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August 26, 2005
News, Urban, R&B, BMI Urban Awards
Lil Jon, R. Kelly, Kanye West and EMI Take Top Honors at BMI Urban Awards
'Yeah!' Named Most Performed Song; Charlie Wilson and The Gap Band Honored as BMI IconsBMI saluted the premier r&b, rap and hip-hop songwriters, producers and publishers at its 2005 BMI Urban Awards, staged August 26 in the Grand Ballroom of the Fontainebleau Resort in Miami Beach.
| BMI Urban Awards Event Photos |
| BMI Urban Awards Song List |
| Billboard #1 Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs |
Lil Jon and R. Kelly were named Songwriters of the Year, each receiving four "most performed song" awards. "Yeah!," written by Sean Garrett, Lil Jon and Patrick "j.Que" Smith, was named Song of the Year, Kanye West received Producer of the Year honors, and EMI Music Publishing was awarded the BMI Crystal for Urban Publisher of the Year. The first Urban Ringtone Award went to Lil Jon and Craig D. Love for "Freek-A-Leek." A highlight of the gala was a tribute to urban funk legends Charlie Wilson and The GAP Band, who were named BMI Icons for their "enduring influence on generations of music makers."
 |  |  |
| Lil Jon | R. Kelly | The GAP Band |
The ceremony was hosted by BMI President & CEO Del Bryant and Vice President, Writer/Publisher Relations Catherine Brewton, who presented awards to the 70 songwriters of the 35 most performed songs of 2004 in the urban music format.
 |  |  |
| Sean Garrett | Patrick "j.Que" Smith | Kanye West |
Lil Jon, who was honored with three major BMI awards - Songwriter of the Year, Song of the Year and Urban Ringtone of the Year - was also named one of BMI's top songwriter/producers of the year. He placed four songs on the most-performed song list, including "Freek-A-Leek," "Goodies," "Salt Shaker" and Song of the Year "Yeah!" Lil Jon was also named Songwriter of the Year at BMI's Pop Awards held in May, marking the first time a songwriter earned both Pop and Urban Songwriter of the Year honors in the same year.
 |  |  |
| Craig D. Love | Cool & Dre | Fat Joe |
R. Kelly received his second BMI Crystal as Urban Songwriter of the Year (he also won in 2002) with four songs on the most-performed list - "Gigolo," "Hotel," "Step in the Name of Love" and "Thoia Thoing" - and was also named one of BMI's top songwriter/producers. His latest CD, TP.3 Reloaded, debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 the week of its release, instantly becoming his fifth #1 album.
 |  |  |
| Jazze Pha | John Legend | Mannie Fresh |
"Yeah!," recorded by Usher featuring Ludacris and Lil Jon, was named Urban Song of the Year for tallying the most U.S. broadcast performances in 2004. The #1 Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop song earned awards for songwriters Sean Garrett, Lil Jon and Patrick "j.Que" Smith, and music publishers Christopher Matthew Music, Hitco Music and White Rhino Music, Inc.
BMI Producer of the Year honors went to Kanye West for logging the most producer credits on charting songs. The BMI Top Urban Producers list also included Cool & Dre, Eminem, Fat Joe, Jazze Pha, R. Kelly, John Legend, Lil Jon, Mannie Fresh and The Neptunes (Pharrell Williams & Chad Hugo).
On the list of BMI's 35 most-performed urban songs, four songwriters contributed three songs each: Eminem, Sean Garrett, Kanye West and Pharrell Williams. Other writers earning multiple awards were Miri Ben-Ari, Chad Hugo, Lil Flip, Harold Spencer Lilly, Jr., Craig D. Love and Sham.
EMI Music Publishing was named BMI Urban Publisher of the Year by accumulating the highest percentage of copyright ownership in award songs. Big Jon Platt, Executive Vice President, Urban Music, U.S., accepted on behalf of the publisher, which boasted 17 songs on the most-performed list (through its companies EMI-Blackwood Music, Inc., EMI-Hastings Catalog, Inc., EMI-Stone Diamond Music Corporation, and Screen Gems-EMI Music, Inc.).
Other publishers with multiple award-winning songs were Careers-BMG Music Publishing, Inc./Zomba Songs Inc. (8 awards); Universal Music Publishing (Irving Music/Songs of Universal, Inc.) (6); Warner/Chappell Music Group (Foster Frees Music, Inc./Rick's Music, Inc./Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp.) (5); R. Kelly Publishing, Inc. and White Rhino Music, Inc. (4 each); Eight Mile Style Music and Waters of Nazareth Publishing (3 each); C'Amore Music, Clover G Music, Embassy Music Corporation, Ensign Music Corporation, Mirimode Music, Please Gimme My Publishing, Inc., Raynchaser Music, Swizole Music and Uncle Bobby Music (2 each).
The evening culminated with Charlie Wilson and The GAP Band being honored as BMI Icons. One of the most influential groups in the history of r&b, Charlie and his brothers Robert and Ronnie Wilson, who got their name from the streets in the black business hub of their native Tulsa, Oklahoma (Greenwood, Archer, Pine), dominated the r&b charts with their hard-driving funk grooves from the late '70s to early '80s. Four of the band's nine albums were certified Platinum plus (The GAP Band II, The GAP Band III, The GAP Band IV and GAP Band V - Jammin') and featured 15 Top Ten and four #1 r&b hits, including "You Dropped a Bomb On Me," "Party Train," "Burn Rubber," "Outstanding," "Oops Upside Your Head," "Early in the Morning," and the smooth love song, "Yearning for Your Love." "Outstanding" alone remains one of the most sampled songs in history and has, astonishingly, been used by over 150 artists.
Prior to being named BMI Icons, Wilson and The GAP Band were saluted with an all-star musical tribute that included performances by 112 and Guy. BMI President and CEO Del Bryant, along with Pharrell Williams, Snoop Dogg and will.i.am (of the Black Eyed Peas), presented the award to the group.
In addition to the BMI performance awards, music trade magazine Billboard recognized the BMI-affiliated writers who had #1 songs on the R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, Hot Rap Tracks, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay and Hot 100 charts during the past year. Chad Hugo, Snoop Dogg and Pharrell Williams led with "Drop It Like It's Hot," which topped all four lists.
In this story: Miri Ben-Ari, Black Eyed Peas, Del Bryant, Cool & Dre, Eminem, Fat Joe, The Gap Band, Sean Garrett, Chad Hugo, Jazze Pha, R. Kelly, John Legend, Lil Flip, Lil Jon, Harold Lilly, Craig D. Love, The Neptunes, Sham, Snoop Dogg, Usher1, Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, Charlie Wilson
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