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(L-R) Reginae Carter, Lil Wayne and Jacida Carter-Photo by Prince Williams/WireimageThe BET 2018 Hip Hop Awards aired Tuesday night from Miami, Florida with comedian DeRay Davis serving as this year’s host.

Lil Pump opened up the show with a variety of songs, including “ESKEETIT,” “Gucci Gang,” and the Gucci Mane-assisted “Kept Back.” 

Other performance that night included Cardi B., T.I., Yo Gotti, YG and A$AP Rocky.

Drake, who dominated the nominations with 11 nods, won just one award.

Cardi B, who was a close second with 10 noms, took home five — the most of any artist last night.

One of the major highlights of the night was Lil Wayne who was recognized with the special I Am Hip-Hop Award. His long-awaited album, Tha Carter V, released September 28, achieved the second-biggest streaming week ever for an album. In a heartfelt speech, flanked by his daughter Reginae and mom Jacinda, he thanked his friends, family and fans for refusing to give up on him. On that note, he paid particular attention to a homicide detective he called “Uncle Bob,” who refused to give up on the recording artist after his brush with death — even after the EMTs apparently did. “He refused to let that die,” Wayne said.

Additionally, the show featured several highly anticipated cyphers, from the likes of Vic Mensa, G Herbo, Taylor Bennett and Erykah Badu who closed out the all woman cypher featuring Bri Steves and Neelam Hakeem.

Pre-taped some time ago, Vic Mensa’s freestyle was notable for his dissing of XXXTentacion. Mensa directly addressing allegations of domestic abuse against the late rapper: “Only time you bear arms is in a wife beater, loser/Your favorite rapper’s a domestic abuser.”

On Instagram, Mensa apologized to XXXTentacion’s family who were in attendance, but did not back away from his criticism of the late rapper. 

The show ended on a high note, with comedian Lil Duval preforming his viral hit song “Smile (Living My Best Life),” feat. Snoop Dogg & Ball Greezy, with the help of some of his friends.

Here’s the 2018 BET Hip Hop Awards winners list:

Best Hip-Hop Video
Childish Gambino — “This Is America”

Hot Ticket Performer
Drake

Album of the Year
The Carters — Everything Is Love 

Video Director of the Year
Karena Evans 

Lyricist of the Year
Kendrick Lamar

MVP of the Year
Cardi B

Producer of the Year
Pharrell Williams 

Best Collabo, Duo or Group
The Carters — “Apes**t” 

Single of the Year
“Apesh*t” — Produced by Pharrell (The Carters)

Best New Hip-Hop Artist
XXXTentacion 

Best Mixtape
BlocBoy JB — Simi

Sweet 16: Best Featured Verse
Cardi B — “Motorsport” (Migos feat. Cardi B & Nicki Minaj)

Impact Track
Childish Gambino — “This Is America”

DJ of the Year
DJ Khaled

Made-You-Look Award (Best Hip Hop Style)
Cardi B

Hustler of the Year
Cardi B

Best Hip Hop Online Site/App
Worldstar

Copyright © 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

ABC/Craig SjodinAfter being eliminated from ABC’s Dancing with the Stars Monday night, Tinashe is now turning her focus from the ballroom to the recording studio.

“Oh yeah. New music is in the works,” she tells ABC Radio. “I was working on it pre-Dancing with the Stars. “Excited to get it out ASAP.” 

Tinashe released her most recent album, Joyride, in April.  It included the single “No Drama,” featuring Offset from Migos.

The “2 On” singer and her pro partner, Brandon Armstrong, had consistently received high scores from the judges since the show began on September 24.  When host Tom Bergeron announced that they’d been eliminated on Monday night, the crowd booed.

“We could have done some cool stuff, so that’s the bummer,” Tinashe says of her elimination.

The entertainer from Lexington Kentucky believes the early success she achieved with Armstrong actually worked to their disadvantage.

“I think there’s something to be said for, if you’re good, people don’t think you need votes,” she says. “They’re like, ‘Oh, they’re good. I’m gonna vote for somebody who, like, needs help.” (AUDIO IS ABC 1-ON-1)

Tinashe did not reveal a release date for her music, but she says she’s anxious to have new songs for her fans.

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ABC/Randy HolmesT.I. and Young Thug are surrounded by babes in bikinis at a wild pool party in the video for their collabo “The Weekend,” which dropped today.

In the clip, Young Thug tells T.I. he wants to leave, but Tip convinces him to stay so he can make some romantic moves. The video ends with them suddenly being confronted by an angry woman pointing an automatic weapon at them. They laugh, and quickly remove the intruder from the premises.

“The Weekend” is the third single from T.I.’s new album, Dime Trap. It follows “Jefe,” featuring Meek Mill, and “Wraith,” featuring Yo Gotti.

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Plus 1 Music Group/21 Entertainment/Entertainment OneIn her steamy new single, “It’s Yours,” Tamia sings about being ready for an erotic encounter.

She sings, “Don’t be alarmed when my hand starts touching on your body/Cause it’s whatever package, nothing about me average/I’m a kill it boy homie savage/queen when I ride catch/For you, don’t never leave me lonely, don’t you, no boy don’t you.”

“It’s Yours” is the latest single from Tamia’s seventh studio album, Passion Like Fire. It’s the follow-up to “Leave It Smokin,” which is currently number three on the Billboard Adult R&B Songs chart.

The six-time Grammy nominee is currently out on her Passion Like Fire tour. She performs tonight in Dallas, and wraps up the tour October 26 in New York City. 

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FilmMagic Inc. via ABC/Jeff Kravitz/AMA2018

What could be better than hanging out in L.A. with Post Malone? How about cruising through L.A. with Post Malone in your brand-new Bentley? Sound like a dream? It can be a reality — if you pony up some cash for a good cause.

Posty is teaming with the charity fundraising site Omaze to raise money for Folds of Honor, which provides educational scholarships to spouses and children of disabled and fallen servicemen and women. The more money you donate, the more chances you’ll get to win the grand prize: a 2018 Bentley Continental GT V8 Convertible.

The winner will also be flown to L.A. to take a test drive in their new ride with the AMA-winning rapper. The car, the flights, the hotel, the car’s taxes and the cost of shipping will all be included as part of the prize.

To promote the contest, Posty has filmed a video in which he goes undercover in a record store as a salesman and pranks unsuspecting customers. He offers his own record to a woman for half-price, explaining, “We’re trying to get rid of it ’cause it sucks. It’s so bad.” After he makes an elderly gentleman read the lyrics to “Rock Star” aloud, the guy tells him, “You need Jesus.” 

Finally, after purposely tripping, falling and spilling albums everywhere, someone who’s in on the joke tells him he’s fired. He takes off his shirt and stalks out the door saying, “I didn’t wanna work here anyways!  Ever heard of a smartphone? You don’t need this record store! I’m out!”

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Joshua Lott/Getty ImagesMany people thought Chance the Rapper would announce he’s running for mayor of Chicago when he appeared at City Hall Tuesday.  Instead, he revealed he’s endorsing a candidate — Chicago lawyer and community activist Amara Enyia.

“The one person in my research of this wide-open race that’s views align with me, would obviously be, candidate Amara Enyia,” Chance said.

When Chance tweeted on Monday, “Im thinkin maybe I should,” many people speculated that he’d announce he was running for mayor. He was actually repeating a line from his 2015 song, “Somewhere in Paradise,” where he raps, “They screaming Chano for mayor, I’m thinking maybe I should.”

Chance explained why he’s backing Enyia.

“We haven’t had anybody that is truly an activist,” he said. “Somebody that’s going to be active in office. So if you’re afraid of change you’re probably not going to vote for Amara, but if you’re willing to see what this city could be, then you will vote for Amara.”

The rapper believes that Enyia will make a difference for Chicagoans.  “I wanna work with somebody that’s about change. Somebody that’s about our community. Somebody that’s about equity. Somebody that’s about fairness,” Chance said.

Born Chancelor Jonathan Bennett, the rapper is a native of Chicago and is involved in several charitable efforts in the city. In March, Chance pledged one million dollars to the Chicago Public Schools system. Last week, he pledged a million dollars to fund mental health services in Chicago.

By the wau, Chance’s father, Ken Bennett, is supporting another candidate, Toni Preckwinkle.

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BETDrake leads all artists with eleven nominations for the 2018 BET Hip-Hop Awards, airing tonight at 8:00 ET. Cardi B follows him with ten nominations.

Drizzy’s nominations include MVP of the Year, Lyricist of the Year, Hustler of the Year and Album of the Year, for Scorpion. “In My Feelings” and “God’s Plan” are both nominated for Single of the Year.

Cardi’s competing against Drake in each of those same categories: Invasion of Privacy is up for Album of the Year, and “I Like It” is nominated for Single of the Year.

Cardi also will be among the performers, which include T.I., Gucci Mane, Yo Gotti, YG, A$AP Rocky, Lil Pump, Lil Baby, Lil Duval, Flipp Dinero, Ball Greezy, Gunna, and Pardison Fontaine.

DJ Khaled, Wale, Bun B, Yung Miami from City Girls, and the cast of BET’s Hustle in Brooklyn will be among the presenters. Comedian Delray Davis will host the show, which was recorded October 6 at the Jackie Gleason Theater in Miami.

Lil Wayne will be recognized with a special I Am Hip-Hop Award. His long-awaited album, Tha Carter V,was released September 28 and achieved the second-biggest streaming week ever for an album, with 433 million streams.

Here’s the complete list of the 2018 BET Hip-Hop Awards nominees:

Best Hip-Hop Video
Cardi B — “I Like It” feat. Bad Bunny & J Balvin
Childish Gambino — “This Is America”
Drake — “God’s Plan”
Kendrick Lamar — “Loyalty” feat. Rihanna
Migos — “Walk It Talk It” feat. Drake 

Hot Ticket Performer
Cardi B
Childish Gambino
Drake
Kendrick Lamar
Travis Scott 

Album of the Year
Cardi B — Invasion of Privacy
Drake — Scorpion
J. Cole — KOD
Migos — Culture II
The Carters — Everything Is Love 

Video Director of the Year
Benny Boom
Dave Meyers & The Little Homies
Director X
Eif Rivera
Hiro Murai
Karena Evans 

Lyricist of the Year
Childish Gambino
Drake
J. Cole
Kendrick Lamar
Travis Scott 

MVP of the Year
Cardi B
Childish Gambino
Drake
j. Cole
Travis Scott 

Producer of the Year
Ben Billions
DJ Esco
DJ Mustard
Metro Boomin
Pharrell Williams 

Best Collabo, Duo or Group
21 Savage & Offset & Metro Boomin — “Ric Flair Drip”
Blocboy JB — “Look Alive” feat. Drake
Cardi B — “I Like It” feat. Bad Bunny & J Balvin
Post Malone — “Rockstar” feat. 21 Savage
The Carters — “Apes**t” 

Single of the Year
“Apesh*t” — Produced by Pharrell (The Carters)
“God’s Plan” — Produced by Cardo, Young Exclusive and Boi-1da (Drake)
“I Like It” — Produced by Craig Kallman, JWhiteDidIt and Tainy (Cardi B Feat. Bad Bunny & J Balvin)
“Nice for What” — Produced by Murda Beatz (Drake)
“This Is America” — Produced by Donald Glover & Ludwig Goransson (Childish Gambino) 

Best New Hip-Hop Artist
Blocboy JB
Juice Wrld
Lil Baby
Rich the Kid
XXXTentacion 

Best Mixtape
BlocBoy JB — Simi
Future — Beast Mode 2
Juicy J — Shut Da F* Up
Lil Wayne — Dedication 6: Reloaded
Zoey Dollaz — Sorry Not Sorry 

Sweet 16: Best Featured Verse
21 Savage — “Bartier Cardi” (Cardi B feat. 21 Savage)
Cardi B — “Motorsport” (Migos feat. Cardi B & Nicki Minaj)
Drake — “Look Alive” (Blocboy JB feat. Drake)
Kendrick Lamar — “New Freezer” (Rich the Kid feat. Kendrick Lamar)
Nicki Minaj — “Big Bank” (YG feat. 2 Chainz, Big Sean & Nicki Minaj) 

Impact Track
Childish Gambino — “This Is America”
Dej Loaf & Leon Bridges — “Liberated”
Lecrae — “I’ll Find You” feat. Tori Kelly
Meek Mill — “Stay Woke” feat. Miguel
N.E.R.D — “1,000” feat. FUTURE 

DJ of the Year
Calvin Harris
DJ Envy
DJ Drama
DJ Khaled
DJ Mustard 

Made-You-Look Award (Best Hip Hop Style)
Cardi B
Migos
Nicki Minaj
Remy Ma
Travis Scott 

Hustler of the Year
Cardi B
DJ Khaled
Drake
Jay Z
Kendrick Lamar
Travis Scott

Copyright © 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

Daniel SheaThe White House is calling for a boycott of T.I. after he posted a video of him appearing on an Oval Office look-alike set with a naked Melania Trump look-a-like performing a striptease

TIP posted the 60-minute clip on Twitter and addressed it to the 45th President, commenting, “Dear 45, I ain’t Kanye.”

The video begins with President Trump entering a helicopter, as an announcer says, “Melania Trump did not go to Mar-a-Lago with the president this weekend, which has a lot of people wondering.”

As the helicopter leaves, we see T.I. in a replica of the Oval Office in the White House. The Melania look-a-like enters, wearing a jacket with the words “I Really Don’t Care Do U?” written on the back.  That of course refers to the controversial jacket the first lady wore in June when she visited a Texas holding center where undocumented children were placed after being separated from their parents.

As the rapper lights a cigar, the woman removes the jacket, revealing herself to be naked as she jumps on the desk and grabs T.I.’s tie.  They then walk out of the office, as the Melania look-alike uses lipstick to deface a portrait of the president on a wall.

The video ends with a clip of President Trump riding away in a golf cart giving a thumbs up.

Mrs. Trump’s communications director, Stephanie Grisham, tweeted, “How is this acceptable? #disgusting #boycottT.I. @Tip.”

T.I. has been a constant critic of the president.  In a lengthy, blunt Instagram post, he called out Kanye West for meeting with Trump last week.

“This is the most repulsive, disgraceful, embarrassing act of desperation & auctioning off of one’s soul to gain power I’ve ever seen,” T.I. wrote, revealing that Kanye had asked him to attend the Trump meeting, which he declined to do.

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Michael Zagaris/San Francisco 49ers/Getty Images(SAN FRANCISCO) — It was a moment in time that, even if you haven’t heard the story, you’ve probably seen the images.

The date was Oct. 16, 1968, and Tommie Smith and John Carlos had just won the gold and bronze medals, respectively, at the Mexico City Summer Olympics. They had just finished the 200-meter sprint and earned the United States two spots on the medals podium.

But standing on the podium, the runners wore only their socks to shine a light on poverty in black communities. They wore clothing to protest lynchings — Smith a scarf, Carlos beads.

And with the national anthem playing in honor of their victories in the background, they dipped their heads and raised their fists — Smith his right, Carlos his left — each one covered in a black glove.

“It was probably the first and the most overt display of protest ever at the Olympic Games … It was very much revolutionary,” said Brad Congelio, assistant professor of sports management at Kutztown University, whose research focuses on the Olympic Games. “Using the Olympics as a way to show discontent goes completely against what Olympism is meant to stand for.”

Fifty years after Smith and Carlos stood on that podium, raising their fists in what some would call a black power salute, history seems to have come full circle in the actions of one man you’ve most likely heard of: former San Francisco 49ers star quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

“Colin Kaepernick’s kneeling is the exactly the same sort of symbolic protest as the black power salute from the 1968 Olympics,” said Leland Ware, who was in college at the time, and is now the Louis L. Redding Chair for the study of law and public policy at the University of Delaware.

“What’s ironic is the protest is for essentially the same thing as it was in 1968: racial oppression in America and the violence inflicted on African Americans by police,” Ware added. “It shows you that 50 years later, there have been some changes, but these issues are just as powerful now as they were then.”

The lead-up to the 1968 Olympics was fraught with chaos. The year before, nearly 160 riots broke out across the U.S. in what came to be known as the “long, hot summer of 1967.” The largest of the riots happened in Newark, while the most infamous was in Detroit, where 7,200 people had been arrested, 1,200 were injured and 43 killed.

Then, on April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, sparking a new wave of protests across the country.

“There were race riots in every major city in America,” Ware said.

Smith and Carlos were not the only athletes to wear symbols of protest during the Olympics, but they were the only ones to be castigated for it.

“As the anthem began and the crowd saw us raise our fists, the stadium became eerily quiet,” Carlos wrote in his 2011 book, “The John Carlos Story,” according to the Washington Post. “For a few seconds, you honestly could have heard a frog piss on cotton. There’s something awful about hearing 50,000 people go silent; like being in the eye of a hurricane.”

The men were ordered to leave the Olympic Village and forced to leave Mexico within 48 hours after their credentials were taken away, according to the New York Times.

Once home, they essentially had to start their careers from scratch as they were both banned from running track. After attempting to play in the NFL, Smith became a coach and Carlos a high school counselor, among other jobs the two had.

They also received hate mail, death threats and experienced harassment.

“They were racist, they were vile, and they were just disgusting displays of racism … But there were a handful of supporters, too,” Congelio said. “One of the supporters wrote that white Americans simply couldn’t understand the terrific agony that black Americans felt at the time … [they] just didn’t understand what [the athletes] were trying to prove and what their protest was about.”

Kaepernick, believed to be the first athlete to kneel during the national anthem, has also felt the blowback. He, too, has received death threats, according to ESPN.

“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” he said, according to NFL News. “To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way.”

“There are bodies in the street, and people are getting paid to leave and getting away with murder,” he said, referring to victims of police brutality — the reason he says he started the protest.

Kaepernick hasn’t played a game since the end of the 2016 season.

In the five decades since the Olympic protest, technology, of course, has advanced. In addition to the images of Kaepernick and like-minded athletes taking a knee being seen on televisions across the country, today’s demonstrators use social media as a tool.

“I think that social media allows athletes, to a certain degree, to take control of their own messaging, and counter these often negative stereotypes and misrepresentations, and directly challenge them,” Kaepernick said.

Despite not playing in the NFL for two years, Kaepernick has been able to capitalize on the movement he started. In early September, he was the face of Nike’s 30th anniversary “Just Do It” campaign.

By the end of the month, Nike’s market value had jumped an additional $6 billion, according to CBS, as crowds of people went to support the brand — and Kaepernick, of course.

Opponents of Kaepernick and other kneeling athletes, however, have burned their shoes and clothing to boycott the company.

It may have been more difficult 50 years ago to measure the impact of Smith’s and Carlos’ protests. But the Olympic stage put the athletes “in front of the eyes of the world,” Congelio said.

And their legacy speaks for itself, he added.

“Fifty years later, Smith and Carlos are largely looked back as civil rights heroes for what they did,” Congelio continued. “So 50 years from now, it’s going to be interesting to see if Kaepernick is seen the same way.”

On Thursday, Kaepernick received the W.E.B. Du Bois Medal from Harvard University for his contributions to black history and culture. In his speech, he encouraged more people with a platform to stand up against racial injustice.

“I feel like it’s not only my responsibility, but all our responsibilities as people that are in positions of privilege, in positions of power, to continue to fight for them and uplift them, empower them,” he said, according to USA Today. “Because if we don’t, we become complicit in the problem.”

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Monica Schipper/WireImage/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Olympian Aly Raisman joined the growing calls to oust new interim USA Gymnastics President Mary Bono — just three days after she was named to take over the floundering organization.

Raisman, a two-time Olympian and three-time gold medalist, took to Twitter on Monday to support Kaylee Lorincz, a gymnast who alleged she was sexually assaulted by convicted felon Larry Nassar while she was a teenager.

Lorincz posed a question on Twitter to new interim USA Gymnastics President Mary Bono about her time working at law firm Faegre Baker Daniels. Scott Himsel, a former employee of the law firm, helped to craft excuses for why Nassar was missing work while he was under investigation, according to a report in the Indianapolis Star.

Lorincz asked on Twitter: “You owe me an explanation of why you and your firm allowed Larry to abuse me in 2016 after you were well aware that he was abusing little girls.”

Raisman amplified the question, saying they were “waiting impatiently.”

Bono has not responded to the question, but USA Gymnastics said in a statement to ABC News: “Bono’s work for the firm was not related to the 2015 investigation.”

Raisman, who has taken a lead in the gymnastics’ community with advocating for the girls who were abused by Nassar, asked why the sport’s governing body would hire Bono, knowing about the appearance of impropriety of her working for the law firm.

“Why hire someone associated with the firm that helped cover up our abuse?” she asked.

Bono, who served as a congresswoman in California from 1998 to 2013, was hired on Friday as interim president and CEO after Kerry Perry was forced out last month. Perry led the organization for just nine months before stepping down after criticism from victims abused by Nassar over Perry’s lack of transparency about how the organization planned to protect athletes going forward.

“It’s absolutely the duty of USA Gymnastics, after the horror of the Larry Nasser saga, to double check, triple check, to go above and beyond, making sure that the person they’re picking, even as an interim CEO, is above reproach,” said Christine Brennan, a USA Today columnist and ABC News contributor.

Raisman was among those who publicly criticized Perry, as well.

In another scandal for USA Gymnastics, Mary Lee Tracy, hired by Perry as the organization’s new top coach in late August, reached out to Raisman, who is in the process of suing USA Gymnastics, which led to the dismissal of Tracy just three days after accepting the job.

Fellow gold medalist Simone Biles came out against Bono for a separate incident on Saturday. Biles, who is sponsored by Nike, criticized Bono for coming out against the shoe company using Colin Kaepernick in its latest ad campaign. Bono had shared a photo at the time the news broke of her coloring over a Nike swoosh with black marker. Bono deleted the tweet on Saturday and apologized.

“I regret the post and respect everyone’s views & fundamental right to express them,” she tweeted. “This doesn’t reflect how I will approach my position @USAGym I will do everything I can to help build, w/ the community, an open, safe & positive environment.

The entire board of USA Gymnastics was forced out by the U.S. Olympic Committee earlier this year in the wake of the Nassar scandal. Nassar pleaded guilty to multiple allegations of sexual abuse in two different cases, resulting in a maximum sentence of over 150 years, as well as a guilty plea over child pornography. He was sentenced to 60 years in prison for the federal child porn charge.

USA Gymnastics said a search for a permanent replacement for Perry was ongoing.

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