The BET Awards **Updated**

Having the precocious musical taste that I do, I was really disappointed with the 2006 BET Awards. There was far too little Chaka Khan and Prince.

I had been hearing that Prince would be doing the grand finale for months. Well, the finale wasn't grand at all. It was one song - not even "Black Sweat" which is the single with the most exposure from the Prince's current album, 3121.

I was totally surprised that Chaka was receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award. In his introduction, Steve Harvey came out and tried his best to make every young singer feel like crap saying these young girls today can't compete with "the voice" that is Chaka. But then Chaka didn't even sing her own songs. My jaw dropped to the floor when Yolanda Adams came out to do her heartfelt but meager Chaka imitation. Don't even get me started on India.Arie...whatever. How were "these young girls" to learn from "the voice" when it was on mute?

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Damon Wayans as a host was a mistake. After he bombed in the beginning of the show, he just acted drunk or coked out for the rest of the time. He literally acted like he couldn't feel his face. He settled for mis-reading from the teleprompter.

Whichever brilliant BET exec hired the sound crew made a mistake. How does an entire bass line drop out during the few seconds of TI's performance?

The choice of camera lens was also a mistake. I don't know if it was some kind of digital recorder or what. But the quality was crap. The picture was blurry for nearly the entire show. The cameramen weren't that great either. The cameras seemed to be shaking or unexpectedly recording the floor at the most inopportune times. Maybe the camera crew was coking it out in the back with Damon during the commercial breaks.

I did like Chris Brown's performance for its extravagance.

And I liked Keyshia Cole's performance for its simplicity. I'm looking forward to her reality show, but I'm sure BET will find some way to make it suck.

Beyonce was aiight. But I couldn't get with her dancing legs open, crouch to the audience. And the whole writhing on the ground thing was way over the top. But that's where this chick seems most comfortable - hence the leg and stomach appliques. Click here to see the performance.

That Jamie Foxx - Fantasia kiss threw me because I didn't understand its purpose. I wanted more feature time for Fantasia. Her overstated voice compliments Jamie's understated voice.

Didn't Bernnadette "Thelma" Stanis make Janet "Penny Woods" Jackson look like a plastic chicken who's terrified of getting old when they were standing next to each other?

All in all, the show was pretty disappointing. It seems BET only set out to top last year's festivities not produce a great show for this year.

[All pics courtesy bet.com unless stated otherwise.]