The Best, Worst, and UNbelievable of the BET Awards 2010

Last night at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, some of the biggest names in black entertainment gathered for the 10th annual BET Awards. As usual, it was a hot mess, but it was the best year in a very long time (miles better than last year, that's for sure). Here are the high, low, and ridiculous lights.

BEST
While it appears that the jury is still out on the legitimacy of Chris Brown's tears during the MJ tribute he gave, but there is no doubt it was one of the best moments of the night.

Speaking of artists who royally fucked up, Kanye West made his comeback to the stage with his new single "Power", coming out of a volcano. Phoenix rising from the ashes? Sure, I'll go with it.

While the nominees in the category were laughable, Nicki Minaj's win was deserved. She had a really great speech ("My mom didn't even know what channel this was gonna be on!") and she looked absolutely spectacular with that white dress. She was definitely queen of the night.

Thank God for Prince, because his faces alone during some of the performances were worth the price of admission. The side eye shade he threw at Trey Songz when he started to sing "Purple Rain" was just too much to handle (more on Songz later). Then there were his reactions to his tribute, which ranged from "OMG" to "Hell yes"! The most awesome moment of Prince at the awards? When he got on stage and told the audience screaming for to sit, and they all dropped in one fell swoop. Only royalty could do that.
  
WORST
BET has been known for their cheapness, but their sound system was down right 99 cent store. I mean, some of the mics were so low that some had to scream into the mic to be heard. I had my HDTV blasted to 100% the entire show just to hear some of the performances.

Another sign of BET's irrelevancy: the winners of the two biggest awards weren't in attendance. Beyonce and Lady Gaga won Video of the Year for "Video Phone", and Rihanna won Viewer's Choice for "Hard".

Trey Songz, Trey Songz, Trey Songz. Didn't you know that Patti Labelle was going to perform "Purple Rain" and completely slay your life? Prince did not approve. Good news, though, "Yo Side of the Bed" is a good song, but that's probably because it sampled Prince's "Purple Rain". A word of advice to Songz; keep away from the high notes live until you can control them

Nicki Minaj would have been flawless, if she had decided a wig that didn't have her looking like Wilma Flintstone. The orange hair was a complete hot mess.

I wish the show ended with the Prince tribute, because DJ Khaled's All I Do is Win was a disaster.

Last I checked, Usher had stage presence coming out the wazoo. So why the hell was his performance of "There Goes My Baby" boring as hell?

UNBELIEVABLE
Prince is known for his wild and crazy antics, but even he must have been surprised by the off the wall craziness going on during his tribute. Janelle Monáe was acting like she was getting high off the spirit, Alicia's pregnant self was writhing on top of a piano, and Patti LaBelle kicked her damn shoes off singing a church-ified version of "Purple Rain"! It was amazing.

The Award For Quickest Wig Change During a Performance Goes to.... Nicki Minaj!

El Debarge made his comeback last night, but two things. First, so many people (myself and Taraji P. Henson included) got his name wrong I couldn't even take it (James, Chico, El, which was it?). Wasn't it a bit embarrassing for him to be a "Music Matters" artist? oh well, he's still a better singer than half the audience.

Another case of mistaken identity: you know you aren't that relevant when you were confused for being Gucci Mane and Gudda Gudda. It was really Young Jeezy.

I'm going BET to put more gospel in the show, because they have to know that audience has broken at least 5 of the 10 commandments and need some Jesus in their lives.