This year’s BET awards did numbers, unlike previous years, seeing the rise and topping of TV rating charts on Tuesday. There was also a significant uptick in viewership from last year’s ceremony. The awards ceremony premiered Oct. 4, after being taped the Friday before. 

With Fat Joe hosting, who is one of New York’s most iconic members of hip-hop history, the show achieved many great things. This is especially true when it came to showing recognition to the mecca of hip hop— N.Y. and its great artists in the industry. We even got to see another year of Smack White having two N.Y. battle rappers DNA (Queens) & K-Shine (Harlem) perform against each other for a cash prize on behalf of Ultimate Rap League. The main things the award show accomplished, in my opinion, was the fight for rapper ownership, right and preservation, diverse past and present performances, honoring the hip-hop artists who are also victims of gun violence, and the promotion of new outlooks in the industry. This held true whether it be podcasts, women MCs or even artists as cross-genres. The primary highlight of the show was honoring female hip-hop legend Trina and giving her the recognition she deserves. Additionally, there was the dominance of Kendrick Lamar and his musical catalog this year, with him having won in six categories.    

Now as much praise I dished out for N.Y. for its hip-hop influence on the Northeastern era, I definitely have to highlight a top city in hip-hop from the southeastern region, Atlanta Ga. The BET Hip-Hop Awards first debuted in 2006 in Atlanta. It was also held in the city in subsequent years. Staying in the southern region, this year’s award show not only highlighted the “Impact Atlanta” reality show but also did great for the mid-southwest region. Yo Gottis’ CMG label’s new artist GLO-Rilla got to perform and won breakout star of the year.  

  In conclusion, this year’s awards show did a great job of debuting and rebroadcasting newer performing artists, giving tributes to all of those in the music industry that had died, pushing to free Gunna and Young thug, preservation of the artist, promoting women in the industry, and giving the platform up to hip-hop legends past and present.