BET Hip-Hop Awards return for another year

BET just announced the nominees for its second annual hip-hop awards, and it's full of the usual suspects. T.I., whose T.I. vs. T.I.P. ranks as one of the most disappointing albums of the year (if not necessarily one of the worst), leads the field with nine nominations. Lil Wayne, Kanye West, Common, Jay-Z, Ludacris, 50 Cent and UGK also drew multiple nominations. The competitors for CD of the Year are T.I.'s aforementioned opus, Jay-Z's Kingdom Come, Ludacris' Release Therapy, Common's Finding Forever, and Nas' Hip Hop Is Dead. KRS-One will get an honorary I Am Hip-Hop Award. The BET.com site lists all of the nominees, which you can view here.

The 2007 BET Hip-Hop Awards will be held Saturday, Oct. 13, at the Atlanta Civic Center. (The 2006 edition took place at the Fox Theatre.) A frequent complaint about last year's show was that it lacked star power: It seemed like every performance featured Young Jeezy and DJ Drama, and Jay-Z only appeared for a few moments. The controversial cable channel will rectify that with scheduled performances by Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Nelly, Common and others. Katt Williams, whose opening monologue last year drew plenty of raves, returns as the host.

For a review of the 2006 BET Hip-Hop Awards, read my November 15, 2006, story here.