Remy Ma beats Nicki Minaj at BET Awards
LOS ANGELES: Remy Ma has ended rival Nicki Minaj’s seven-year winning streak at the 2017 BET Awards, a show highlighted by ’90s R&B and groups popular in that decade, as well as five wins for Beyonce.
Ma, who was released from prison in 2014, won best female hip hop artist Sunday in Los Angeles, an award Minaj has won since 2010. Ma last won the prize in 2005, and was sentenced to prison three years later after she shot a former friend after accusing her of theft.
“I wanna thank God first and foremost,” said Ma, who named two correctional facilities in her speech and thanked her mentor Fat Joe and husband-rapper Papoose. “You can make mistakes and come back.”
At the live show at the Microsoft Theater, ‘90s R&B favorites New Edition and Xscape were the most welcomed performers of the night.
New Edition, whose three-part biopic was a white-hot ratings success for BET earlier this year, earned the lifetime achievement award and received a lengthy tribute. It started with the child actors from the movie singing “Candy Girl,” later followed by the older actors for some of the band’s hits apart from the group, including Bell Biv DeVoe’s “Poison” and Ralph Tresvant’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,” “Understanding” and “Who Can I Run To?” The crowd was in awe, singing along and filming the performance with their phones.
Bruno Mars, whose new album was heavily inspired by ‘90s R&B, also shined Sunday. He and Beyonce tied for video 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 first BET Award,” he screamed.
Kendrick Lamar surprised the audience when he performed with Future and won best male hip hop artist. He gave a shout-out to fellow 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, Michelle Obama honored Chance, who has raised $2 million for Chicago public schools. The former first lady said she and Barack Obama knew Chance “since he was a baby rapper.”