VH1 Hip-Hop Honors: The Dirty South

Last night, VH1 aired their Hip-Hop honors: The Dirty South show and to say I was disappointed would be a gross understatement. While I believe and know VH1 had good intentions going into the show, I think they executed it poorly.

Okay so, the fact that Outkast wasn't honored pissed me off in a major way. I honestly didn't watch the first hour of the program because I was so in my feelings about Andre & Big Boi not getting the honor they so rightfully deserve. I mean, how are you gonna honor Southern Hip-Hop and NOT give Outkast a mention or award or whatever they received on the show last night? Like seriously, VH1, that's just ridiculous. I am aware that many artists declined being honored/performing on the show for whatever reason, but to not give Outkast their due respect is just ignorant. Outkast is one of the main groups people all over the world use to identify the South, so to not honor them is just disrespectful. Then, to add insult to injury, they had Nelly (who hasn't put out a decent album in who knows how long and isn't even from the South) performing an Outkast song during the Organized Noise set. Really?! Are you serious?! I almost punched my tv watching that foolishness.

Then, VH1 had Asher Roth (y'all remember him; the saltine rapper whose album flopped and allegedly made racist comments) performing a Ludacris song. That shit right there infuriated me. I mean, they couldn't call Luda and ask him to perform his own damn song?! Then, Asher didn't even do it justice! They should've had Eminem do it if they were gonna throw some saltines in the soup. At least Em is a credible artist. That Asher Roth is a hot damn mess. To have him doing a Luda song totally shit on the South in my humble opinion. I mean, I read tweets and some folks didn't even know who the hell Asher IS!! C'mon, VH1, I need y'all to get your whole life together STAT.

Okay let me say something positive before I continue this roast. The No Limit set was probably my favorite on the show. Mystikal, who just got outta jail not too long ago, came out on stage and KILLED it!! He made Gucci (who was there in his LisaRaye gear-all White everything, including his ashy lips) and all the young bucks that were at the show look dumb as shit. He made my entire day I promise you. Silkk the Shocker even came through and did a lil something. I woulda loved to see Mia X on stage too, but I"m happy with who No Limit had. Even Master P got his old ass up and did a lil something lol.

Another set I liked, but was a little confused about, was the Timbaland honors set. Okay, I know VA is technically the South, and he IS one of the dopest producers in the game. That goes without saying or argument. I guess I just didn't understand why, rather than having folks perform Timbaland rap tracks (I mean, he has put out his own albums, VH1), they had people performing tracks that Timbaland had produced. I'm not saying that that was a bad thing at all, just a little off to me *shrug*. Missy came out in her staple Adidas track suit (leather too lol) and did her damn thing. I was siced (happy for you non-DMV readers) to see her, although her half hawk was a little much for me.

Okay, back to a little negative. Why the HELL was Diddy there at a show honoring the South?! His attention whore ass always has to be on some shit. And him performing with JD and Bow Wow was just too much for me to deal with. When Diddy showed his grill, I about died from disbelief. Really, Diddy, I need you to sit down somewhere already. I'm so over him I don't know what to do with myself. Of course, I respect his hustle and his grind. He's one of the few folks in the industry that has maintained longevity, however he did it. We all have our theories on that one, but I'll save that for another blog.

They honored 2 Live Crew last night, which made sense to me because they did pave the way for rappers to curse on records and fight for their 1st Amendment rights. I respect that to the fullest. However, they looked like they had just snuck out of the retirement home when they were performing. Then, Luke's whole speech at the end of their performance was a little strange to me.

Now, my biggest beef with this whole show isn't who performed as much as who was left out. Where the hell were 8Ball & MJG? Where was T.I.?! He kinda introduced the Atlanta set, but he should've been on that stage performing since he is the King of the South. DUH VH1! And why wasn't Goodie Mob honored? Or Triple 6 Mafia? Or Young Buck? Or anyone else from Tennessee for that matter! What about Tha YoungBloodZ? I'm fully aware that it would've taken all night to honor EVERYONE that's deserving, but damn VH1. Y'all couldn't have picked the best?! Of course, since VH1 is mainstream, they're gonna highlight more mainstream people, which I get, but Luda isn't mainstream enough for them? Triple 6 isn't either? The list goes on and on.

Like I said earlier in this post, I know that some artists like Young Money declined to be on the show for one reason or another. Mac Mane of YM tweeted that they didn't go because they felt it wouldn't be the same without Wayne there. Ummmmm, okay. Didn't T.I.'s camp still perform and accept his award at the BET Awards when T.I. first went away? I'm not trying to throw shade, but c'mon y'all. Others declined because they didn't feel right about the show as a whole, that the timing wasn't right. That speaks volumes to me about the whole thing.

At the end of the day, the thought behind the show was awesome. Honoring the South as a major Hip-Hop hub in this country was definitely a good look. However, I feel that the show didn't do justice to Southern Hip-Hop artists and the culture. They had this one dude doing a voice over and he said 'Peachtree City is Atlanta Hip-Hop.' Seriously?! Now, I lived in Atlanta for a long time, and I NEVER heard of any rappers coming outta Peachtree City. I know a lot of ATL rappers live in Buckhead and the suburbs now that they're rich, but I doubt they started out living there. Matter of fact, I KNOW T.I. didn't, but whatever.

Then I got mad at myself for expecting more from the network that brought us Flavor of Love, I Love New York, Basketball Wives, etc. etc. I shoulda known better than to trust them to respect Hip-Hop the way it deserves to be. These bamas at VH1 are distributing coonery at an alarming rate. Do y'all realize that almost all of the reality shows with Black folks are on VH1? This summer alone, T.O. AND Ocho Cinco are gonna have shows on there, and Basketball Wives got picked up for another season. I'm not even gonna touch the Brandy (whose wig last night was a monstrosity btw) and Ray J show.

As I've said repeatedly throughout this post, I feel VH1 had good intentions, but they didn't execute the show well at all. Between the unfunny host to the whack jokes at the end, I just can't with the whole thing. VH1 could've done a much better job of selecting the honorees. Maybe they'll see the abundant Twitter rants from various people and do another one to honor more of the South's greats. Outkast, Goodie Mob, Triple 6, Scarface, Luda, T.I., and the rest of the South's greats that didn't get honored, don't worry. The fans know what it really is.

So what did y'all think of the show last night?

Besos,
Toni