The 2005 VIBE awards, broadcasted on UPN, were devoid of violence that marred last year’s event. The award show carried on as one should-celebrating music and having an overall good time.
“I love award shows and it’s great to see more black awards shows popping up,” said Alex Davis, an English major at the University of California in Berkley. “I always watch the VIBE awards. This one was pretty good with performances by some of the hottest artists like Pharell.”
However, last year’s awards took a different direction, As Dr. Dre was about to go on stage to receive the lifetime achievement award from Snoop Dogg and Quincy Jones, an unidentified man came up to his table and punched him in the face. Dr. Dre’s body- guards jumped in and many people in the audience started pushing and shoving as they ran for the door. By the time the police got to the scene, a man was stabbed and taken to the hospital where he was described as “in serious condition.”
“Black music awards shows have a tendency of being so violent,” said Nicole Lewis, a business major at the University of Southern California. “First the Source Awards, and then last year the VIBE awards. I didn’t want to watch this year because I didn’t want to see that mess happen all over again.”
This year Quincy Jones nervously made reference to last year’s melee as he presented the same award to Mary J. Blige, but despite that short moment of remembering last year’s pandemonium, the awards were relatively drama free apart from the comments made by Mary J. Blige.
Mary J. Blige insulted VIBE magazine while accepting her award. Blige complained about the way she looked on the cover of this month’s magazine during the speech and in front of the entire audiences told Mimi Valdes, VIBE’s Editor-In-Chief that the two “really need to talk, as women.” Valdes wrote a response to the singer’s complaints saying “besides your desire to make a private conversation public, your accusations are untrue.” Blige’s unedited speech as well as Valdes response can be read on VIBE.com
To the television audience, at least, the rest of the awards continued on a good note. Mariah Carey wowed the audiences collecting four top awards which included Artist of the Year, Album of the Year for The Emancipation of Mimi, Best R&B Song for "We Belong Together" and R&B Voice of the Year. After being dumped by Virgin Records and making Glitter, a movie and album that tanked, in the past 5 years, the awards served as positive acknowledgement for the artist in her comeback musical career.
Not all viewers enjoyed the awards. “The show was as bad as the magazine,” said Mike Arceneaux, a journalism major at HowardUniversity. “Some awards shows are entertaining but the VIBE awards is just not one of that shows. There was 10 minutes of entertainment dragged out into two hours, plus no celebrities were there except for the stars of the UPN shows.”
Performers included Ciara, Keyshia Cole, Bobby Valentino, and Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley.
Here’s the complete list of the winners from this year’s VIBE Awards:
€¢ Artist of the Year: Mariah Carey
€¢ Album of the Year: The Emancipation of Mimi, Mariah Carey
€¢ Best Group: The Diplomats
€¢ Video Goddess: Esther Baxter ("Number One Spot")
€¢ Reelest Video: "Trapped in the Closet," R. Kelly
€¢ Hottest Hook: "Hate It Or Love It," The Game featuring 50 Cent
€¢ Street Anthem: "U Don’t Know Me," T.I.
€¢ Power Broker of the Year: Kevin Liles
€¢ Coolest Collabo: "Oh," Ciara featuring Ludacris
€¢ Next Award: Anthony Hamilton
€¢ R&B Voice of the Year: Mariah Carey
€¢ Best R&B Song: "We Belong Together," Mariah Carey
€¢ Club Banger of the Year: "1 Thing," Amerie
€¢ Boomshot Award: "Welcome to Jamrock" Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley
€¢ V Style: Baby Phat
€¢ Vibe Vixen: Kimora Lee Simmons
€¢ Best Rapper: Kanye West
€¢ Next Award: Young Jeezy and Keyshia Cole (tie)
€¢ VLegend: Mary J. Blige
