BET Awards Recap: The Highs, The Lows, The Winners [Watch]

The 2017 BET Awards kicked off last night and it was definitely entertaining, to say the least.

Hosted by SNL comedian Leslie Jones, the 2017 BET Awards, which took place at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. There were a few dry humor moments, but nothing could stop Bruno Mars’s star power as he opened up the show with “Perm.”

But the highs didn’t stop there. Beyonce dominated, heading into the show with a leading seven nominations and winning five awards at the show, including best female R&B/pop artist, album of the year for Lemonade, video of the year for “Sorry” (a tie with Bruno Mars for “24K Magic”), video director of the year (shared with Kahlil Joseph) for “Sorry,” and the Coca-Cola viewers’ choice award.

Despite her absence due to giving birth to her twins, protégés Chloe x Halle accepted the viewer’s choice  award reading the prepared speech on Queen Bey’s behalf:

“Thank you BET for this award and your tremendous support of Lemonade. This has been a journey of love, of celebrating our culture, honoring the past, and approaching the present and future with hope and resolve. Thank you to my mother, Tina Knowles Lawson, for being my biggest, biggest teacher and consistent influence. Thank you to my entire family for so much love. To my team at Parkwood, thank you. And thanks to all the fans, my Beyhive, for riding with me. I love and appreciate you. And to everyone at the show tonight, you all look so beautiful. And at home, thank you, and have a wonderful, wonderful night. From, Beyonce.”

It wasn’t all about Bey, youngest Knowles, Solange, went home with the Centric Award paying homage to all of the women who have inspired her career including Missy Elliot, Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu and Aaliyah.

In addition to Mars, Bey, and Solange, Chance the Rapper and Migos were among many other artists taking home two awards apiece. Chance, who was named best new artist, and Migos, best group and then the artists tied for best collaboration.

Despite Chance’s big wins, nothing seemed to be bigger than his honoring for the BET Humanitarian Award. Chance was honored by former First Lady Michelle Obama and took the stage delivering an impromptu but still powerful speech on the social justice in America.

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Other winners included Taraji P. Henson and Mahershala Ali as best actress and actor, with Hidden Figures taking home best movie. Black-ish star Yara Shahidi was given the YoungStars Award.

DJ Khaled ripped the stage, while Chris Brown performed “Party,” and Big Sean combined several of his hits into a dope medley.

Of course, the new acts were hot, but no one shut things down like the vets taking the stage. The BET Awards saw Xscape on stage for the first time together in more than 19 years. The group performed their hits “Just Kicking It”, “Who Can I Run To” and “Tonight,” showing that no matter what the ladies still have it.

New Edition was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award and also performed a medley of hits with the cast of the hit BET biopic. The artists and the actors hit every note with perfection that left black families across the country sliding in their living rooms.

Kendrick Lamar was named best male Hip-Hop artist, while Remy Ma was named best female Hip-Hop artist, opening and closing her acceptance speech with plenty of shade.

Although the awards were stellar, there were a few misses throughout the night. Leslie Jones’ comedic styling missed the mark throughout the night, at one point interrupting the end of DJ Khaled’s set to “shout out Lil’ Yachty”, who was in a little boat with her on stage.

Twitter also took notice of BET President Debra Lee‘s snafu in the pronunciation of CHI as (Chai) when introducing Chance the Rapper.

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Another huge problem was the lack of A-listers this year such as Drake, Nicki Minaj, and Beyoncé. Kendrick popped up for a surprise performance, but him being left off the official list of performers made it seem like an impromptu performance more so than a planned part of Future’s set.

Moreover, the A-listers who did appear failed to do much worth getting excited about. Trey Songz performed an off-key version of his slow jam “Nobody Else but You” and then there was Post Malone, who came and performed a sweaty rendition of  “Congratulations” featuring Quavo.

All in all, the night was pretty great with a few little tweaks from this year, next year should be a lot less painful with a new host.

Check out the list of winners below.

Humanitarian Award

WINNER: Chance the Rapper

Lifetime Achievement Award

WINNER: New Edition

Best Female R&B/Pop Artist

WINNER: Beyoncé
Kehlani
Mary J. Blige
Rihanna
Solange

Best Male R&B/Pop Artist

WINNER: Bruno Mars
Chris Brown
The Weeknd
Trey Songz
Usher

Viewers’ Choice Award

The Weeknd ft. Daft Punk, “Starboy”
WINNER: Beyonce, “Sorry”
Bruno Mars, “24K Magic”
Rae Sremmurd ft. Gucci Mane, “Black Beatles”
Migos ft. Lil Uzi Vert, “Bad and Boujee”
Drake, “Fake Love”

Best Group

2 Chainz & Lil Wayne
A Tribe Called Quest
Fat Joe & Remy Ma
WINNER: 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”
WINNER: 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
WINNER: Kendrick Lamar

Best Female Hip-Hop Artist

Cardi B
Missy Elliott
Nicki Minaj
WINNER: Remy Ma
Young M.A.

Video of the Year

WINNER: Beyoncé – “Sorry”
Big Sean – “Bounce Back”
WINNER: 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”
WINNER: Kahlil Joseph & Beyoncé Knowles-Carter – Beyoncé, “Sorry”

Best New Artist

21 Savage
Cardi B
WINNER: Chance the Rapper
Khalid
Young M.A.

Best Actress

Gabrielle Union
Issa Rae
Janelle Monae
WINNER: Taraji P. Henson
Viola Davis

Best Actor

Bryshere Y. Gray
Denzel Washington
Donald Glover
WINNER: Mahershala Ali
Omari Hardwick
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 and Tamela Mann, “My World Needs You”
WINNER: Lecrae, “Can’t Stop Me Now (Destination)”
Tamela Mann, “God Provides”

Youngstars Award

Ace Hunter
Caleb McLaughlin
Jaden Smith
Marsai Martin
WINNER: Yara Shahidi

Best Movie

Get Out
Moonlight
WINNER: Hidden Figures
Fences
The Birth of a Nation

Sportswomen of the Year

Gabby Douglas
WINNER: Serena Williams
Simone Biles
Skylar Diggins
Venus Williams

Sportsman of the Year

LeBron James
Cam Newton
Odell Beckham Jr.
Russell Westbrook
WINNER: Stephen Curry

Centric Award

Fantasia, “Sleeping With the One I Love”
Kehlani, “Distraction”
Mary J. Blige, “Thick of It”
WINNER: Solange, “Cranes in the Sky”
Syd, “All About Me”
Yuna ft. Usher, “Crush”

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
WINNER: Lemonade – Beyoncé

Best International Act: Europe

WINNER: Stormzy
Skepta
Giggs
Craig David
Wiley
Emeli Sande
MHD
Booba

Best International Act: Africa

WINNER: Wizkid
Tekno
Mr. Eazi
Davido
Stonebwoy
Aka
Nasty C
Babes Wodumo

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