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Billboard R&B HipHop Awards
By Janet Dacal
Miami’s South Beach sizzled Friday, August 6th, when some of the biggest names in R&B and Hip-Hop came out to enjoy the 5th Annual Billboard American Urban Radio Networks (AURN) 2004 R&B/Hip-Hop Awards. 1501 Barton G (formerly Billboard Live) hosted the award show, providing the perfect ambiance for eager fans and music business moguls to enjoy the ceremony.
The event concluded the weekend-long Billboard/AURN R&B Hip-Hop Music
Conference.The conference, held at the Eden Roc Resort, gave music business
entrepreneurs the opportunity to network, discuss problems with the biz and
check out new talent.
Some of the same artists strutting their stuff at
the conference made appearances at the award show. Aaron Hall and the group Guy
made their way down the red carpet, so did Lil Scrappy, BoneCrusher and
producer/director Dallas Austin. Young, R&B/Hip-Hop artists, Kieran, and
Jackie-O posed for a photo-ops while they graced the media with exclusive
performances and interviews.
So, who were the nights biggest award winners? Well, despite recent
controversy, the public is still listening to R-Kelly. He won seven of eight
nominations, top R&B/Hip-Hop Songwriter and top R&B/Hip-Hop
Producer.
Grammy Award winner OutKast took home four awards for his most
recent album, “Speakerboxxx/The Love Below”. OutKast won in top album and
top hip-hop/rap album categories .
Beyonce was not left behind. Her
winning streak for her debut album “Dangerously In Love”, is dangerously
unstoppable. Beyonce claimed awards in the categories top new artist and top
female artist.
This year Isaac Hayes and KRS-One received the Founder Awards which pays
tribute to avant-garde artists in the R&B and Hip-Hop music genres. Past
honorees include Afrika Bambaataa, the Isley Brothers and Betty Wright.
Pitbull, Miami’s native Cuban rapper, opened the award show, performing his
recent hit “Culo”. Other featured performers were R&B Hip-Hop group
4MULA1. Former American Idol candidate, Tamayra Gray, delivered a powerful
R&B performance. Her rich, gospel voice soared while performing her latest
release off the “The Dreamer” album, “Raindrops Will
Fall”.
Finalists and winners reflect the performance of recordings
on the Billboard R&B/hip-hop and rap charts during the period from the May
31, 2003 issue of Billboard through the May 22, 2004 issue. The Billboard
R&B/Hip-Hop Awards are based on sales data from Nielsen SoundScan and
airplay information from Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems.
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Photos - Video: 
Broadband
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