BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – WINNERS of the 4th Annual BET Hip Hop Awards were able to make their speeches without being interrupted by nine-time nominee Kanye West, who failed to show up at the ceremony.
According to eurweb.com, the rapper, who interrupted Taylor Swift's acceptance speech at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards, was expected to attend the Saturday evening's (October 10) taping at the Atlanta Civic Center, but instead opted to skip the entire outing altogether.
Meanwhile, Cillford Joseph Harris, a.k.a. T.I or TIP, won two awards; one was for Best Collaboration for the ‘Live Your Life’ track with Rihanna and the other for Album of the Year for ‘Paper Trail’.
Harris’ awards were accepted by his fiancée Tameka ‘Tiny’ Cottle, as he is currently serving a prison sentence in Arkansas on a federal weapons charge.
The site reported that Cottle read a letter from Harris saying: "Although I'm not there with you all, I'm there in spirit. My road to redemption is almost over…thanks for the support."
Ice Cube won the I am Hip-Hop Icon award and said that he is honoured by the gesture.
Drake won the Rookie of the Year honor and Busta Rhymes presented the award for DJ of the Year to the late DJ AM, who died of an accidental drug overdose in August.
Jay-Z took to the stage to perform ‘Real as It Gets’ from his latest album ‘The Blueprint 3’ and was also honoured with the MVP of the Year award.
One of the show’s highlights included rap group Goodie Mob who reunited onstage to perform their 1995 song ‘Cell Therapy’.
The award show will be air on Tuesday, October 27.
