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June 28, 2017 The Skanner Page 7 Arts & Entertainment Remy Ma Beats Nicki Minaj at BET Awards; ‘90s R&B Shines By Mesfi n Fekadu AP Music Writer R emy Ma has ended rival Nicki Minaj’s seven-year win- ning streak at the 2017 BET Awards, a show highlighted by ‘90s R&B and groups popular in that decade, as well as fi ve wins for Beyonce. Ma, who was released from prison in 2014, won best female hip hop art- ist Sunday in Los Ange- les, an award Minaj has won since 2010. Ma last won the prize in 2005, and was sentenced to prison three years later aft er she shot a former friend aft er accusing her of theft . “I wanna thank God fi rst and foremost,” said Ma, who named two cor- rectional facilities in her speech and thanked her mentor Fat Joe and hus- band-rapper Papoose. “You can make mistakes and come back.” In March, Ma released the hostile diss track “Shether,” which earned praised from critics and rap fans. Minaj never of- fi cially responded to the song. At the live show at the Microsoft Theater, ‘90s R&B favorites New Edi- tion and Xscape were the most welcomed perform- ers of the night. New Edition, whose three-part biopic was a white-hot ratings suc- cess for BET earlier this year, earned the life- time achievement award and received a lengthy tribute. It started with the child actors from the movie singing “Can- dy Girl,” later followed by the older actors for some of the band’s hits apart from the group, in- cluding Bell Biv DeVoe’s “Poison” and Ralph Tres- vant’s “Sensitivity.” The real group then hit to stage to sing “Can You Stand the Rain” and “Mr. Telephone Man.” The actors later joined New Edition for “If It Isn’t Love.” Girl group Xscape, set to launch a new reality show on Bravo, reunited at the BET Awards and sang the popular hits “Just Kickin’ It,” ‘’Under- standing” and “Who Can I Run To?” The crowd was in awe, singing along and fi lming the performance “ gave a shout-out to fel- low nominee Chance the Rapper, who earned the humanitarian award at the age of 24. Chance also won best new artist and best collaboration. In a taped message, Mi- chelle Obama honored Chance, who has raised $2 million dollars for Chi- cago public schools. The former First Lady said she and Barack Obama knew Chance “since he was a baby rapper.” “Chance is showing our young people that they matter,” she said. “Be- cause of you, countless young people will grow up believing in them- selves.” Beyonce, who report- edly had her twins earli- I wanna thank God fi rst and foremost. You can make mis- takes and come back with their phones. Bruno Mars, whose new album was heavi- ly inspired by ‘90s R&B, also shined Sunday. He and Beyonce tied for vid- eo of the year — the top prize but not televised — with their hits “24K Magic” and “Sorry.” Mars also won best male R&B/ pop artist and kicked off the show with a fun and funky performance of the song, “Perm.” “To the fans, you know I love you. My fi rst BET Award,” he screamed. Kendrick Lamar sur- prised the audience when he performed with Future and won best male hip hop artist. He er this month though she hasn’t commented on the topic, was the top nomi- nee with seven. When it was announced that she won the viewer’s choice award, Chloe x Halle — the young duo signed to Beyonce — recited a speech given to them from the pop star. Queen Bey was the big winner with fi ve, also taking home album of the year for “Lemonade,” best fe- male R&B/pop artist and video director of the year for “Sorry.” Solange, Beyonce’s younger sister, also had PHOTO BY MATT SAYLES/INVISION/AP New Edition receives lifetime achievement award and a lengthy tribute; Beyonce wins fi ve awards Kandi Burruss, from left, Tamika Scott, Tameka Cottle, and LaTocha Scott of Xscape perform at the BET Awards at the Microsoft Theater on Sunday, June 25, 2017, in Los Angeles. a big night: She won the Centric award and called Sunday “the best birth- day ever” (she turned 31 on Saturday). “My arm pits are sweating so much right now,” said Solange, who thanked BET for show- ing her “queens” like Aaliyah, Missy Elliott, Erykah Badu and oth- ers during her teenage years. Solange held a moment of silence later on, and the show also honored some of the minorities who died at the hands of police offi cers, including Trayvon Martin, Philan- do Castile, Eric Garner and others. Other winners in- cluded gospel rapper Lecrae and Migos, who took home best group. The hip-hop trio also won over the audience with its performances of the hits “Bad and Bou- jee,” ‘’T-Shirt” and “Con- gratulations,” with Post Malone. Chance the Rap- per, and his mom, danced during the long set; as did Queen Latifah, Car- di B., “Stranger Things” actor Caleb McLaughlin and “black-ish” actress Yara Shahidi, who won the YoungStars award. Though most of the performances were up- beat, others charmed with slower songs: Tam- ar Braxton and Maxwell gave vocally impressive performances, and Mary J. Blige sang songs from “Strength of a Woman,” her recent album that in- cludes emotional tunes about her divorce. “Mary J. got that break up body. Whoa,” screamed Jamie Foxx, who presented an award aft er Blige’s perfor- mance. Leslie Jones of “Satur- day Night Live” hosted the four-hour show. El DeBarge and Kamasi Washignton performed “Careless Whisper” in honor George Michael, who died last year on Christmas Day, while Janelle Monae collabora- tor Roman GianArthur excitedly sang “Johnny B. Goode” in tribute to Chuck Berry, who died in March. New York rapper Prod- igy, who died last week, was remembered in words by his Mobb Deep partner Havoc and Lil Kim, who appeared on the remix of the memora- ble Mobb Deep hit, “Qui- et Storm.” Movies cont’d from pg 6 A career you can be proud of. ‘Mali Blues’ Pop Aye (Unrated) Un- likely buddies drama, set in Thailand, about a jaded, big city archi- tect (Thaneth Warakul- nukroh) who embarks on a cross-country trek with his long-lost pet elephant (Bong) back to the farm where they were raised. Cast includes Penpak Sirikul, Narong Pongpab and Chaiwat Khumdee. (In Thai with subtitles) The Reagan Show (Un- rated) Political expose’ revealing President Ronald Reagan as just a made-for-TV leader of the Free World. The Skyjacker’s Tale (Unrated) Justice delayed documentary about FBI Most Wanted List fugi- tive Ishmael Muslim Ali, who hijacked a plane to Cuba in 1984 aft er being convicted of master- minding a massacre of 8 at a Rockefeller coun- try club in the Virgin Is- lands. Being a carpenter isn’t just a job. It’s a way of life. We’re devoted to strengthening the lives of our members with steady work, wealth and personal growth. We take a stand for our members and all workers. We work together to lead the building industry in safety, training and compensation. We create rich lives for our members and partners. To learn more about becoming a union carpenter, go to NWCarpenters.org. 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