The Soul Train Awards is one of the biggest nights in R&B and Soul! BET & Centric celebrated and honored R&B legends and soul music’s brightest new stars once again at this year’s Soul Train Awards, which taped in Las Vegas on Friday, November 6. The soulful and comedic Erykah Badu hosted the night’s festivities, which included performances from Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, Brandy, R. Kelly, Jeremih, Fantasia, Cameo, Tyrese, Boyz II Men, After 7, Lion Babe, Jazmine Sullivan, Erica Campbell, Tevin Campbell, V. Bozeman, and more.
Badu slid with ease between amazing songstress and comedic host. She also “banned” all Hip Hop this year to focus solely on the celebration of Soul music! She opened with some of her classic hits, including “Danger,” “On & On,” and “Love Of My Life.” A fan favorite moment was BET/ Centric’s “Soul Cypher” which mirrored the BET Hip Hop Awards cyphers, and featured Badu as the DJ with vocalists K-Ci Hailey, Lalah Hathaway, Chrisette Michelle, and Eddie Levert.
One of the greatest and most prolific songwriters of our time, the legendary 11x Grammy Award-Winning Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, was honored with the Legend Award and an all star tribute which included many of the stars (listed above) he wrote hits for! Soulful songstress Jill Scott was awarded with the first-ever Lady of Soul Award as well. Babyface looked sharp in his tailored suit as he took a seat at a baby grand piano and proceeded to bring out stars that he had written hits for his tribute. After accepting his legend award, he closed the set with a performance of his hit “Whip Appeal.”
Jill Scott was honored with the ‘Lady of Soul’ Award with a special tribute video from industry’s top executives and artists such as Whoopi Goldberg, Usher, and more! Scott then serenaded the audience with her hits “Back Together,” “Long Walk,” “It’s Love,” “Golden,” “Cross My Mind,” and “Whatever.”
Jazmine Sullivan performed her hit “Let It Burn.” To pay homage, she brought out After 7 to perform their classic hit “Ready Or Not” as Sullivan’s “Let It Burn” sampled it. Erica Campbell took all in attendance to church as she performed her hit single “A Little More Jesus.” Campbell’s performance had the crowd on their feet.
Cameo broke it all the way down with their hits “Candy”, “Word Up,” and more. Comedian G Thang held it down in between sets as he entertained the audience by calling out known singers as well as up and coming acts to give the audience vocal snippets on the mic. Tank, Shaniece and more touched the mic and sent the audience into cheers.
The King of R&B himself, R. Kelly, closed the show with a soulful “block party” on stage as he performed a medley of his hits which included “Bump N Grind,” “Ignition (Remix),” “Your Body’s Callin’ Me,” and many more! The King undeniably has hits for days!
Before all of the show action, AllHipHop.com’s Rea Davis caught up with Avant, MC Lyte, Bridget Kelly, Jazmine Sullivan, After 7, Silento, and more, to discuss who they were most excited to see perform and what they were currently working on. Check out our video recap below.
The show will air on Centric and BET tomorrow Sunday, November 29, 2015 at 8PM ET/PT.
