The 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards aired last night and my question to the Producers or Program Executives of the Channel is WHAT WERE YOU THINKING??  Black Entertainment Television has produced this show for a few years now and when the initial word leaked about them airing such a show, I was excited to hear, because this genre of music has been overlooked (dang near ignored!) on the mainstream award shows since its inception in the 1980’s.  But what this program has turned into is very disappointing to say the least.  I thought the entire reason for having this “AWARDS SHOW” was to honor the artists in hip hop that have had an exceptional year in music: with releasing their cd’s and videos, touring , endorsements, etc.  But when your award show only actually awards 3 honorees during your telecast, something has definitely went wrong here!  Has the plan has been aborted, or was this the plan the entire time??  Did Black Entertainment Television see the revenue these other stations were bringing in with their Award Shows, heard the clamor from a specific demographic of people, and seize the opportunity?  Did BET want to right a wrong or did they want to do what’s right for their bottom lines?  Did they want to honor the artists that have become so very under appreciated by mainstream music publications and media or were they doing this to fill programming?  And by exploiting such a popular genre of music they knew they could seek advertising dollars at a much higher rate than having nightly reruns of The Parkers or whatever 1990s show you have bought the rights to air for cheap. Whatever the answer maybe, I’m here to spark the thought and ask BET….WHAT WERE YOU THINKING??