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Home > Atlanta Music Scene > Archives > 2008 > May > 21
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Voting Starts Today For Hometown BET Nominees
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlantans are in every musical category except gospel and best female hip-hop artist at this year’s BET Awards, and today you can start voting in, well, one of them.
The would be the Viewer’s Choice Award, where the nominees are “No One” by Alicia Keys; “Lollipop,” Lil Wayne featuring Static; “Kiss Kiss,” Chris Brown featuring College Park’s T-Pain (see the video HERE); “Let It Go,” our own Keyshia Cole (above) featuring Missy Elliott and Lil Kim (see it HERE); “Crank Dat (Soulja Boy),” by the teen phenom from the 404 area code, Soulja Boy Tell ’em (go to it HERE ); and “No Air,” Jordin Sparks featuring Chris Brown.
As for the other categories with Atlantans competing, they are:
Best female R&B artist: Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, Alicia Keys, Rihanna and Keyshia Cole.
Best male R&B artist: Raheem DeVaughn, Trey Songz, Chris Brown and hometown favorites Ne-Yo and J Holiday.
Best group: Danity Kane, Day 26, UGK and Atlanta’s Playaz Circle and Gnarls Barkley (somehow spelled differently on the BET site this morning).
Best male hip-hop artist: Common, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, Snoop and Atlanta native Kanye West. (OK we fudged that one a bit).
Video of the year: “The Way That I Love You,” Ashanti; “Honey,” Erykah Badu; “Just Fine,” Mary J. Blige; “Int’l Players Anthem (I Choose You),” UGK and history-making local duo OutKast; “Good Life,” Kanye West and T-Pain.
Best video director: Erykah Badu and Mr. Roboto, Benny Boom, Gil Green, Chris Robinson and part-time resident Hype Williams.
Best collaboration: “Kiss, Kiss,” Chris Brown featuring T-Pain; “Let It Go,” Keyshia Cole featuring Missy Elliott and Lil Kim; “Low,” Flo Rida featuring T-Pain; “I’m So Hood (The Remix),” DJ Khaled featuring fellow Atlantans Young Jeezy, Ludacris and Big Boi, along with Busta Rhymes, Lil Wayne, Fat Joe, Birdman and Rick Ross; “Good Life,” Kanye West featuring T-Pain.
And best new artist: Estelle, Flo Rida, Chrisette Michele, Soulja Boy Tell ‘em and the last of out metro area talents, The Dream.
Planning to cast your vote for the June 24 show, and if so, want to share your picks? Surprised there isn’t an Atlantan in the female hip-hop category? Or Ludacris, T.I., Young Jeezy, even Soulja Boy aren’t up for male? And with so much local gospel star power, anyone you feel should have been there with Franklin and the rest?
(Oh - and just because the Erykah Badu “Honey” video is the one nominee in the video of the year category that hasn’t gotten frequent airplay, she’s here this Friday at the Fox Theatre, AND it’s good, here’s a YouTube video of it below:
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No David Spade, but still a winning night for country newcomers Lady Antebellum
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Lady Antebellum (l-r): Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott and Dave Haywood. Photo: Andrew Southam.
It’s rare for a band to get nominated for an award before releasing its debut album, but that’s what happened to Lady Antebellum. The trio was among the nominees for the Academy of Country Music’s top new duo or vocal group, and on Sunday night, Augustans Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood and their bandmate Hillary Scott went home with the award.
“It caught us off guard,” Kelley says. “We went into the weekend telling ourselves just to have no expectations and when they called out our names like that, I don’t know, I was so nervous. It was crazy. It’s funny thinking about it now, it’s such a a blur. It happened so fast.”
It wasn’t Kelley’s first time at the awards ceremony. “I actually went last year, but no one really knew who I was. I felt like an imposter last year, so this is actually the first official ACMs for us.”
It’s a good thing he got to take in the show last year, because there wasn’t much time for watching the proceedings this year. “We presented at the beginning of the show and then we got our award basically ten minutes after we presented,” Kelley says. “Then after we got done, we had to go over and do press for close to an hour. So, honestly I didn’t even get to see much of the awards show.”
Because he and his bandmates were so busy, Kelley missed an opportunity he was looking forward to. “I really wanted to meet David Spade. He was a presenter and I’m a big fan of his,” he says, but he did get to meet a fellow Georgia native. “I met Trisha Yearwood for the first time. I walked up to her and shook her hand and she says, ‘I love your new single,’ so that was kinda crazy to hear.”
And where is that award going? “You know what, I’m going to send it to my mom,” Kelley reveals. “I found out they don’t give you the actual award the night of, they send it to you. So whenever they send it to me, I’m going to send it up to her. She lives in North Carolina now, and, I don’t know, I think it’ll just be a big treat for her to have it there. You know what, if it’s in my house it’ll probably get stolen. I’m not very good at keeping my door locked. She’ll take better care of it.”
The award wasn’t the only good news for Lady Antebellum in recent days. “We found out we’ve got a top 5 single this week and with the album debuting so well, honestly, if we were to just fall off the face of the earth tomorrow, it’s been a fun little ride for us so far.”
