It's All About The Cypher!

I am not a fan of 90% of the crap that BET plays. The station that once was about BLACK entertainment television has been falling off in many ways. There are many reasons why I don't watch the channel much. But, I digress. The Hip Hop Awards were shown last night. This televised edited version comes almost two weeks after the actual show happened. This is a problem. In the social media driven world we live in, people already know who won, who performed and what happened. I only watched for the cyphers (2 in particular) and the return performance of T.I.

The best cypher of the night goes to Shady 2.0 hands down. This was the only cypher I was looking forward to. The main reason is Joe Budden. I have been a fan since the first time I heard dude spit. There is something in his voice that pulls me in. I love the way he lays his heart out in everything he drops. This is not to say that the rest of the crew didn't bring it. Yelawolf, Crooked I, and Joell all spit great bars. But, I love Royce and Eminem (outside of Joe) the most. Shady 2.0 was ill. After it played, I tweeted that BET should just run their cypher back. Also, they were the only crew that got a different beat. BET saved the best cypher for last. I loved it. Can't you tell?



Second place easily goes to the MMG cypher. Well, not to Rick Ross cause he kind of sucks to me musically. But, I liked what the rest of his crew had to say. I may be biased because I am a Wale fan and am slowly becoming a Meek Mill fan as well.



Busta Rhymes, Luda, Reek da Villian, and 2 Chainz are in the next cypher. I LOVE Busta's freestyle. He never disappoints in my mind. Luda is a favorite of mine. He showed out as well. This was my first time hearing of Reek. He was cool. It took me all night to figure out why 2 Chainz looked so familiar. It's because he was formerly known as Titty Boy. I am not here for him only because he has no real skills and the fact that he named himself Titty Boy to begin with.



Chris Brown showed up in a cypher. His bars was a media laced rant that I can definitely get into. Also in his cypher was Tyga, Kevin McCall, and Ace Hood. I'm not a Ace Hood fan and his part was a throw away verse to me. I wasn't impressed at all.



The cypher that was filled with newcomers was interesting as well. It featured Big K.R.I.T. Machine Gun Kelly, Tech N9ne, Kendrick Lamar, and B.O.B. This was a very interesting cypher for me. I had never really heard Kendrick rap. I didn't know BOB and KRIT could spit like that. And, I have never laid eyes on MGK before this.



Another quirky cypher was the next one. blind fury, of 106 & Park Freestyle Friday fame, was teamed up with SkillzVa, the dude who does the end of the year wrap up rap. There was also Dom Kennedy who I am becoming a fan of and a throwback with the appearance of Lady of Rage. Remember her?



Anyway, the cyphers were the highlight for me. The throwback performances of DMX and Heavy D were amazing as well. I could take or leave the rest of the show. I think BET should expand the cyphers into a longer format. I would so approve and support that. I was underwhelmed by the awards as a whole. There was another cypher filled with folks I do not know nor did I feel. So I decided not to post it. I mean it featured the singer Estelle rapping, a female raper who dropped a line about "dropping bombs like Saddam" (guess no one told her that Saddam is dead) a Christian rapper and a French rapper who rapped entirely in French with subtitles. So, yeah BET could've missed me with that one totally. Hope you guys enjoy the cyphers as much as I did.