Grandmaster Flash, T.I. win at BET Hip-Hop Awards

Last Updated: Monday, November 13, 2006 | 12:05 PM ET

CBC Arts

Veteran DJ Grandmaster Flash received an honorary award and hometown rapper T.I. won three awards at the BET Hip-Hop Awards in Atlanta on Sunday.

T.I., who led all artists with eight nominations, won for best hip-hop video and CD and was also named MVP of the year.

Atlanta rapper T.I. led all artists with eight nominations and won three awards at the BET Hip-Hop Awards.
(Jim Cooper/Associated Press)

"You can't hate on hard work and talent," he said. "This awards show will show people a lot about where I come from."

T.I., 26, released his first album in 2001 but rose in prominence with his 2004 follow-up Urban Legend and King in 2006.

He wasn't the only Atlanta resident to win at the show, as Jermaine Dupri took home award for producer of the year.

"For the awards to be in my city and I win something for producing, it's exciting. The outcome was something I could never imagine," said Dupri, who stepped down as president of urban music at Virgin Records in October.

Dupri performed the 2001 hit Welcome to Atlanta on stage with fellow Atlantians Ludacris and Young Jeezy to open the show, which was Black Entertainment Television's first-ever music awards ceremony.

Grandmaster Flash received the I Am Hip Hop Icon award and gave recognition to all the other disc jockeys he had met.

"To get an award for my technological ability means a whole lot more than anything else I've accomplished in my life," he said.

Grandmaster Flash, along with the Furious Five and rapper Mellie Mel, paved the way for hip-hop artists in the 1970s with songs like The Message and White Lines, which featured gritty urban stories and a style of music mainstream radio hadn't heard before.

The award shows airs at 9 p.m. ET Wednesday.