Was AMAZING! What a great trip down memory lane with 4 strong, empowered black artisits/groups. I loved it--if you added in Jade and Lauryn Hill that would have been the roster of 90's R&B artists that I worshiped (and massively crushed on) when I was growing up.

Great post!

Oh and I totally snickered when I read your comment about Usher falling in his performance. Karma is totally a bitch! That should be someone's avatar! 

I <3 Alicia Keys!

Her voice is sooooooooo sexy! She could talk to me about Qtips and I'd be stary eyed.

We should have a Top 100 Sexiest Women's Voice competion.  With soundbites attached to each name instaed of pix, lol!!!

I think it's unfair to even call this an awards show--the awards are generally outnumbered by the performances. I might try and catch one of the fifty thousand repeats of the show this weekend, as it seemed like no one was acting too crazy (well...I mean, there's Kanye but at this point, I've just come to expect it) and some of the performances were dope. 

Usher's fall was definitely karma at work. Plus, I think last night showed how far he's fallen. As someone said to me earlier today, Ne-Yo and Chris Brown did Usher better than Usher did Usher. He's just not on top anymore...

But yeah...this may have been my favorite moment: 

CIARA!

-----

Geoffrey: You fool! As if it matters how a man falls down.
Richard: When the fall is all that is left, it matters a great deal.

- The Lion in Winter

keri hilson is unbelievably gorgeous. her new song energy is fantastic. i love it! i really hope her album does well as well as her singles. she deserves every ounce of success

the best part of the entire show for me was chris brown's perfomance with ciara. when he kicked cici's head back up my jaw literally dropped. AMAZING! both are such great dancers

Thanks for that link, I kept hearing about how awesome the awards were this year and now I actually got to see some of the performances. They were great! Even Rhiana sounded good. I love her songs, but I don't usually enjoy hearing her sing live. It is almost as if she is growing before our eyes. I can't wait to hear what that voice develops into.

Alicia is always a thrill to watch(God Bless her for bring back all of the talented women), but I didn't know I was going to get to see the fabulous Jill Scott, Anthony Hamilton, and OH MAH GAH Maxwell. I love that smooth tenor voice. He is one of my favorites.  Chris is so talented, and Ciara I just love to see that body move. 

I have to say Ne-yo was one of my favorite performances because I just think that he is so classy.  And even though Usher is arrogant and ignorant ( Maybe he should just refrain from speaking), he always does a great performance. Who cares if he fell he had an awesome recovery and the rest of the performance was amazing.

The only thing that would have made this show better is if I got to see my baby Beyonce.  She needs to perform on every possible show there is as far as I'm concerned. Lol!

she was so poised and gracious in her speech.  i loved when she sincerely dedicated her award to the other nominees and to the end of the word "can't".  She is wise beyond her years.   

and there is no one i would have rather seen singing with my favorite ladies of the 90's.  i lost my mind when SWV took the stage with her.

"what kind of rat bastard psychotic would play that song right now at this minute?"

There is no good reason she shouldn't be a lesbian...and in my bed.

smithsayswhat.blogspot.com

 not the brightest match in the box. i stick short of a fire. "tupac and biggie were supposed to be the next great black leaders"  uh huh right....

 i personally thought the man was a genius at what he did, he was able, through his music, to paint a very vivid picture of the daily hardships of innercity youth and the like. however, i do not think that someone whose mind is so one dimensionally channelled could have risen above that and become a person of positivity. he had all the resources at hand and yet he died in a way that would've been expected had he not achieved anything at all. after seeing both sides he still chose the low road, which in fact is not surprising, seeing that it would've been the most familiar choice to him. i believe he was afraid and being afraid is not the mark of a great leader.

tupac died when he was 25.  i'm 26 and I feel like I'm finally getting to a place where I can rise above the hardships in my life.  but i definately had to let my anger live before i could conquer it.  tupac honestly expressed what he was experiencing.  I was 8 when "keep your head up" came out and even though that song wasn't about me or my situation, it gave me hope for years.   

and how is alicia keys unintelligent?  she got a scholarship to go to Columbia University and was valedictorian of her high school.  and her music proves she's intelligent in ways of the heart. 

"what kind of rat bastard psychotic would play that song right now at this minute?"

 she must be genius then! sorry but i think not. someone so intelligent would probably not wear an AK47 pendant around their neck. it represents everything that is wrong with the world right now. she's just a poor little person trying to be something her little brain clearly does not have the capacity to be...

 makes me sad really.. 

why would i not tell her? far as i can tell she is still human. talented yes, but still a person just like the rest of us. so telling her how utterly ridiculous she sounded in that interview really wouldn't be a problem. as for "killing em dead" meaning by her music, how about a musical note charm instead of an ak47? how about instead of "killing em dead", we "uplift and enlighten"... hmm... no! the violent slogan sounded much better! 

 how many youths are going to misinterperet ms. keys' words and think "yeah lets kill em dead, literally". bad choice of words sweetheart. as for her being intelligant, ok i don't know her so i'll give that one but not a very socially responsible person.