Usher opened Tuesday's BET Awards with a bang - literally. Pyrotechnics filled the Shrine Auditorium stage Tuesday night as the singer performed "Love in this Club" from his latest album, "Here I Stand." The highly choreographed set, which featured Usher pop-locking, gyrating and grooving his way across the stage with a bevy of voluptuous dancers, gave the show a high-energy start. Host D.L. Hughley's opening monologue was a little less explosive - his jokes about Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama (web|news|bio) and President Bush (web|news|bio) fell flat - but he didn't slow the pace of the performance-heavy show. Singer (and BET reality star) Keyshia Cole gave a glamorous performance of her ballad "Heaven Sent," descending from the ceiling on while wearing a long flowing gown, before a dancer ripped it off, revealing a white top and shorts as she sang her hit "Let It Go" with Lil Kim.

Kanye West rapped alongside Young Jeezy in performance that was marked by its omissions - censors muted much of their performance. Chris Brown, who was seated next to rumored girlfriend Rihanna, won the night's first award: best male R&B artist.

The 19-year-old crooner thanked "my mom, God, everybody. If I leave y'all out, I'm sorry."

Kobe Bryant and Missy Elliott were other early winners, but the best male athlete and female hip-hop artist weren't there to collect their awards, nor was the evening's best new artist winner, The-Dream.

T-Pain, West and Cole had the potential to win multiple trophies. T-Pain, the rapper-singer who has seemingly collaborated with every top performer in urban music, was up for five awards, though fittingly the nominations all came for his work with others and not his own hits. West and Cole received three nominations, and double nominees were newcomer rapper Flo Rida and veteran songstresses Alicia Keys and Mary J. Blige.

But the performances at the annual awards show are as anticipated as the actual awards, and this year, Lil Wayne was perhaps the biggest draw, thanks to the phenomenal 1 million sales debut of his album "Tha Carter III" last week and his smash hit "Lollipop," which was perched on top of the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart for weeks.

Jill Scott was also poised to perform a tribute to Al Green, who was slated to receive BET's Lifetime Achievement Award. Quincy Jones was to be honored with the network's Humanitarian Award in recognition of his work with the Listen Up Foundation, which encourages young people to embrace creativity and diversity.

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Written By SANDY COHEN

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