Oooooooh boy. There was so much on TV yesterday… I’m gonna try to recap it all and say what I gotta say about it, but I’m CERTAINLY going in reverse order so I can talk about BET’s Celebration of Gospel first!
Me no likey! 
There were a small handful of performances that I thought were really good, the rest ranged from so-so to mediocre, with the exception of one that was really… just something special and unexpected. 
First, the good news: Kirk Franklin gave an INCREDIBLE performance of “Little Boy,” with Rance Allen, Isaac Carree and Lowell Pye. These brothers saaang the way singing is supposed to happen. Also, Hezekiah Walker & LFC featured Marvin Sapp and DJ Rogers on “God Favored Me,” and they almost too me outta here! Awesome. And, of course, Karen Clark-Sheard, one of the greatest voices EVER, closed the show with Donnie McClurkin on his new cut, “Wait on the Lord.” Phenomenal.
And, thanks to all you artists who are generally consistent in bringing a good performance. You didn’t disappoint: 21:03, Mary Mary, Vickie Winans (one of the singing-est women in this industry… why don’t people really acknowledge that?), Bobby Jones and Shirley Caesar.
Kurt Carr’s performance was aight, mostly because his singers ripped it… as usual. But what was with the random church ladies dancing on the side? Speaking of which, did anyone happen to catch The Color Purple on Broadway? 
Let’s see… what else…
Smokie Norful and Heather Headley… y’know, I was expecting VERY little from this performance, so I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t a trainwreck. He sang well, she sang well, they sang well together. Somebody’s gonna blast her on here, I KNOW, but I say it wasn’t bad.
Now, I know I’ve read at least one comment saying that Trin-i-tee 5:7′s performance of “Get Away” left much to be desired. I’m not one of those “cover yourself up” kind of Christians, but I think a good performance requires more than trendy clothing… make sure we understand your concept, or see a theme, or at least some synchronized choreography.
About LL Cool J: I thought he was going to be featured on a Mary Mary song, not vice versa. In either case, I looked up at some point and saw money flying on the stage. And I checked out. Good thing, though, I did hear him say the name “Jesus,” finally… (see my earlier post to see what I’m talking about).
Finally, and I guess somebody’s gotta say it, so it may as well be me: Teena Marie. 
Yeah, that’s pretty much what we thought, too, Teena.
I can’t tell you how many Facebook status changes I saw after this woman got off stage. Pure hatred. LOL
I’ll say this: I think that Teena Marie gave us what she’s been giving us for the past decade– a diminished vocal ability and lackluster performances. Don’t get me wrong, she is absolutely a legend, but like so many legends these days, the voice ain’t what it used to be. But that’s where she is, that’s where she’s been. I don’t fault her.
Personally, I’m looking cross-eyed at BET for booking her. I don’t think we (and by “we,” I mean YOU) should be booking artists to perform on any event, especially not a gospel music event, based solely on their prior contributions to the music industry. Consider the event, consider the genre and consider the audience. Consider the respect due to those three things, then choose your artists.
Ok, I’ve released all of that. I am carefully opening the floodgates to comments from you all.
WHAT DID YOU THINK?
Well yeah, Hezekiah and Kirk were my favorite performances of the night. (Rance Allen can sing like no other!) Also, Rance, Isaac, and Lowell are some the few singers that can do all those actually duplicate live the runs they do on the studio recordings. Smokie and H.Headley were cool, but I cant see her holding a "gospel song" on her own. I can see her sounding better on some worship or ccm music than on "churchy" music. I noticed that the band was A LOT better this year than in year's past. In year's past, you got the feeling that the musicians were great musicians, but not exactly experienced playing "church" music. Tina Marie, well I will say that I was very impressed with her vocal range. She can get up there. To be honest, she didnt even really know the melody to the song. At one point during the chorus, she was totally in a different key than the band. She just was to busy. When you sing classics like that, you have to stick somewhat with the melody. Now if she was singing Fire and Desire, she the crowd would've been up, but she just was all over the place. BET should have had Crystal Akin or Shar Addison sing that song. Trinitee 5:7????. I had no idea what they were saying, it just was a rough performance. They could have picked a better song. Kurt Carr definitely brought the energy, but it felt like his lead singers were just hollering after a while.
Okay, so luda, you must be my new best friend. Recap well done. I will add that I have some issues with Trinitee 5:7's performance and general presentation. Why was Chanell (sp?) flopping around in a strapless dress? Seriously. This is getting out of hand. I don't mind them dancing or even trying to break the mold, but can we do it with integrity? I also agree with luda about it being a rough performance. I couldn't understand anything Angel was saying, and the third girl finally sang but it was kinda rough. I realize it's hard to dance and sing at the same time, so I'm just gonna let that go. On a different note, but in the same vein, I've been watching a lot of gospel stuff recently because it has all seemed to happen at the same time. I hear what luda is saying about Kurt Carr's soloists seemingly just hollering after a while, but it's not just them. That seems to be our default when the vocals get hard. I think every gospel singer is guilty, but isn't that destroying our voices? Just a thought.
I think all of the recaps were dead on! In all honesty with each year and each new Celebration of Gospel show it seems that they are slowly pulling in more secular artists who wouldn't know what it meant to be saved if you engraved it on their hands or eyelids! I enjoyed Kirk because he is an entertainer and Rance Allen is just the man when it comes to the runs he can do live or in Memorex LOL. I must say I missed Kurt Carr but based upon the post I ain't suffered too much. I must say that I THROUGHLY enjoyed Hezekiah Walker, Marvin Sapp, etc! That was MY FAVORITE!!! It touched my soul! Now on to LL Cool J... I confess I was somewhat perplexed when Iheard he was going to PERFORM on the show. However upon hearing the song (btw... what was the name of the song and who is it by) I really enjoyed it and was glad to see that he could make it holy somewhat. Although his constant quoting of Malachi in reference to tithing became redundant towards the end. Please don't get me wrong I as a Christian believe in tithing wholeheartedly however it's a bit difficult to see a secular rapper talk about it. My thing is ummm are ya saved? And good Lord that lip licking thing he has... awkward for a gospel show! I think it's an uncontrollable condition I guess I'm done for now. Keep posting it's so much fun to read! God Bless!
Here are my thoughts: Kurt Carr: should've been so much better (they are my favorite group of all time, and they kinda didn't really bring it like they should have) Kirk Franklin and 'nem: they ripped! And did everybody forget about Shirley Caesar??? She sang down fire! Teena Marie: I had never heard her sing before, but I thought she was good...maybe I'll have to listen to it again. And I agree, Heather was surprisingly good...I thought it was going to be a wreck because not everybody crosses over well to gospel...she seems to be doing well with it though...and has an album that's #1 to prove it.
I've said my peace in my other comment, but I just think we should let gospel be gospel - if we could all let BET know somehow that the strongest, most compelling and best performances were ALL ones from Gospel artists, while the weaker ones were from urban ones than we might help them realize they can book a fully Gospel line-up and still be successful. EJ you should get a comment from BET or someone to ask them why they booked Teena Marie.
Well first of all, I didn't see the the show. But I never miss it. But the whole object of Gospel Music , to all the "critics" out there, is to reach the world with the gospel message. Teena Marie needs to be around those who preach the gospel with their music. THAT IS THE MAIN REASON WHY THEY SING THIS KIND OF MUSIC...RIGHT. Don't get so caught up you forget why gospel music exists, ONLY TO REACH LOST SOULS....Amen?
Well, I think the best performances of the night were Donnie McClurkin and of course Karen Clark-Sheard. I'll listen to her anytime,Kirk Franklin and Rance Allen(he's a BAD man!) and Shirley Caesar. Now to the "bad" part.... Teena lawd hammercy....that's all i got. Trinitee 5:7 they weren't really my style and I don't wanna linger on how one of them was dressed (even though i was thrown off) . Overall it wasn't a major disappointment but I wasn't thrilled all the way through like I have been in the past. You feel me? But the performances i did enjoy were great.
You're telling the truth EJ! Even though I'm a little late.