LOS ANGELES (AP) — A masked Lil Uzi Vert opened the 2023 BET Awards on a platform suspended from the ceiling and jumped into a pyrotechnic-filled kickoff…
Lil Uzi Vert performs a medley at the BET Awards on Sunday, June 25, 2023, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark Terrill)(Mark Terrill/Invision/AP)
For a show promising to celebrate 50 years of hip-hop, it set the tone for a hip-hop history lesson: DJ Kid Capri walked the audience through a medley of the earliest days of New York City ’80s rap culture featuring The Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight,” MC LYTE’s “Cha Cha Cha”, D-NICE’s “Call ME D-Nice” and Big Daddy Kane’s “Raw,” into a partial cover of “Just A Friend,” an homage to the late great Biz Markie.
“I would not be in this business on the stage tonight if it wasn’t for one person,” Big Daddy Kane said introducing the song. “Rest in peace.” He invited audience members to sing along to the song’s infectious chorus and point toward a photo of Markie shows on stage.
Vert got the show started suspended above the stage for “Spin Again,” then shifted into “Just Wanna Rock.”
The first award of the night, the coveted best new artist, went to Coco Jones, in a category which featured only female performers.
“For all of my black girls, we do have to fight a little harder to get what we deserve,” she said in her acceptance speech.
