Nine-time nominee Kanye West was nowhere to be found for the 4th Annual BET Hip Hop Awards. West was expected to attend Saturday evening’s taping at the Atlanta Civic Center, but instead opted to skip the entire outing altogether.
Meanwhile, Tameka “Tiny” Cottle accepted the two awards given to her fiancé T.I., who is currently serving a prison sentence in Arkansas on a federal weapons charge. The six-time nominee won the best collaboration award with Rihanna for the track “Live Your Life” and album of the year for “Paper Trail.”
Tiny read a letter from T.I., saying: “Although I’m not there with you all, I’m there in spirit. My road to redemption is almost over….thanks for the support.”
Ice Cube, winner of the “I am Hip-Hop” icon award, showed graciousness in accepting the career salute.
“When you get recognized by your peers for a life of work, you got to be humbled,” the rap veteran said. “I’m honored by this. I have 20 more years of work left in me. I hope (BET) is ready to give out two of these awards.”
Infromation from Eurweb.com contributed to this report.
