2013 BET Awards honor Charlie Wilson, Nicki Minaj, Kendrick Lamar

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Establishing a ‘pedigree’ for black entertainment

Honoring servicemen as well as entertainers, Dywane Wade received the Humanitarian Award, and Scandal star Columbus Short honored two community activists for helping those in America’s underserved urban communities.

For sports, LeBron James and Gabrielle Douglas received the Subway sportsman and woman of the year awards.

On a somber note, Sherri Shepherd remembered those who had fallen, paying tribute to the passing of Chris Kelly of Kris Kross, blues legend Bobby “Blue” Bland, and actor/martial arts star Jim Kelly.

This year’s ceremony took place at the Nokia Theater in downtown Los Angeles, and seemingly encompassed a wider variety of the black entertainment sphere than in years past.

In that sense, it was a celebration in every sense of the word, and, as Being Mary Jane star Omari Hardwick believes, an “opportunity for us to break stereotypes.”

“Our African-American ancestors of the 60s were of a different pedigree and a different class, and they knew what race they were running,” the actor explained to theGrio. “Now with the gun sounding off, we wouldn’t necessarily know what race we were running, what direction to go. The BET Awards honor those who’ve gone before you – Charlie Wilson and Stevie Wonder – and also celebrate those that are coming up behind you. I think that ups our pedigree.”

As Ambassador at this year’s recent American Black Film Festival, Hardwick also wants to push for broader vernacular and understanding when it comes to delineating black culture.

“My thought is, yeah, we have to continuing growing, but it has to be in the quality where we’re not only making films that speak to the black experience,” he said. “It should be films that speak to everybody’s experience, if they happen to be black participants playing those roles then that’s a great thing. Because we need to up our ante in terms of images on TV and film, but we shouldn’t be relegated to this box of black film.”

He adds, “Our generation is definitely trying to remind the world that the minority often has to be relegated to a box or a parameter, and the majority of white Americans haven’t necessarily had to be labeled.”

Here is the full list of 2013 BET Award winners:

Best Female R&B/Pop Artist
Rihanna

Best Male R&B/Pop Artist
Miguel

Best Group
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

Best Collaboration
A$AP Rocky f/ Drake, 2 Chainz and Kendrick Lamar – Problems

Best Male Hip-Hop Artist
Kendrick Lamar

Best Female Hip-Hop Artist
Nicki Minaj

Video of the Year
Drake – Started From The Bottom

Video Director of the Year
Benny Boom

Best New Artist
Kendrick Lamar

Best Gospel Artist
Mary Mary

Best Actress
Kerry Washington

Best Actor
Jamie Foxx

YoungStars Award
Gabrielle Douglas

Best Movie
Think Like A Man

Subway Sportswoman of the Year
Gabrielle Douglas

Subway Sportsman of the Year
LeBron James

Coca-Cola Viewers Choice Award
Drake – “Started From The Bottom”

Centric Award
Tamar Braxton – “Love and War”

Best International Act: Africa
Ice Prince (Nigeria)

Best International Act: UK
Emeli Sandé

Follow Courtney Garcia on Twitter at @courtgarcia