T-Pain, Lil Wayne Have Big Presence at BET Awards

LOS ANGELES – T-Pain and Lil Wayne have owned the music scene over the past year: It seems as though T-Pain’s voice has accented half the hits on urban radio, while Lil Wayne, another ubiquitous collaborator, has appeared on the rest.

In addition, Lil Wayne just this month scored the year’s best- selling album sales debut with 1 million copies sold of his new CD, Tha Carter III.

So it was appropriate that both artists dominated Tuesday’s BET Awards with not only their energetic performances but also their presence, despite winning just one trophy each.

“We’re blessed to be in this man’s presence,” Kanye West, one of music’s biggest self-promoters, said of T-Pain when the pair accepted their award for best collaboration for The Good Life, going on to call T-Pain a “genius.”

“I’ll let y’all know because I’m one of the kings of this game. My opinion counts.” Mr. West also paid homage to Lil Wayne, calling him “my fiercest competition.”

T-Pain, who led the nominees with five nods for his collaborations – not his own hits – performed with his fellow nominees twice during the three-hour ceremony.

He also joined Lil Wayne for the evening’s final performance – a medley of Lil Wayne’s hits.

Originally published by Associated Press.

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