This year’s BET Experience weekend was packed with events leading up to the 2019 BET Awards, which proved to be one of the hottest shows on television. Today’s top musicians, actors, and industry icons took the stage at the BET Awards hosted by actress Regina Hall at the Microsoft Theater.

This year’s broadcast was filled with amazing performances, trailblazing moments, super dope talent, and entertainment’s most provocative players. Cardi B, won Best Female hip-hop artiste and opened the show with Offset, from the hip-hop group Migos. This year Mary J. Blige received the Lifetime Achievement Award and gave a powerhouse performance singing all her biggest hits. She was joined onstage by Lil Kim and Method Man for a surpirse duo performance. Tyler Perry also won the Icon Award and gave an inspiring speech, which was presented by Taraji P. Henson.

Other award winners included Lil Baby, Karena Evans, Beyonce, Ella Mai, Migos, Travis Scott, Drake, Snoop Dogg, Marsai Martin and more. Checkout all the people, places and parties at the 2019 BET Awards.

By Kinya Claiborne & Aphua Larbi, STYLE & SOCIETY

BET Experience opened up their four-day festival with a special ladies night edition concert at the Staples Center. H.E.R. took the night to the next level. Her powerful pipes left the crowd entranced as she displayed her enormous range of talent singing, playing the guitar and the keys to “Focus”, “Best Part”, “Changes” songs. The night ended with none other than the R&B Queen herself, Mary J. Blige who brought the house down. Her set featured a dynamic sampling of nearly all of her chart-topping hits “You Remind Me”, “Reminisce”, “Real Love”, “I’m Going Down”, “Not Gonna Cry” and “No More Drama”. This was the perfect way to kick off an exciting week of BET Experience events.

The day started off with a “She Is” panel moderated by Dana Chanel and featuring Meagan Good, Draya Michele, Shavone Charles and Stephanie Ike. The ladies got candid on how they stay true to themselves and building a legacy. Not to forgot the fellas, author Devon Franklin sat down with Van Lathan, Jacob Latimore and Orlando Baeza to bring a man’s perspective to the table on all things faith, family and career. Sprayground paraded a dope collection of flashy pieces while the legendary Karl Kani celebrated 30 years in business with an anniversary collection like no other. Keeping the crowd hype was a special performance by hit rapper Megan thee Stallion, performing her popular ladies’ anthem, “Big Old Freak”.

For the first-time ever, three teams went head-to-head for the chance to win $50,000 for the charity of their choice in the BET Experience 3-on-3 Celebrity Basketball Game sponsored by Puma. The star studded talent line-up included 2 Chainz, Blue Face, Allan Houston, Sinqua Walls, Sarunas Jackson, Miles Brown, The Game and more who played for charities including Moms of Black Boys United, Sean Anderson Foundation, FISLL, and Boys and Girls Club of Oakland. In the end it was it was the BET All-Stars team who battled it out and won the afternoon’s grand prize of $50K for the FISLL project,  a values based model for mentorship, leadership and coaching.

Lil Baby came out to get the crowd hype with his chart-topping record, “Out the Mud”. Lil Yachty hit the stage with a high-energy performance. He performed some of his popular singles, “One Night”, “On Me” and “Get Dripped”. City Girls came out to “Act Up” with the crowd. They performed a myriad of their popular singles, including “Twerk” and “Season”. Migos took the stage with a set that lit the Staples Center on fire. The fashionable trio performed their mega hits  “Walk It Like I Talk It”, “Motorsport” and “Ric Flair Drip”. Finally, Cardi B brought pure fire hitting the stage in a glittery purple body suit & fishnets, a fierce all-female tribe of dancers. She performed hits “Money”, “Drip”, “Please Me”, “Be Careful”, “I Like It”, “Finesse”, “Bartier Carti”,. She closed the night with “Bodak Yellow”.

The always inspirational annual cultural conversations known as BET Experience “Genius Talks” were sponsored by Denny’s this year and featured an exceptional group of talent making an undeniable impact on their craft and the business community. This year, Erwin Magic Johnson, Lena Waithe, Yara Shahidi, and Marsai Martin joined the series alongside  returning moderator, journalist and host of the “Unbothered” podcast on Spotify Jemele Hill, to share their knowledge, learnings and insights on how to navigate entrepreneurism and disrupt culture.