Beyonce stole the show at this year’s Billboard Awards with arguably her most amazing performance to date. Las Vegas is known for its bright lights and over-the-top casinos, but Beyonce brought the house down at the MGM Grand Garden Arena when she performed her newest single Run The World (Girls). The women-empowerment song has been the rave since airing a few weeks ago with its catchy beat (sampled from Pon De Floor) and sexy video to boot. Beyonce was one of the honorees receiving the coveted Millennium Award for her achievements throughout her 15-year dominance on the Pop and R&B scene.

Everyone from Michelle Obama to Lady Gaga tipped their hats off to honor the Pop Diva for her record breaking album sales, tours and influence over the music industry dating back to when she was in Destiny’s Child.

Tina Knowles’ praises hit home as she recalled moments with her daughter before all the fame and fortune. “I sang to Beyonce as a beautiful baby girl, but it wasn’t too long before she was singing back to me and to the whole world.”

Speaking directly to Beyonce before her performance, she told her, “Only 29 years old, for 15 of those years, you’ve been on the stage wowing crowds everywhere, raising the bar and setting new standards, but still managing to stay grounded and a beautiful person.”

In response to the award, Beyonce ripped the stage showcasing some new technology in her performance. She used Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) along with the regular tricks like smoke, hidden walls, etc. to wow the audience. She even had a special performance with the Les Twins, a twin-duo renowned for their incredible dance moves. Beyonce pulled out all the stops and sashayed down the aisle interacting with the crowd before walking back on stage and doing a number with her dancers. Even with her mind-blowing performance and Millennium Award celebrating her successful career, Beyonce was still the subject of a major controversy.

Beyonce was called out for stealing another singer’s graphics and CGI techniques. Apparently the same people who designed the graphics and CGI for Beyonce also did the same for Italian dancer and singer Lorella Cuccarini’s 4D performance in 2010. The two performances may have similarities, but they also have marked differences.

Either way, Beyonce’s rendition will go down as one of the best live performances to date and she truly showed why girls run the world.

Here’s Beyonce and Lorella’s side-by-side comparison:

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As Billboard magazine honors music’s top selling acts Sunday night, an absent Eminem ties Justin Bieber for the top honors.

Unless you’re counting host Ken Jeong’s decision to dress as Flavor Flav and then crawl under Nas’ legs, Eminem offered the biggest Hip Hop presence at Sunday night’s Billboard Music Awards. It should be noted that Em didn’t actually attend the mostly Pop affair, which was dominated by the likes of Justin Bieber, Beyonce and Britney Spears.

Eminem tied Bieber for the most awards at six wins. Out of 46 award categories, Shady took home nods for Top Artist, Top Male Artist, Top Rap Artist, Top Billboard 200 Album [Recovery], Top Rap Album and Top Rap Song [“Love The Way You Lie” ].

While the selection process by the National Acacemy of Recording Arts and Sciences has recently come under fire for their more subjective methods used for selecting Grammy Award winners, Billboard stated, “all finalists and winners were determined by a combination of chart performances.” The eligibility period for nominations ran from February 28, 2010 through March 1, 2011. The amount of their respective awards reflected the strength of Eminem and Bieber’s current sales. To date, Em’s Recovery has sold over 3.8 million copies, while Bieber’s My World 2.0 has moved over 2.7 million units.

Notable performers Sunday night were Cee-Lo Green, Beyonce, Mary J. Blige and Lil Wayne, and Rihanna and Nicki Minaj, who both featured Britney Spears as a guest performer.

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This year’s BET Awards will feature many old faces returning to glory and a plethora of new faces to come onto the scene.

Making a return is Chris Brown, who released his album F.A.M.E. this year. Brown leads the field with 6 nominations including Viewers Choice, Best Collaboration, and Best Actor.

In the category of Viewers Choice and Best Collaboration, Brown’s songs Look At Me Now and Deuces will be going head to head with his ex-girlfriend Rihanna, and her collaboration with Drake on What’s My Name.

Rihanna will also be among heavy competition in the best female R&B category. Other nominees include Beyonce, Jennifer Hudson, Keri Hilson, and Marsha Ambrosius.

Just days after the death of their member M. Bone, Cali Swag District was nominated for Best Group alongside Diddy’s Dirty Money, N.E.R.D., New Boyz, and Travis Porter.

This year’s Best Male Hip-Hop Artist will be an extremely tough category with all of the contenders having an opportunity to take the crown. The nominees are Kanye West, Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, B.o.B., and Drake.

The Best New Artist category is also shaping up to be a battle pitting Bruno Mars against the likes of J. Cole, Willow Smith, Miguel, and Wiz Khalifa.

The show airs live on June 26th from the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium.

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Posted: Saturday – March 6, 2010

Jay-Z has finally made it to the White House. Joining him on Wednesday, March 3, were Beyonce, her mother, Tina Knowles, and Trey Songz.

According to hiphopdx.com, Jay briefly met with Obama while at a stop at the Verizon Center on his Blueprint 3 Tour.

Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, publicly expressed to the media that he has had several invitations to the White House and has been too busy to accept. “Hopefully we’ll keep him in for eight years so I’ll have time to get there,” he said last month to BBC.

Now that Jay has gotten there, we’ll see if he is invited back.

According to allhiphop.com, Obama endorsed Jay-Z’s latest album, Blueprint 3, (where Obama was shouted out on 3 different cuts) and has been a hip-hop fan for years. His hope for hip-hop is for emcees to avoid lyrics that degrade women and limit the constant talk of money and cars.

“I’ve met with Jay-Z, I’ve met with Kanye [West]. And I’ve talked to other artists about how potentially to bridge that gap. I think the potential for them to deliver a message of extraordinary power that gets people thinking [is great],” Obama said while on a BET special.

The president continued to say that he feels some rappers use the n-word excessively.

What Obama and Jay-Z do agree on is the effect hip-hop can have on the nation. They both believe that rappers can use their lyrics to uplift the masses and bring about change. However, Jay feels that the job of a rapper is to talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly.

“Sometimes there are hard truths in rap; they’re not packaged with pretty ribbons. Sometimes the realities of the situations are harsh and they need to be told,” Jay-Z said to BBC. “We’re the poets of our generation!”

By Ness

Posted: Saturday – December 4, 2009

At the Grammy nomination award show which aired on Wednesday December 2nd, hip-hop was there and represented in a big way. Hosted by LL Cool J himself, the nomination show featured all of the nominations for some of the biggest artists and songs of the year.

Beyonce headlined the event with an astonishing 10 nominations including record of the year, song of the year, and album of the year. Her Hubby Jay-z, as well as Kanye West and the Black Eyed Peas were all nominated for 6. These nominations include categories from Best Rap song of the year to Album of the year. The up and coming artists such as Drake and Kid Cudi, were nominated for 3 apiece both fighting in the category Best Rap Song.

Other artists such as Eminem, T-Pain, Common, Flo Rida, and Mos Def also were involved in the nominations in hopes to adding another Grammy to their wall. The 52nd annual Grammy Award Show, will be on January 31, 2010 at the Staple Center in Los Angeles, and will have some of the biggest names in music performing. Here are some of the categories with the nominations of Hip-hop’s best!

Best Rap Solo Performance

•Best I Ever Had
Drake

•Beautiful
Eminem

•D.O.A. (Death Of Auto-Tune)
Jay-Z

•Day ‘N’ Nite
Kid Cudi

•Casa Bey
Mos Def

Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group

•Too Many Rappers
Beastie Boys & Nas

•Crack A Bottle
Eminem, Dr. Dre & 50 Cent

•Money Goes, Honey Stay
Fabolous & Jay-Z

•Make Her Say
Kid Cudi, Kanye West & Common

•Amazing
Kanye West & Young Jeezy

Best Rap Song

•Best I Ever Had
Drake

•Day ‘N’ Nite
Kid Cudi

•Dead And Gone
T.I Ft Just Timberlake

•D.O.A. (Death Of Auto-Tune)
Jay-Z

•Run This Town
Jay-Z, Rihanna & Kanye West

Best Rap Album

•Universal Mind Control
Common

•Relapse
Eminem

•R.O.O.T.S.
Flo Rida

•The Ecstatic
Mos Def

•The Renaissance
Q-Tip

For More information on the nominees and the categories, go to www.grammy.com

Posted: Monday  – November 9, 2009

Jay-Z has finally admitted that he and Beyonce are trying to procreate and are working hard at it.

After displaying some rare PDA at the MTV Europe Awards, Jay and Beyonce are finally letting the world in on their relationship. Apparently, Jay more so than Beyonce. Recently, Jay-Z slipped up during an interview and said that making kids are on the high priority list for the couple. The way he said it, made it seem as if Bey Bey was on board.

About time.

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