BET Awards Return Sunday Night, Celebrating 50 Years of Hip-Hop

FILE – Signage appears at the BET Awards in Los Angeles on June 26, 2022. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)
FILE – Signage appears at the BET Awards in Los Angeles on June 26, 2022. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)
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BET Awards Return Sunday Night, Celebrating 50 Years of Hip-Hop

FILE – Signage appears at the BET Awards in Los Angeles on June 26, 2022. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)
FILE – Signage appears at the BET Awards in Los Angeles on June 26, 2022. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)

The BET Awards return Sunday night, with a performance-filled show that promises to celebrate 50 years of hip-hop.

The show, which takes place at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, will feature a tribute to hip-hop's most significant moments, as curated by Kid Capri. Patti Labelle will also pay tribute to the late Tina Turner, The Associated Press said.

The show begins at 8 p.m. EDT and will be broadcast on BET, BET HER and numerous Paramount channels including Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon and VH1. It was also livestream on BET.com

Drake leads the nominations, with seven: He’s up for best male hip-hop artist and male R&B/pop artist, as well as a few shared titles, including best collaboration and viewer’s choice with Future and Tems for their song “Wait for U." Drake is also nominated for album of the year and best group for his collaboration with 21 Savage, “Her Loss," and viewer’s choice for their hit “Jimmy Cooks.”

Lizzo and 21 Savage are tied for the second-most noms, with five each.

Busta Rhymes will take home the Lifetime Achievement Award — one of the highest honors at the ceremony, given to Sean “Diddy” Combs at last year's ceremony. The 12-time Grammy Award nominated rapper, producer, and pioneering hip-hop figure is widely regarded as one of the great MCs, with seven Top 10 Billboard Hot 100 hits to his name.

Bia, Coi Leray, Cutty Ranks, Dexta Daps, M.O.P., Rah Digga, ScarLip, Spice, Supercat, and Swizz Beatz are scheduled to pay tribute to Rhymes.

It’s one of several moments that will honor the legacy of hip-hop, which BET has supported for decades through shows like “Rap City” and “106 & Park.”

Other performers at the 2023 BET Awards include Chief Keef, DJ Unk, E-40, Fast Life Yungstaz & Easton (F.L.Y.), Fat Joe, Soulja Boy, The Sugarhill Gang, Tyga, Ying Yang Twins and Yo-Yo.

 



F1 Great Ayrton Senna’s High-Octane Life in Focus of New Netflix Series about Racing Champion

 Brazilian actor Gabriel Leone poses for photos on the red carpet for the Netflix series Senna, about the life and death of Formula 1 legend Ayrton Senna, who was killed in 1994 in a crash, in Sao Paulo, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. (AP)
Brazilian actor Gabriel Leone poses for photos on the red carpet for the Netflix series Senna, about the life and death of Formula 1 legend Ayrton Senna, who was killed in 1994 in a crash, in Sao Paulo, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. (AP)
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F1 Great Ayrton Senna’s High-Octane Life in Focus of New Netflix Series about Racing Champion

 Brazilian actor Gabriel Leone poses for photos on the red carpet for the Netflix series Senna, about the life and death of Formula 1 legend Ayrton Senna, who was killed in 1994 in a crash, in Sao Paulo, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. (AP)
Brazilian actor Gabriel Leone poses for photos on the red carpet for the Netflix series Senna, about the life and death of Formula 1 legend Ayrton Senna, who was killed in 1994 in a crash, in Sao Paulo, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. (AP)

Thirty years after his death in a high-speed crash viewed by millions around the world, Formula One champion Ayrton Senna's high-octane life is also about to play out in front of a global audience.

The legendary Brazilian driver — who was killed when his car hit a concrete wall at the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994 — is the subject of a six-episode Netflix series that debuts on Nov. 29 and follows him from his early go-kart days to that fatal Sunday afternoon at the Imola track in Italy.

Even three decades after that accident, few F1 figures evoke as much emotion and passion among fans and fellow drivers as Senna, who won three championship titles before his death at the age of 34.

Senna’s complex personality — he was a saint to his millions of Brazilian fans and a sinner to some critics who deemed his driving style too aggressive — comes to life through Brazilian actor Gabriel Leone, who embraced the challenge of portraying such a popular figure.

"He was much more than an F1 driver for us, he became an icon, much beyond his technique and his driving," Leone told The Associated Press in an interview in Sao Paulo. "He had this humanity, this honesty. The things he said, his values, it all made him closer to people."

Senna's life and career had no shortage of made-for-TV moments.

This was a driver who once won a race with his car stuck in sixth gear in front of thousands of raucous fans at the Interlagos track. And who went from fifth position to first in one lap at the 1993 European Grand Prix. And who jumped out of his car during a training session to save the life of a French driver who had crashed.

On the track, his rivalry with French driver Alain Prost was one of the most intense that F1 has ever seen. Off the track, he had some high-profile relationships as well and dated several models, including Elle Macpherson.

"For me as an actor, the more complex the character is, the better. It is more interesting to build him and live him. And this is quite a character, the biggest hero in Brazil, not only in sport," Leone said. "Ayrton was transcendent, he was more than an F1 driver. That’s a guy who is the hero of great drivers in history, like (Michael) Schumacher and (Lewis) Hamilton."

Senna won the drivers’ championship in 1988, 1990 and 1991 with the McLaren team and moved to Williams in the year he died as the favorite to lift the title again.

For Leone, though, it was also important to portray him as a person who understood his role as a national hero, who advocated for the poor and proudly waved a Brazilian flag from his cockpit during every victory lap.

"He was not distant, he was close," said Leone, who attended a red carpet premiere in Sao Paulo on Tuesday with several other cast members and director Vicente Amorim. "That’s for Brazilians and non-Brazilians. It was like this, and it still is like this."

To many international fans, Senna was simply an exceptional talent who was born to be a driver. Even former rival Martin Brundle, now a TV pundit, once likened Senna's ability to find grip on some corners to a dance seemingly innate to a Brazilian.

"It is a different kind of samba that I could not do," Brundle has said.

The Netflix series, however, shows some of the hard work and attention to detail that went into Senna becoming a wet-weather master.

The streaming giant — which reportedly invested more than $170 million in its production — also takes a bit of liberty with the truth when it comes to building up the animosity between Senna and one of his other real-life antagonists, Jean-Marie Balestre, the French former president of F1's governing body FIA.

Balestre is often accused by fans of aiding his countryman Prost in his rivalry with Senna, including at the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix by stopping the race early before the Brazilian driver could overtake his French rival in the heavy rain. And at the 1989 Japanese Grand Prix, when Senna was disqualified in a decision that handed the championship title to Prost.

The Netflix series goes a step further by making Balestre (played by Arnaud Viard) the man responsible for Senna also losing a go-kart title as a youngster, long before he even entered F1.

"If that was true it would be news to every reporter covering Senna’s story over the last decades," said Ernesto Rodrigues, who wrote a biography on the three-time F1 champion. "Yes, Senna had Balestre working against him many times. But Balestre was an autocrat with other drivers, too. It wasn’t exclusive."

Prost, played by Matt Mella, goes from being a racing foe to a friend after his retirement in the series just like in real life. The friction between the two as McLaren teammates and then in the title-deciding races in the 1989 and 1990 seasons create some of the best moments of the series for racing fans.

Three of the women in Senna’s life also appear in the series.

Scenes with Lílian de Vasconcellos Souza, who married Senna in 1981 and divorced him the next year, help show how the Brazilian was driven to go into F1 early in his career. Xuxa Meneghel, a wildly popular TV host, is featured for a full episode as the driver’s most important girlfriend. Adriane Galisteu, who was the champion’s girlfriend when he died, appears for less than three minutes.

Senna's importance to today's F1 drivers was on full display at the Brazilian Grand Prix this month, when Hamilton — the British seven-time F1 champion — drove one of Senna's old cars around the track as part of the tributes marking the 30th anniversary of his death.

"This is the greatest honor of my life," Hamilton said on Nov. 3. "I hope I made Senna proud."