BET Kicks Off 4th Annual Hip-Hops Awards, Kanye West No-Show

(Oct. 12) BET held its 4th Annual BET Hip-Hop Awards with comedic host Mike Epps at the Atlanta Civic Center Saturday evening and the infamous speech hijacking, nine-time nominee, Kanye West was a no-show.

T.I., who is currently serving a prison sentence on a federal weapons charge, won two awards: best collaboration award with Rihanna for “Live Your Life” and album of the year award for “Paper Trail.”

The rapper’s fiancée, Tameka “Tiny” Cottle, accepted the awards in his absence and read a letter from T.I.

"Although I'm not there with you all, I'm there in spirit. My road to redemption is almost over….thanks for the support," T.I. said.

Ice Cube won the “I am Hip-Hop” Icon award and promised more years of producing quality work.
      
"When you get recognized by your peers for a life of work, you got to be humbled," the rap veteran said. "I'm honored by this. I have 20 more years of work left in me. I hope (BET) is ready to give out two of these awards."

Later in the evening, “Rookie of the Year” went to break-out artist Drake and Busta Rhymes presented the “DJ of the Year” award to the late DJ AM, who dies of an accidental drug overdose earlier this year.

Jay-Z, who beat out Lil Wayne and received the "MVP of the Year" award, performed "Real as It Gets" from his latest album "The Blueprint 3," with Young Jeezy.

Ending the night, Goodie Mob reunited to perform their 1995 song "Cell Therapy" and “Get Rich to This.”  It was the group’s first reunion after nearly a decade.

The BET Hip-Hop Awards show air Oct. 27.

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