Air Kisses at the Beverly Hilton, BMAC Honors Patti LaBelle and Common
Lee Daniels handed Patti LaBelle the Icon Award, and Public Enemy led a Fight the Power chant at the sixth annual gala.
On Thursday, September 24, the Black Music Action Coalition took over The Beverly Hilton for its sixth annual gala, presented by Live Nation and hosted by the radio personality Kenny Burns, with the house band 1500 or Nothin’ keeping the music going all night.
Patti LaBelle, 82, received the BMAC Icon Award from the director Lee Daniels, and the RIAA and BMAC surprised her with a plaque honoring her career. She answered with air kisses, Rolling Out reported, and told the room that music is medicine and that everyone needs it in trying times. Chanté Moore and Le’Andria Johnson sang tributes to her.
Common received the Harry Belafonte Change Agent Award, presented by his mother, Dr. Mahlia Hines, and pointed to Earl Sweatshirt and Kendrick Lamar as proof that today’s artists still have something to say. Public Enemy took the Social Impact Award from Big Daddy Kane, who also performed “Smooth Operator” and “Warm It Up.” “We turn ‘me’ into ‘we,’” Chuck D told the crowd, before the group led attendees in a chant of “Fight the Power.”
The executive honors went to Nicole Wyskoarko of Interscope Geffen A&M, who received the first Sylvia Rhone Visionary Award from Rhone herself, and to Empire’s Tina Davis, who took the Clarence Avant Trailblazer Award from Montell Jordan. “I do not balance. I prioritize,” Jordan told EURweb.
The night raised money for guaranteed income programs, Music Maker grants, pipeline programs into live entertainment and BMAC’s Restore & Rebuild LA program, which supports Altadena families affected by the Eaton Fire. BMAC CEO Willie “Prophet” Stiggers told the room that the work is now everyone’s responsibility.
