The BET Hip-Hop Awards are a far cry from what they used to be. Over the last few years, interest in what used to be one of the most anticipated events on the hip-hop calendar has dwindled. This comes down to several issues, primarily with BET as an institution no longer being in touch with modern hip-hop beyond what’s popular today. As the show’s presentation continues to change, things have gone away that need to return. Fans view the show more negatively thanks to many unneeded changes over the years. Here are five things that the BET Hip-Hop Awards are missing that could improve the quality of the once-culturally significant event if they were implemented when the next one happens in 2025.
1. Bring Back The Cyphers
Every year, the BET Hip-Hop Awards used to play host to a series of cyphers. They featured different groups of rappers aiming to outdo each other in their freestyle verses. Some of the biggest names in the game appeared in these cyphers, often to promote recent work or remind fans how good they are. The first-ever cypher at the 2006 event featured Lupe Fiasco and Styles P. At the time, the two recently released their debut and sophomore efforts, respectively. The 2011 iteration of the show featured Eminem introducing the greater hip-hop world to Slaughterhouse. They had signed to Shady Records and were building buzz as a group online for years ahead of their debut album, Welcome To Our House.
In 2010, the G.O.O.D. Music roster of Kanye West, Big Sean, Pusha T, CyHi The Prynce, and Common delivered verses shortly before the release of West’s opus, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. The showing helped put CyHi on the map and solidified Big Sean as a rapper to look out for in 2011. The year prior, Yasiin Bey, Black Thought, and Eminem rhymed together. It was a friendly clashing of the titans that fans almost never get to experience anymore. Top Dawg Entertainment’s roster came together in 2013 for a performance that famously saw Kendrick Lamar fire shots at Drake long before their feud dominated headlines. And who could forget when Eminem returned solo in 2017 to deliver a scathing takedown of then-president Donald Trump in a winding four-and-a-half minute verse?
Since those late-2000s and early-2010s glory days, the cyphers have had diminishing returns. The greats no longer come out to show out. The effects of this change culminated in BET completely doing away with the cyphers in 2024, ending a tradition that existed for seventeen years. Asking superstars to sign on in 2025 may be a tough request. The most popular names around rarely freestyle these days as is. But, the cyphers do still need to return. Preferably with rappers who are more in-demand than those who populated them in the last few years. Names like the ones in the Griselda camp or legends reclaiming their spots in the game like Common and LL Cool J, two MCs who made major comebacks in 2024, could be fun to see next year.
2. Improved Advertising
I did not know the BET Hip-Hop Awards were airing on the night of Tuesday, October 15, until over halfway through the show. Nor did people I know. The only reason I found out the show was on that night is because of a Twitter post criticizing the lack of cyphers. In previous years, the BET Hip-Hop Awards (and the all-encompassing BET Awards earlier in the summer) made sure that fans knew when and where the event was taking place.
There was little advertising for the 2024 event. Going into what is usually one of the network’s biggest ratings boons of the year without substantial promotion will almost certainly be reflected in their viewership this year. It is hard to build interest in a show without marketing the show as heavily as possible. Next year, a point of emphasis has to be on advertising. There is no other annual hip-hop award show as significant as the BET Hip-Hop Awards. It should feel like that every single year.
3. More (Currently) Relevant Performers
In 2023, Fat Joe hosted the BET Hip-Hop Awards. In 2024, he came back to do it again. Joe, for better or for worse, is a legendary figure in New York City’s hip-hop scene. In a vacuum, having him host the show is not a bad thing. He is not necessarily musically relevant anymore. But he’s a regular attendee of different events throughout the year and still clearly loves hip-hop. However, giving him the opportunity to perform “Make It Rain,” a single from 2006, at a show in 2024, is inexplicable.
Doubly so for the Soulja Boy and Roscoe Dash joint performance that took place later in the night. While fun, Dash was popular over a decade ago. These days, Soulja Boy is more known for his antics than his music. “All The Way Turnt Up” is still a great song. It is still a damning indictment on the state of the show when the performance of a song from 2010 is a highlight of the night over some of the newer acts that showed up (Bossman Dlow and GloRilla, for example). The BET Hip-Hop Awards may no longer have the cache to convince contemporary superstars to perform. But most of the valuable TV time should be used to spotlight bubbling acts. Not people who haven’t been on the public’s mind in over a decade.
4. Nominate Non-Mainstream Acts For Awards
The BET Hip-Hop Awards are the only major televised hip-hop award show in the United States. As such, the awards should be more reflective of everything happening in hip-hop. There is nothing inherently wrong with mainstream acts being on the nominees list. Popular acts should always be acknowledged. And all things considered, Kendrick Lamar was more than worthy of the eight awards he took home. However, hip-hop is healthiest when both mainstream and acts who are not in the mainstream receive acknowledgment on big stages. The underground and “middle ground” are the strongest they’ve been in years. Moreover, it would have been nice to see mainstays like Roc Marciano, Blu, and Vince Staples, or younger rappers like MAVI and Rae Khalil, be nominated for their work. There are big things happening outside of the mainstream at the moment.
5. Return To A Larger Venue
The 2024 BET Hip-Hop Awards emanated from Drai’s Nightclub. Drai's Nightclub is a venue in The Cromwell Las Vegas, a luxury hotel in Paradise, Nevada. They should never return there. Presentation is everything, and despite the performers’ best efforts, the event still felt small. It felt more like a Friday night in a city than a program set to be viewed by between 800,000 and a million viewers (2023’s show drew 953,000 the night it aired).
The stage itself was remarkably limited. Despite every camera cut suggesting otherwise, the crowd was so poorly mic’d that it often felt like they were apathetic. The most recent Grammy Awards took place at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. While the BET Hip-Hop Awards are not nearly as popular as the Grammys, they should be above hosting them in such an awkward venue. They need to return to a larger venue in 2025, one that makes the show feel important. The vibes in Drai’s Nightclub were not befitting of an awards show that’s nearly two decades into its run.