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.
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