On Aug. 29, MTV had its 19th annual Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall.The man of the night was Eminem, who took home four moonmen including Best Video of the Year for his single, “Without Me”. Other artists with multiple awards included Pink, White Stripes and No Doubt, all with two.The host of the show was comedian, Jimmy Fallon. Fallon, who hosted the 2001 MTV Movie Awards with Kirsten Dunst last year, flew solo on this project. He is a repertory player on Saturday Night Live. Fallon opened the show with an impersonation of Nelly, Eminem, Avril Lavigne and Enrique Iglesias, to name a few. He also performed with the Godfather of Soul, James Brown.The first presenter of the evening was Brittany Spears. Dressed in a solid black leather outfit, she gave Michael Jackson a birthday cake and trophy. There must have been some miscommunication between MJ and the VMA people because he believed he was getting the award for Entertainer of the Millennium but I can’t understand why since the millennium was two years ago.Other special appearances include former New York mayor, Rudy Giuliani and the remaining members of TLC. Giuliani appeared to talk about the resiliency and generosity of New Yorkers after 9/11. Carson Daly announced that MTV is giving out a scholarship in the honor of late TLC member Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes. Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas and Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins expressed thanks to MTV for the honor and to their fans for all the support during their great loss.There were many special performances and guest appearances. Bruce Springsteen and the E-street Band kicked off the show with a solemn performance in front of the Museum of Natural History across town Radio City Music Hall. They performed “The Rising”, which is a song relaying the sentiments of 9/11 mourners and rallying them together at the same time.Justin Timberlake made his solo debut on the show. The N’Sync star stepped out of a huge boombox, wearing black leather pants, an open long-sleeved shirt, black hat, gloves and a red T-shirt. He sung his first single “Like I Love You” from his album “Justified.” Ja Rule and Ashanti performed with Nas on the VMAs. The performance began with Ja and Ashanti paying tribute to Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds in “Singin’ In the Rain”. As they entered the stage, they went into “Down 4 You”. Ashanti, in a white-flapper dress, and Ja, in a black suit with a red vest and black hat, poured their hearts and souls into the performance, which ended with them back on the bench they started from. Immediately after, Nas jumped out of a shack at stage right and begin singing his hit “One Mic”. After his performance, Nas announced he was now a member of the Murder Inc. family. P. Diddy had one of the best performances of the night. Clad in a white suit, sunglasses and a platinum cross, he began by emerging from a giant elevated platform to “Bad Boy For Life”. The stage filled with smoke and dancers as Usher emerged to dance with P. Diddy to “I Need A Girl (part one)”. Suddenly, over the loud speaker you heard Loon say, “Hold up Diddy. Get on with part two, son.” They then went into “I Need a Girl (part two)”. And just when you thought the show couldn’t get better, Busta Rhymes rose from the side of the stage and Pharrel Williams came from the back to the beats of “Pass the Courvoisier” to a backdrop of Cirque de Soleil-style trapeze dancers from the AntiGravity troupe. The biggest surprise of the night was the show’s final performance by famed rock-n-roll band Guns-N-Roses. Although the group had a few new faces, front man Axl Rose was still there, rocking harder than ever. They performed a medley that began with “Welcome to the Jungle” and closed with “Paradise City”.Other performers included Shakira, Pink, the Vines, the Hives, Ludacris, Avril Lavigne and Sheryl Crow. Controversial rapper Eminem lived up to his reputation with a number of altercations during the show. He pushed Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and a member of his entourage threw the dog’s notes. After the show on his official Web site, Triumph responded by saying, “(Eminem) should really lighten upI mean, my mom was a b**** too, but I don’t go writing songs about it”. During the pre-show Eminem threw Moby the finger and insulted him when he got his Best Male Video award by calling him a little girl and saying that he would hit a man with glasses. The VMA audience responded by booing Eminem.The 2002 MTV VMAs will be talked about for years to come.
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