Watch Puff Daddy Throw Bad Boy Reunion at BET Awards
An all-star performance celebrating the 20th anniversary of Puff Daddy‘s Bad Boy Records was among the many highlights at this year’s BET Awards, which aired Sunday night. During the tribute to the iconic label, the Bad Boy mogul – donning his old school red leather ensemble – recruited a dozen of the label’s biggest draws, from Mase and Lil Kim to Jadakiss and French Montana, for a 10-minute mega-medley that also paid tribute to the Notorious B.I.G.
The Bad Boy celebration packed in nods to the label’s biggest hits – “Mo Money, Mo Problems,” “All About the Benjamins,” “Love Like This,” “Hypnotize,” 112’s “Peaches & Cream” – and also featured Sheek Louch, Faith Evans, Fonzworth Bentley, Pharrell Williams (who introduced his new cut with Diddy, “Finna Get Loose”) and one of the more embarrassing stage gaffes of Puff Daddy‘s career:
In addition to the Bad Boy party, the BET Awards included a pair of big time tributes: First, Robin Thicke, Ne-Yo and Tori Kelly performed some of Smokey Robinson’s greatest hits to honor the singer’s lifetime achievement award. Then, Janet Jackson became the first-ever recipient of BET’s Ultimate Icon: Music Dance Visual Award. Ciara, Tinashe and Jason Derulo then delivered renditions of the “Rhythm Nation” singer’s greatest dance moves and music videos to pay homage to Jackson.
The BET Awards also opened up at Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theatre with an explosive performance by Kendrick Lamar, who busted out his To Pimp a Butterfly cut “Alright”:
The show all featured artists bringing home trophies, and among the more notable wins included Beyoncé scoring three awards: Video of the Year for “7/11,” Video Director of the Year with Todd Tourso and Ed Burke and Best Female R&B/Pop Artist. Nicki Minaj nabbed Best Female Hip-Hop Artist, among other awards, while Lamar was awarded Best Male Hip-Hop Artist. Sam Smith was awarded Best New Artist and Rae Sremmurd took home the Best Group award.