The Good, The Bad and the Ugly of the 2009 Hip Hop Honors show

"Def Jam...tells you who I am" - Public Enemy

Tonight, I got the chance to watch the 2009 VH1 Hip Hop Honors...Def Jam Records 25. So for those who didnt see it, wanted to see it or saw it and didnt really feel it (and how couldnt you), Ima break it down with the real. You already know I got issue with the way some of this shit was done.

Being a real hip hop head, I was kinda hyped up to see the show. I mean think about it, from 1984 until the day the show was taped Def Jam (as was stated in the program) is the longest and most established rap label of all time. The catalogue has got to be the best collection of music outside of the complete Motown, The Beatles and Michael Jackson. With a line up that reads like the New York Yankees of Rap, Jay Z, LL Cool J, Ludacris, DMX, Ja Rule, Chrisette Michelle you would expect one of the greatest shows ever created and broadcasted. Well Ima give you the Good, Bad, and the Ugly of it all.


First of all.... THE GOOD.

Public Enemy - Chuck D still got it, the energy was high and the funny part about it (which could be listed under the bad) was they were the second act to perform. Flav did his usual and even though he has done many reality shows from The Surreal Life to Flavor of Love 1, 2, and 3 his real love is the stage, and he was all over it.

EPMD - Even though they only did one verse of "The Crossover' it was hella good to see these guys on stage again and gettin so much love from the crowd. During the performance you could see Russell Simmons' face and he had that "Damn, we need to put those cats back out" look on his face. PMD still rockin a fisherman's hat and it was all Business As Usual.

ONYX - Yes, these dudes reunited for the event and did their biggest hit "Slam" and went clean off. Freddro Starr, Sonny Cheeba, and Sticky Fingaz threw down like they had just released that song and hadnt been on TV Shows from Moesha to Law and Order. And when Sticky did his verse standing on top of a speaker just sent it over the top.

Method Man and Redman - The Cheech and Chong of Rap did their hit song "Da Rockweiler" from the Blackout cd and were really on some high energy, the only thing that pissed me off was since the song was so short, I would have perferred to hear "How High" either as a capper of as the main joint... but I digress. Reggie Noble still knows how to command the stage and the mic. He shoulda done a solo song too. LOL

The vignettes were hot and they put a lot of historic perspective to what the idea behind the label, the hustle in the label, and who and what made it as successful as it is.

THE BAD

The Gym Class Heroes and the Legendary Roots Crew were the "house band" and even though they held it together, IMO it was overkill. GCH should have just made an appearance and got ghost. I do understand that alot of the early Def Jam songs were guitar driven, but dude was way extra....sheesh

Tracy Morgan...VH1 needs to find another host for these joints. Nothin about him says hip hop except his New York accent and if you ask me I think its overdone. He tries to hard. I would have rathered LL Cool J being the host, especially since he was the labels first HIT artist, but he sorta had to be there to host...which brings me to this.

NO SHOWS! No LL Cool J, No Slick Rick, No Kanye, and No Jay Z. You mean to tell me that your biggest and best known acts dont perform. LL was in a video clip, recounting how he got in with the label. It was a humorous story and laid the foundation for the night (cause it showed hellafied hustle and perseverance) The shitty part was that Black Thought from The Roots and Eminem performed Radio. WTF!!!! Fabolous performs "I'll Be" with Foxy Brown (who looked like she had a breast job and robbed Lady Gaga off stage) and Wale does Kayne's "Touch The Sky"...I was waiting on him to jump on stage and holla..."Wale, Ima let you finish, but I had the greatest version of this song of ALL TIME...I know wishful thinking. If you can get Proffesor Griff and the S1W's, Ghostface Killah, and Ja Rule to come out of witness protection then why not have Jay, LL, and Kanye to show their faces, and Slick Rick was just honored by VH1 last year or year before last so I know they still had a contact number....

Warren G and Trey Songz doin "Regulator" it really is a classic with NATE DOGG on it, not Trey Songz... and Rick Ross doin "Hustlin'" like it came out yesterday. White folk are so gullible. He really had them rockin like he just released that song and nobody knew that was his first single.

THE UGLY

The outfit Foxy Brown had on...dont get me wrong I have been appreciating Inga's style and her figure since day 1, but she needs to sue whoever ruined the best set of breast in hip hop, (whether it was a plastic surgeon, a baby, or some wack dude) and whomever decided to put that ugly ass outfit she had on. The top looked like a matador cape on top of a BBW swimsuit with a Daffy Duck feather skirt.

Rick Ross' outfit... when you that big and that dark, you shouldnt wear red, and definitely not a floppy red Kangol hat either. He looked like Grimace from McDonald's evil twin or something.

VH1 played the guess who card to the hilt too. How many times did they mention Rihanna?? Where was she? NOT THERE...thats her label too. Chris Brown was nowhere close to being in the building. Whats up with that VH1? You pulled a BET crackhead move with that one. Then they kept movin Rick Rubin in the balconey. First he was sitting next to Russell Simmons, then he was sittin next to Lyor Cohen, and Kevin Lyles moved next to Russell. Then they had him sittin in between Chris Rock and some former EVP chick. What in the hell was Chris Rock doin sittin on the first row anyway. What the hell was up with Eve and her outfit? Lil bitty black dress that rode up erytime she took a step.

All that aside it was a good show...

Posted by the Insomniaq, chillin in a B-boy stance