Kanye West and his G.O.O.D. Music collaborators Big Sean, Pusha T and 2 Chainz kicked off the 2012 BET Awards with a bang, delivering their latest insta-hit “Mercy” then segueing seamlessly into West’s “Way Too Cold.”
Dressed head-to-toe in white, West proceeded to center stage where he captivated the Shrine Auditorium crowd that included his girlfriend of several months, Kim Kardashian, unapologetically rhyming, “And I’ll admit, I had fell in love with Kim / Around the same time she had fell in love with him / Well that’s cool, baby girl, do ya thang / Lucky I ain’t had Jay drop him from the team.”
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West followed up the Kris Humphries dis and group performance with a free-style rap of his own, at the end of which he hailed, “In Jesus’ name,” dropped the microphone and marched off to stage left. The camera then panned to the audience where Kardashian was giving a standing ovation to her man.
The BET Awards opening was almost entirely Kanye-themed. It started off with a performance by Samuel L. Jackson called “Negros in Paris” featuring Spike Lee as special guest. Minutes later, the first award of the night, for best group, went to Jay-Z and West’s The Throne.
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But Kim and Kanye weren’t the only superstar power couple in the house. Jay-Z, who made a surprise appearance with the Best Group win, and Beyonce Knowles were seated down the row in what can only be described as the ultimate multimillionaire date night.
Other winners so far in the broadcast include Big Sean, for best new artist, and Chris Brown for best male R&B artist.
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