beyoncé’s collection with Adidas as well as the re-launch of her Ivy Park brand. This partnership respects Beyoncé’s ownership of her company which continues her journey as one of the first black women to be the sole owner of an athleisure brand.
“As the creator sports brand, Adidas challenges the status quo and pushes the limits of creativity through its open source approach. Beyoncé is an iconic creator but also a proven business leader, and together, we have the ability to inspire change and empower the next generation of creators,” said Eric Liedtke, Executive Board Member – Global Brands, Adidas
Adidas is excited to welcome Beyoncé to the family!
About Adidas Adidas is a global leader in the sporting goods industry with the core brands Adidas and Reebok. Headquartered in Herzogenaurach/Germany, the company employs 57,000 people across the globe and generated sales of around € 22 billion in 2018.
About Parkwood Entertainment Parkwood Entertainment is an entertainment and management company founded by entertainer and entrepreneur, Beyoncé in 2010. With headquarters in New York City the company houses departments in music and video production, management, marketing, digital, creative, philanthropy, publicity and a newly formed record label. Under its original name, Parkwood Pictures, in 2008, the company released the film Cadillac Records (2008), in which Beyoncé starred and co-produced. The company also released the film, Obsessed (2009), with Beyoncé as star and executive producer. Parkwood Entertainment produced The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour (2013-2014) and The Formation World Tour (2016), and co-produced the On the Run Tour (2014) and On the Run II (2018).
The BET Hip Hop Awards 2018 brought the heat to Miami, Florida on Saturday, October 6, 2018 for the annual taping of the most prominent hip hop showcase on television. Comedian and Actor Deray Davis hosted hip-hop’s biggest night of the year at The Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason Theater. The BET Hip Hop Awards 2018 premiered on Tuesday, October 16, 2018 at 8:00PM ET.
Cardi B reigned supreme with four wins for MVP of the Year, Hustler of the Year, Made-You-Look Award (Best Hip Hop Style), and Sweet 16, for her verse on Migos’ “Motorsport.” The Carters followed closely picking up three awards for Album of the Year, Best Collabo and Single of the Year, for “Apes**t.”
XXXTentacion, who passed away earlier this year, was awarded for Best New Artist. Anderson .Paak took to the stage for a tribute to his friend Mac Miller, who also passed away unexpectedly in 2018. Lil Wayne took home the night’s biggest honor, the I Am Hip Hop Award, for his over two decades of contributions to hip hop culture.
The much anticipated cyphers were hosted by DJ Premier and featured a bevy of emcees dropping hot 16’s including Vic Mensa, Taylor Bennett, G Herbo, YBN Cordae Duckworth, Tobe Nwigwe, Blocboy JB, Casanova, Shawn Smith, Nick Grant, Reason, Armani White, Wynne, Flawless Real Talk, Phora and Big Pale. Erykah Badu jumped on the turntables for a special “ladies only” cypher highlighting some of the hottest “Femcees” including Neelam Hakeem, Chika, Bri Steves and Sharaya J.
The show opened with a spellbinding performance by Lil Pump featuring Gucci Maneperforming a medley of “Esskeetit,” “Kept Back,” and “Gucci Gang.” Lil Baby & Gunna kept it sexy with performances of “Yes, Indeed,” “Yosemite,” and “Drip Too Hard.” Yella Beezy brought everyone to their feet with his performance of “That’s On Me.” Over at Club Liv, Cardi B was joined by Pardison Fontaine where they performed a medley of club bangers including “Get Up 10” and “Backin’ It Up.” YG and A$AP ROCKY got the crowd ready for anything with their performance of “Band Drum.” T.I. took us to an exotic nightclub for his performance “Jefe” and brought out Yo Gotti for a special performance of their single “Wraith.” Young M.A. brought down the house with her performance of “Petty Wap,” before presenting the award for DJ of the Year. Flipp Dinero kept the energy going with his performance of “Leave Me Alone.” Lil Duval hit the stage with a much-anticipated performance of his Billboard Chart-topping hit, “Smile (Living My Best Life)” featuring Ball Greezy.
Here is the complete list of 2018 BET Hip Hop Awards nominees and winners:
*=winner
Best Hip-Hop Video
Cardi B featuring Bad Bunny and J Balvin, “I Like It” Childish Gambino, “This Is America”*
Drake, “God’s Plan”
Kendrick Lamar featuring Rihanna, “Loyalty”
Migos featuring Drake, “Walk It Talk It”
Hot Ticket Performer
Cardi B
Childish Gambino Drake*
Kendrick Lamar
Travis Scott
Album of the Year
Cardi B, “Invasion of Privacy”
Drake, “Scorpion”
J. Cole, “KOD”
Migos, “Culture II” The Carters, “Everything Is Love”*
Video Director of the Year
Benny Boom
Dave Meyers & The Little Homies
Director X
Eif Rivera
Hiro Murai Karena Evans*
Lyricist of the Year
Childish Gambino
Drake
J. Cole Kendrick Lamar*
Travis Scott
MVP of the Year Cardi B*
Childish Gambino
Drake
J. Cole
Travis Scott
Producer of the Year
Ben Billions
DJ Esco
DJ Mustard
Metro Boomin Pharrell Williams*
Best Collabo, Duo or Group
21 Savage & Offset & Metro Boomin, “Ric Flair Drip”
BlocBoy JB featuring Drake, “Look Alive”
Cardi B featuring Bad Bunny and J Balvin, “I Like It”
Post Malone featuring 21 Savage, “Rockstar” The Carters, “Apes**t”*
Single of the Year “Apes**t” – Produced By Pharrell (Performed by The Carters)*
“God’s Plan” – Produced By Cardo, Young Exclusive and Boi-1da (Performed by Drake)
“I Like It” – Produced By Craig Kallman, JWhiteDidIt and Tainy (Performed by Cardi B featuring Bad Bunny & J Balvin)
“Nice For What” – Produced By Murda Beatz (Performed by Drake)
“This Is America” – Produced By Donald Glover & Ludwig Goransson (Performed by Childish Gambino)
Best New Hip-Hop Artist
BloBboy JB
Juice Wrld
Lil Baby
Rich The Kid XXXTentacion*
Best Mixtape BlocBoy JB, “Simi”*
Future, “Beast Mode 2”
Juicy J, “Shut Da F* Up”
Lil Wayne, “Dedication 6: Reloaded”
Zoey Dollaz, “Sorry Not Sorry”
Sweet 16: Best Featured Verse
21 Savage – “Bartier Cardi” (Cardi B featuring 21 Savage) Cardi B – “Motorsport” (Migos featuring Cardi B & Nicki Minaj)*
Drake – “Look Alive” (Blocboy JB featuring Drake)
Kendrick Lamar – “New Freezer” (Rich The Kid featuring Kendrick Lamar)
Nicki Minaj – “Big Bank” (Yg featuring 2 Chainz, Big Sean & Nicki Minaj)
DJ of the Year
Calvin Harris
DJ Envy
DJ Drama DJ Khaled*
DJ Mustard
Made-You-Look Award (Best Hip-Hop Style) Cardi B*
Migos
Nicki Minaj
Remy Ma
Travis Scott
Best Hip-Hop Online Site/App
ALLHIPHOP
Complex
Hot New Hip Hop Worldstar*
XXL
Hustler of the Year Cardi B*
DJ Khaled
Drake
Jay-Z
Kendrick Lamar
Travis Scott
Jesse Collins, CEO of Jesse Collins Entertainment, served as Executive Producer of the BET Hip Hop Awardsalong with Connie Orlando, BET Head of Programming and Jeannae Rouzan–Clay, Vice President of Specials, Jesse Collins Entertainment.
BET.com/HipHopAwards is the official site for the BET “HIP HOP AWARDS” 2018 where fans can visit to get up-to-date info on this year’s show and take a look back on past BET Hip Hop Awards. The BET “HIP HOP AWARDS” 2018 will premiere on Tuesday, October 16, 2018 at8:00PM ET.
Join the conversation on social media by logging on to BET’s multiple social media platforms:
● On BET.com: http://www.bet.com/shows/hip-hop-awards.html
● On Twitter by using hashtag: #HipHopAwards; follow us @HipHopAwards and @BET
● On Facebook by liking the fan page at facebook.com/HipHopAwards
ABOUT BET NETWORKS:
BET Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA, VIA.B), is the nation’s leading provider of quality entertainment, music, news and public affairs television programming for the African-American audience. The primary BET channel reaches more than 90 million households and can be seen in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom and sub-Saharan Africa. BET is the dominant African-American consumer brand with a diverse group of business extensions: BET.com, a leading Internet destination for Black entertainment, music, culture, and news; BET HER, a 24-hour entertainment network targeting the African-American Woman; BET Music Networks – BET Jams, BET Soul and BET Gospel; BET Home Entertainment; BET Live, BET’s growing festival business; BET Mobile, which provides ringtones, games and video content for wireless devices; and BET International, which operates BET around the globe.
ABOUT JESSE COLLINS ENTERTAINMENT:
Jesse Collins Entertainment (JCE) is a full service television and film production company founded by entertainment industry veteran Jesse Collins. For more than a decade, Collins has played an integral role in producing some of television’s most memorable moments in music entertainment. Collins has produced ground-breaking and award winning television programming including the BET Awards, the Grammy Awards, Soul Train Awards, BET Honors, UNCF An Evening of Stars, ABFF Awards and the BET Hip Hop Awards. Collins was an executive producer of the hit TV series “Real Husbands of Hollywood,” starring Kevin Hart, the critically-acclaimed “The New Edition Story,” a biopic on the boy band that aired as a 3-part mini-series on BET in January 2017 and posted record ratings for the network and attracted nearly 30 million viewers. He is also the executive producer of VH1 shows “Dear Mama” and “Hip Hop Squares” with Ice Cube. He has appeared on the cover of Vibe magazine and has been featured in numerous publications including Ebony magazine. JCE recently produced “The Bobby Brown Story”, which premiered on September 4 & 5 on BET.
ABOUT BET HIP HOP AWARDS:
BET Hip Hop Awards is an annual celebration that pays homage to a culture that changed the world while highlighting the best in hip hop music. Year after year, BET Networks delivers the best in hip-hop for an unforgettable night of performances, cyphers and tributes honoring hip-hop legends that have and continue to make hip-hop culture a global force.
The Weeknd, Beyoncé and Eminem are headlining the 19th Coachella Music and Arts Festival, which will take place April 13 to April 15 and April 20 to April 22 at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California. (Beyoncé was set to headline the event in 2017, but she cancelled due to her pregnancy. Lady Gaga replaced her at Coachella that year.)
Other artists announced as Coachella 2018 performers include SZA, HAIM, ODESZA, Kygo Jamiroquai, Tyler the Creator, David Byrne, Portgual. The Man, Migos, Cardi B, A Perfect Circle, Miguel, alt-J, the War on Drugs, Post Malone and Fleet Foxes. Passes go on sale at 12 p.m. Pacific Time on January 5, 2018.
Coachella, which is produced by Goldenvoice, is the world’s biggest annual music festival, in terms of revenue from ticket sales. According to Billboard, the 2017 Coachella festival had $114.6 million in ticket sales, making it not only the highest-grossing annual music festival but also the highest-grossing music festival of all time.
BET Networks, a unit of Viacom Inc. today announced the nominations for the 2017 “BET Awards” taking place at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday, June 25. This year’s broadcast marks 17 years of unexpected performances, trailblazing moments, super dope talent, and entertainment’s most provocative players. The iconic show continues to be a cultural rule breaker steeped in reinvention with some of the most memorable moments in Award show history. In 2016, Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar surprised guests with a groundbreaking performance of “Freedom,” Sheila E. and Mayte Garcia performed during the Prince Lifetime Achievement Award tribute and Jesse Williams brought the audience to their feet with his dynamic and ever-viral Humanitarian Award acceptance speech. The “BET Awards” has set the standard for one of the most intently unconventional, news-provoking broadcasts.
Beyoncé dominates this year’s nominations with a total of seven including ‘Best Female R&B/Pop Artist,’ ‘Best Collaboration’ with Kendrick Lamar for “Freedom,” ‘Video of the Year,’ and ‘Album of the Year’ for Lemonade. Bruno Mars follows with five nods including ‘Album of the Year,’ ‘Best Male R&B/Pop Artist,’ and ‘Video of the Year’ for “24K Magic.” Other nominees include Solange, nominated for four awards and who is up against sister Beyoncé for ‘Best Female R&B/Pop Artist.’ Chance the Rapper and Migos receive four nominations as well, Chance the Rapper nominated for ‘Best Male Hip-Hop Artist’ and ‘Best New Artist’ and Migos for ‘Best Group’ and ‘Best Collaboration’ for their #1 hit “Bad and Boujee” with Lil Uzi Vert.
BET Networks recognizes artists, entertainers, and athletes across over 19 categories with the 2017 “BET Awards“ nominations. The nominations are selected by BET’s Voting Academy, which is comprised of fans and an esteemed group of entertainment professionals in the fields of television, film, music, social media, digital marketing, sports journalism, public relations, and the creative arts.
May 25, 2017 UPDATE: Actress/comedian Leslie Jones will host the 2017 BET Awards
The complete list of nominees for the 2017 BET Awards are:
Best Female R&B/Pop Artist
BEYONCÉ
KEHLANI
MARY J. BLIGE
RIHANNA
SOLANGE
Best Male R&B/Pop Artist
BRUNO MARS
CHRIS BROWN
THE WEEKND
TREY SONGZ
USHER
Best Group
2 CHAINZ & LIL WAYNE
A TRIBE CALLED QUEST
FAT JOE & REMY MA
MIGOS
RAE SREMMURD
Best Collaboration
BEYONCÉ FT. KENDRICK LAMAR – FREEDOM
CHANCE THE RAPPER FT. 2 CHAINZ & LIL WAYNE – NO PROBLEM
CHRIS BROWN FT. GUCCI MANE & USHER – PARTY
DJ KHALED FT. BEYONCÉ & JAY Z – SHINING
MIGOS FT. LIL UZI VERT – BAD AND BOUJEE
RAE SREMMURD FT. GUCCI MANE – BLACK BEATLES
Best Male Hip-Hop Artist
BIG SEAN
CHANCE THE RAPPER
DRAKE
FUTURE
J. COLE
KENDRICK LAMAR
Best Female Hip-Hop Artist
CARDI B
MISSY ELLIOTT
NICKI MINAJ
REMY MA
YOUNG M.A.
Video of the Year
BEYONCÉ – SORRY
BIG SEAN – BOUNCE BACK
BRUNO MARS – 24K MAGIC
MIGOS FT. LIL UZI VERT – BAD AND BOUJEE
SOLANGE – CRANES IN THE SKY
Video Director of the Year
BENNY BOOM – KEHLANI “CRZY”
BRUNO MARS & JONATHAN LIA – BRUNO MARS “THAT’S WHAT I LIKE”
DIRECTOR X – ZAYN MALIK “LIKE I WOULD”
HYPE WILLIAMS – TYGA “GUCCI SNAKES FT. DESIIGNER”
KAHLIL JOSEPH & BEYONCÉ KNOWLES-CARTER – BEYONCÉ “SORRY”
Best New Artist
21 SAVAGE
CARDI B
CHANCE THE RAPPER
KHALID
YOUNG M.A.
Album of the Year
24K MAGIC – BRUNO MARS
4 YOUR EYEZ ONLY – J. COLE
A SEAT AT THE TABLE – SOLANGE
COLORING BOOK – CHANCE THE RAPPER
LEMONADE – BEYONCÉ
Dr. Bobby Jones Best Gospel/Inspirational Award
CECE WINANS – NEVER HAVE TO BE ALONE
FANTASIA FT. TYE TRIBBETT – I MADE IT
KIRK FRANKLIN FT. SARAH REEVES, TASHA COBBS & TAMELA MANN – MY WORLD NEEDS YOU
LECRAE – CAN’T STOP ME NOW (DESTINATION)
TAMELA MANN – GOD PROVIDES
Best Actress
GABRIELLE UNION
ISSA RAE
JANELLE MONÁE
TARAJI P. HENSON
VIOLA DAVIS
Best Actor
BRYSHERE Y. GRAY
DENZEL WASHINGTON
DONALD GLOVER
MAHERSHALA ALI
OMARI HARDWICK
YoungStars Award
ACE HUNTER
CALEB MCLAUGHLIN
JADEN SMITH
MARSAI MARTIN
YARA SHAHIDI
Best Movie
FENCES
GET OUT!
HIDDEN FIGURES
MOONLIGHT
THE BIRTH OF A NATION
Sportswoman of the Year Award
GABBY DOUGLAS
SERENA WILLIAMS
SIMONE BILES
SKYLAR DIGGINS
VENUS WILLIAMS
Sportsman of the Year Award
CAM NEWTON
LEBRON JAMES
ODELL BECKHAM JR.
RUSSELL WESTBROOK
STEPHEN CURRY
Centric Award
FANTASIA – SLEEPING WITH THE ONE I LOVE
KEHLANI – DISTRACTION
MARY J. BLIGE – THICK OF IT
SOLANGE – CRANES IN THE SKY
SYD – ALL ABOUT ME
YUNA – CRUSH FT. USHER
Coca-Cola Viewers’ Choice Award
BEYONCÉ – SORRY
BRUNO MARS – 24K MAGIC
DRAKE – FAKE LOVE
MIGOS FT. LIL UZI VERT – BAD AND BOUJEE
RAE SREMMURD FT. GUCCI MANE – BLACK BEATLES
THE WEEKND FT. DAFT PUNK – STARBOY
Best International Act: Europe
BOOBA (France)
MHD (France)
CRAIG DAVID (UK)
EMELI SANDE (UK)
GIGGS (UK)
SKEPTA (UK)
STORMZY (UK)
WILEY (UK)
Best International Act: Africa
AKA (South Africa)
BABES WODUMO (South Africa)
DAVIDO (Nigeria)
NASTY C (South Africa)
STONEBWOY (Ghana)
TEKNO (Nigeria)
WIZKID (Nigeria)
MR EAZI (Nigeria)
The 2017 “BET Awards” will premiere around the world on BET’s international networks. It will air in the UK on Tuesday, June 27th at 9:00pm BST, in Africa on Tuesday, June 27th at 8:00pm CAT, and in France on Wednesday, June 28th at 9:00pm CEST. Fan voting for the “Best International Act: Europe” and “Best International Act: Africa” categories opens today and will close on May 26. Internationally, fans in 100 countries can also stream the 2017 “BET Awards” live with BET Play, BET International’s subscription video on demand application. The iOS and Android app, which also features current and classic BET television series, documentaries, standup comedy and legendary musical performances, will carry a live feed of the red carpet and the Awards, and is available for download now in the iTunes and Google Play stores for $3.99 a month following a seven-day free trial.
Lady Gaga has replaced Beyoncé as a headliner at the 2017 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, which will take place April 14 to April 16 and April 21 to April 23 at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California. Lady Gaga will headline the Saturday shows on April 15 and April 22. Beyoncé dropped out of the festival on February 23, because of her pregnancy (she’s due to give birth to twins sometime in mid-2017), but it has been announced that Beyoncé plans to make up for the cancellation by being a headliner at the 2018 Coachella Festival. Radiohead will headline the 2017 Coachella Festival on April 14 and April 21, while Kendrick Lamar will headline on April 16 and April 23. Other performers at Coachella in 2017 include Bon Iver, Future, the XX, Lorde, Travis Scott and Justice. The event is produced by Goldenvoice, a division of AEG Presents.