SOUL TRAIN AWARDS 2016 celebrated the best in Soul, R&B and Hip-Hop by highlighting both returning legends and breakout stars with unrivaled musical moments and titillating performances. The awards show, which aired tonight on CENTRIC and BET, was hosted once again by the funkadelic Godmother of neo-soul, Erykah Badu, who also served as Executive Producer.
Beyoncé led the night’s winners dominating in top categories including Video of the Year, Album/Mixtape of the Year, Best R&B/Soul Female Artist, and Song of the Year.
Fat Joe and Remy Ma featuring French Montana and Infared took home two awards of their own, Rhythm & Bars Award (Formerly Best Hip-Hop Song of the Year) and Best Collaboration, for their smash hit “All the Way Up.”
Artists were honored across 12 different categories and additional winners included Kanye West featuring Teyana Taylor for Best Dance Performance for “Fade,” Chance the Rapper (Best New Artist), Anderson .Paak (Centric Certified Award), Andra Day “Rise Up” (The Ashford & Simpson Songwriter’s Award), Maxwell (Best R&B/Soul Male Artist), and Kirk Franklin “123 Victory” (Best Gospel/Inspirational Song.)
The evening marked the inaugural Soul Train Awards since BET Networks officially acquired Soul Train earlier this year and it did not disappoint. The night featured crowd-loving classics and current favorites from the best Soul artists of yesterday and today.
Dru Hill kicked off the Soul Train Awards 2016 with the ultimate throwback of their 90s R&B jams including “Tell Me,” “In My Bed,” and “Beauty.” Dru Hill lead singer Sisqó then took the stage solo to perform his late 90’s mega-hit “Thong Song.”
An endearing and inspired Jill Scott presented Brandy with the second annual Lady of Soul Award, who went on to blow the crowd away with a full dance and stunning vocal performance of her most beloved hits including “Almost Doesn’t Count,” “What About Us,” “Full Moon,” “I Wanna Be Down,” “The Boy Is Mine,” “Talk About Our Love,” “Have You Ever,” and “Sitting On Top Of The World,” joined by MA$E.
Soulful newcomers Anderson .Paak and BJ the Chicago Kid performed “Waters” and “Cha Cha” singer D.R.A.M. joined Badu on stage for their recently released single, “WiFi.” The awards ended on a high note with Teddy Riley pulling out all the stops for an unforgettable showcase following his receiving of the night’s highest honor, the Legend Award. Riley brought out retro hitmakers and past collaborators including Doug E. Fresh, Bobby Brown, Tito Jackson, Wreckx-N-Effect and Guy for a medley of classics including “My Prerogative,” “Remember the Time,” “Rump Shaker,” and more.
Alongside the amazing performances, the second annual Soul Cypher, featuring Erykah Badu, Tyrese, Ne-Yo, Angie Stone and the incomparable Gladys Knight was another musical moment not to be forgotten.
SOUL TRAIN AWARDS 2016 WINNERS
Best New Artist – Chance the Rapper
Best R&B/Soul Male Artist – Maxwell
Centric Certified Award – Anderson .Paak
Video of the Year – Beyoncé – “Formation”
Best Gospel/Inspirational Song – Kirk Franklin – “123 Victory”
Album/Mixtape of the Year – Beyoncé – “Lemonade”
Rhythm & Bars Award (Formerly Best Hip-Hop Song of the Year) – Fat Joe & Remy Ma featuring French Montana & Infared – “All the Way Up”
Best R&B/Soul Female Artist – Beyoncé
Song of the Year – Beyoncé
The Ashford & Simpson Songwriter’s Award – “Rise Up” – Written by Andra Day and Jennifer Decilveo (Andra Day)
Best Dance Performance – Kanye West (Dance Performance featuring Teyana Taylor) – “Fade”
Best Collaboration – Fat Joe & Remy Ma featuring French Montana & Infared – “All the Way Up”
The SOUL TRAIN AWARDS 2016 are produced by Jesse Collins Entertainment. Executive Producers of the network telecast are as follows: Debra Lee, Stephen G. Hill and Connie Orlando from BET; and Jesse Collins for Jesse Collins Entertainment.
