Month: June 2023

Ice Spice was shell-shocked by her rise to fame. However, ever since she gained the attention of music fans, the “Barbie World” rapper hasn’t let up. Her 2023 BET Awards performance was no different. Keeping in alignment with the theme of the evening, her set was a tribute to hip-hop’s birthday, her hometown, the Bronx, New York.

To start, the musician floated above a basketball court, a setup to recreate the video for her viral song “Munch” as she spit the highly quoted line, “You thought I was feelin’ you?”

After that made her way to the bodega, a New York staple, as she performed her new big track, “Princess Diana.” Closing her performance, “In Ha Mood,” led Ice Spice back to the faux Fordham Road MTA train stop. Ice Spice being dubbed “The People’s Princess” has gone to her head in the best ways forcing her to work harder. Her 2023 BET Awards performance was a display of that quick grind.

Although she didn’t take any awards home, she was nominated in several categories, including Best New Artist, Best Collaboration (“Boy’s A Liar Pt. 2,” Pinkpantheress & Ice Spice), Best Female Hip Hop Artist, and BET Her (“Boy’s A Liar Pt. 2,” Pinkpantheress & Ice Spice).

Watch Ice Spice perform above.

Although GloRilla didn’t take home the 2023 BET Awards nominations for Best New Artist or Best Female Hip-Hop Artist, but she’s still blessed nonetheless. The “Nut Quick” rapper wasn’t discouraged by the losses. Instead, she showed that no matter what, she’s a winner in God’s eyes hence her middle name.

The rapper took to the 2023 BET Awards stage for a sexy performance of her track “Lick Or Sum” off her EP Anyways, Life’s Great. On the song, the Memphis native asserts her sexual liberation as she raps, “Lick on my clit, make this p*ssy cream / Do this motherfucker how you do the Russian Creams / Smokin’ on this pack, you know the p*ssy fat / Lookin’ like he fiendin’, got his nose all in my crack.”

Lounging on a plush set of lips as the camera pans to her from the stage, then ending on a cherry lollypop, the sex puns aren’t lost on the viewing audience. GloRilla has come a long way since she took home the award for Best Breakthrough Artist at BET’s Hip-Hop Awards.

As for the remaining nominations for the 2023 BET Awards at this point in the night, GloRilla is still in the running for Album Of The Year (Anyways, Life’s Great), Best Collaboration (“F.N.F. (Let’s Go)” with Hitkidd and “Tomorrow 2” with Cardi B), and Video Of The Year (“Tomorrow 2”).

Watch the performance below.

After touching on hip-hop’s roots in the first Hip-Hop 50 tribute of the night and taking a trip out west in the second, the third Hip-Hop 50 tribute of the 2023 BET Awards focused on the contributions of the South — namely, south Florida. Naturally, there were some pretty obvious names that needed to show up, and show up they did. Trick Daddy and Trina performed their breakout hit “Nann N****,” while Uncle Luke of 2 Live Crew popped out for a raucous rendition of the group’s unapologetic hit “I Wanna Rock (Doo Doo Brown).”

More Southern artists appeared in a separate clip, as Atlanta crunk pioneers Yin Yang Twins rocked right after Chicago drill genre-breaker Chief Keef. Trillville wasn’t part of the tribute but appeared during Doechii’s performance of “Block Boy,” nodding to her interpolation of the group’s 2004 hit “Some Cut” with Lil Scrappy. Jeezy, T.I., and Master P also represented for Atlanta and New Orleans, respectively when they performed at another Hip-Hop 50 tribute later in the ceremony. Honestly, it was pretty packed — which is impressive, considering all this had to be coordinated without the help of a host to keep things in line.

You can watch some of the performances from the 2023 BET Awards above.

Doechii’s 2023 BET Awards performance of her songs “Booty Drop” and “What It Is” showed that she was born to be a superstar. Before the Best New Artist nominee hits that road with Doja Cat as her The Scarlet Tour’s supporting act, the self-proclaimed Swamp Princess had to give rap music fans with a taste of what they’ll experience live.

To open her medley set, Doechii performed her dance-heavy track “Booty Drop.” As she rapped, “Strip club, dance, dance, do it in a handstand
Drop down, get bands, do it no command / I’ll make her drop / She actin’ up, she fuck it up, I make it pop / That booty soft, she lift it up and gets them props / That Chanel purse it’ll cost,” it was hard not to groove along.

Next, she blended into her controversial track “What It Is,” which originally featured Kodak Black. To pay tribute to the act behind the track’s sample, Southern legends Trillville joined Doechii on stage for a medley of their 2004 song “Some Cut.”

Despite the backlash from “What It Is” the song earned Doechii her first Billboard No. 1 on the Rhythmic Airplay chart. In an attempt to appease her fans, Doechii did upload a version of the track with Kodak Black on her YouTube channel.

Quavo and Offset reunited at the 2023 BET Awards to pay homage to their fallen Migos bandmate Takeover, marking their first performance together since late in 2021. With an image of Takeover behind them alongside a dance team and some impressive pyrotechnics, the two play-cousins teamed up to perform the group’s No. 1 hit “Bad N Boujee.”

While it remains to be seen whether this means they have put all their differences behind them, it is a more positive turn from the Grammys, where Offset was allegedly blocked from performing with Quavo, leading to an apparent altercation backstage. At the time of Takeoff’s death late last year, the trio had been unofficially broken up for some months, with Quavo and Takeoff releasing a duo album without their third member and hinting that the group wouldn’t be getting back together.

Then Takeoff was shot, leading to Migos entering a limbo where both Quavo and Offset released their own individual tributes to Takeoff but seemed to not be communicating with each other. Fans had no clue the status of the band, even as Offset prepped his own solo album, which he’d previously put on hold in the wake of Takeoff’s death. It seems they’ve buried the hatchet — hopefully permanently — and are moving forward out of love for Takeoff. Even Cardi B was in tears:

Watch Quavo and Offset’s performance above.

After the BET Awards’ 2023 Hip-Hop 50 tribute covered some of rap’s foundational hits, including Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight,” MC Lyte’s “Cha Cha Cha,” and DJ D-Nice’s “Call Me D-Nice,” the second performance took a trip out west. The second performance of the night tapped Long Beach’s Warren G, who performed his and Nate Dogg’s seminal hit, “Regulate,” Yo-Yo, who rocked her signature song “You Can’t Play With My Yo-Yo,” Compton’s Tyga, who took the show to “Rack City,” and the Bay Area favorite E-40, who played his late-career breakout “Tell Me When To Go.”

While the show clearly dedicated plenty of space to the celebration of hip-hop’s 50th birthday, it also made sure to highlight some of today’s hottest artists, as well. The show opened with Lil Uzi Vert, who performed an unreleased song along with their rumbling Jersey club hit “Just Wanna Rock,” and Latto, who told her foes once again to “Put It On Da Floor,” and Coco Jones, who also won Best New Artist and sang “ICU.”

More artists expected to perform tonight include six-time nominee GloRilla, Doechii, and more Hip-Hop 50 pioneers like Ja Rule, Remy Ma, Trina, and more. Stay tuned for more of UPROXX’s coverage of the 2023 BET Awards.

Latto is single-handly encouraging the youth to put an end to plastic usage. The rapper’s new song “Put It On Da Floor” has everyone rushing to destroy the nearest plastic bag they can find. During the 2023 BET Awards, Latto took her demands to heart with a fiery performance of the track.

While the song originally debuted during her Coachella 2023 set as a response to her ongoing feud with Nicki Minaj, it has become an anthem behind the beef. The single was pushed even further when she enlisted Cardi B for the remix to the song, “Put It On Da Floor Again.”

During the fierce performance, Latto’s training with Teyana Taylor has certainly improved her dynamic presence. Outside of her performance, Latto is also nominated in two categories of the evening. The first is for Best Collaboration via her song “Big Energy (Remix)” with Mariah Carey featuring Dj Khaled. She is also nominated for Best Female Hip Hop Artist. In that category, she is going up against her collaborator Cardi B, Coi Leray, GloRilla, Ice Spice, Megan Thee Stallion, and Nicki Minaj.

Although Latto doesn’t intend to make music forever, as she says, for the moment, she’s loving the support she is receiving from fans.

The 2023 BET Awards paid tribute to the 50th anniversary of hip-hop with a massive slate of decades-spanning performances. The first, taking place just after Lil Uzi Vert’s opening performance of “Just Wanna Rock,” included Sugarhill Gang performing their career hit, “Rapper’s Delight” and an appearance from MC Lyte performing “Cha Cha Cha,” as well as D-Nice (yes, that D-Nice) with “Call Me D-Nice,” and Big Daddy Kane rapping “Raw,” all accompanied by DJ Kid Capri on the wheels of steel. A Biz Markie tribute followed as the crowd sang along to “Just A Friend.” And that was all in the first ten minutes.

There are a ton of performers left to hit the stage, including Kid ‘N Play, Uncle Luke, Warren G, E-40, Fat Joe, Ja Rule, Master P, Remy Ma, Trick Daddy, Trina, the Ying Yang Twins, Chief Keef, Soulja Boy, and Tyga. More contemporary performances are set to include 2023 nominees Coco Jones, Doechii, GloRilla, and more.

The BET Awards aren’t the only ones paying homage to 50 years of hip-hop. The Grammys put on a 10-minute show to celebrate, while UPROXX has held it down with interviews with Just Blaze and Rhymesayers. Stay tuned for more BET Awards coverage as the ceremony continues.

The 2023 BET Awards are celebrating 50 years of hip-hop with an emphasis on the genre’s pioneers. However, they haven’t forgotten about the new school. Opening up the ceremony was Lil Uzi Vert with a performance of his hit song “Just Wanna Rock.” With an army of dancers by their side, the Philadelphia native highlighted rap music’s incorporation of dance sub-genres like Jersey Club.

Although they weren’t nominated in any categories this year, that didn’t stop Lil Uzi Vert from using the time to tease what’s come from their upcoming project, The Pink Tape. Right before they wowed the crowd with “Just Wanna Rock,” the rapper played a snippet from an unreleased song.

During an Instagram live stream with popular streamer Kai Cenat, Lil Uzi Vert personally shared details about the forthcoming release. During the broadcast, Uzi revealed that all songs for the album had been chosen. According to the musician, The Pink Tape will feature 24 tracks, including their smash single “Just Wanna Rock.”

In addition to those songs, fans will be treated to two bonus tracks that, in their words, “A lot of people love but didn’t really get to hear.”

The official cover for the album and full tracklist is rumored to come out this week.

Lil Uzi Vert is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Given his current legal affairs, Young Thug’s ability to speak directly with his fan base is limited. However, the “Parade On Cleveland” rapper has nothing but space and opportunity to get several messages out via his new album, Business Is Business. After the initial excitement of the project wore off, fans began to take a deep dive into the lyrics speculating that his former friend Gunna wasn’t the only one to be dissed on a track (although he wasn’t a target either).

Several supporters jumped onto social media to accuse Young Thug of dissing Saweetie on his track “Want Me Dead,” which features 21 Savage. The lyric in question reads, “My n**** ain’t even tryna hit sweetie / That b*tch turn me off, no kizzy.” While Young Thug is not above being shady on a record, he ensured this wasn’t one of those instances.

To make it crystal clear, Young Thug took to Twitter to deny dissing Saweetie but also took it a step further to clarify that stanza. “Her name is Saweetie. I said, sweetie. #BusinessIsBusiness,” wrote the entertainer.

Young Thug, for context in another tweet, wrote, “Also, that song is 6 years old,” to nip the rumor in the bud.

Listen to the track above.

Business Is Business is out now via 300 Entertainment/Atlantic Records. Find more information here.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.