The 2017 BET Awards are rapidly approaching, and ahead of the big night (June 25), the network has announced it’s next set of recipients for the show.
Chance The Rapper will receive the Humanitarian award for his social, political and philanthropic work, while iconic group New Edition will be honored with a lifetime achievement award. According to the official presse release:
Today, BET Networks revealed iconic R&B group New Edition will be honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2017 “BET Awards”. In addition, multi–Grammy Award winning hip-hop artist and singer-songwriter, Chance the Rapper, will receive the evening’s Humanitarian Award presented by Walmart. This year’s broadcast marks 17 years of unexpected performances, trailblazing moments, super dope talent, and entertainment’s most provocative players. The iconic show continues to be a cultural rule breaker steeped in reinvention with some of the most memorable moments in Award show history. The “BET Awards” has set the standard for one of the most intently unconventional, news-provoking broadcasts. The 2017 “BET Awards” will air LIVE on Sunday, June 25 at 8 pm ET from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, CA on BET.
New Edition is a legendary R&B group consisting of members Bobby Brown, Michael Bivins, Ralph Tresvant, Ronnie DeVoe, Ricky Bell and Johnny Gill. Throughout the course of their extensive musical career, New Edition released several chart-topping hits including “Candy Girl”, “Cool It Now”, and “Mr. Telephone Man” – for which they received multiple Soul Train Awards and American Music Award wins. In January 2017, BET launched The New Edition Story, a three-part miniseries that was also BET’s first scripted music-focused program. The show profiled the New Edition journey from the little-known boy band from the Orchard Park Projects of Roxbury, Massachusetts, to one of the most successful adult acts ever in the music industry. To date, New Edition has sold over 20 million records world-wide.
Chance the Rapper is a hip-hop artist, singer-songwriter and philanthropist who rose to popularity with his highly awarded and recognized mixtapes Acid Rap and Coloring Book. Chance has consistently used his musical platform to support a number of impactful educational, social and political initiatives – positively impacting both local and national communities. In 2016, Chance worked closely with President Obama on My Brother’s Keeper Challenge, an initiative of the United States Federal Government to promote intervention by civic leaders in the lives of young men of color – working to address their unique challenges and to promote racial justice. Chance has also activity fought gun violence, leading social campaigns in his home-town Chicago. Most recently, Chance the Rapper pledged to donate $1 million to in-need Chicago Public Schools in an effort to offset the lack of government funding provided to the area.
No acts have been announced for the New Edition tribute as of yet, but we can only expect in true BET fashion that this performance will bring the house down.
