This year's BET Awards will offer music fans more than just a televised special. For the first time, the show will serve as anchor for the BET Experience, a three-day destination festival in downtown Los Angeles that will include concerts and other cultural events.
The show itself airs live on the cable network Sunday (8 p.m. ET/PT). It will be hosted by Chris Tucker from the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles and will honor R&B legend Charlie Wilson with its lifetime achievement award. Drake leads the field with 12 nominations.
But the festivities in the multi-venue L.A. Live entertainment district really get started Friday night when Beyoncé premieres the U.S. leg of her Mrs. Carter Show world tour with a concert at the Staples Center. Snoop Dogg and fellow hip-hop stars Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, Miguel and ScHoolboy Q take over the venue Saturday night. After Sunday's televised program, R. Kelly is joined at Staples by the Jacksons and New Edition. There will be numerous other BET-related events throughout the weekend, including concerts, film screenings, afterparties and seminars.
"We're expecting tens of thousands to come through the various venues," says Debra Lee, chairman and CEO of BET Networks, which partnered with promoter AEG Live to create the fest. "We've been selling tickets nationwide and I think it's going to be one of the events people look forward to every year. The BET Awards are the Super Bowl of black entertainment."
Stephen Hill, BET's president of music programming and specials, says the idea for the festival grew out of the various activities that sprang up around previous shows.
"We just decided to organize what had just been organic," says Hill, who adds that highlights from the weekend will be made into a show that will air at a later date.
Lee says she has no concerns about the festival running so close to the Essence Music Festival, now in its 19th year and traditionally held on July 4 weekend in New Orleans.
"Essence has loyal following," says Lee. "We get 40% of our attendees from the Southern California area. I think the market can sustain both."
It should be a competitive night to see who takes home the most awards. Drake's 12 nominations include five in the video of the year category. Kendrick Lamar and 2 Chainz each have eight nominations, followed by A$AP Rocky and Jay-Z with five and Justin Timberlake and Miguel with four. The show also will honor Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade with its humanitarian award and pay tribute to Wilson, whose appeal has spanned generations.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the Tulsa native joined his brothers Ronnie and Robert in the Gap Band and had hits like You Dropped a Bomb on Me, Outstanding, Early in the Morning and Yearning for Your Love. In recent years, he's been embraced as Uncle Charlie, working with and influencing countless hip-hop stars.
Wilson will be among the performers Sunday. Also scheduled to take the stage are Kelly, Miguel, Chris Brown, Janelle Monae, Stevie Wonder, Lamar, Snoop, Timberlake, Robin Thicke, T.I., Ciara, Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj and Erykah Badu. Hill says viewers should once again expect the unexpected, as the show has developed a reputation for its wow performance moments.
"Anything can happen and this year's show will absolutely prove that again," Hill says.
Some of the more memorable past surprises include King of Pop Michael Jackson showing up to present King of Soul James Brown with the 2003 lifetime achievement award; Dreamgirls stars Jennifer Hudson (the 2006 film) and Jennifer Holliday (the 1982 Broadway musical) singing together in 2007; Maxwell ending his years-long hiatus in 2008; and El DeBarge's comeback in 2009.
Lee says that kind of unpredictability helps with live viewership.
"We don't want people recording it," Lee says of the show, which attracted 7.4 million viewers last year. "We want everyone to show up Sunday night. This is one of the most talked-about shows of the year and our audience is very active on Twitter and Facebook."
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