To see Cody Chesnutt providing the soundtrack for a Pixar film (Soul) made me happy for the guy. It was criminal the way that "Landing On A Hundred" album was slept on... just brilliant, thoughtful, and polished the way The Headphone Masterpiece wasn't. Good to see him getting his where he can.

I liked Jennifer Hudson's Aretha tribute. No one's gonna sing like the Queen, but Jennifer did well. I didn't even know she was playing her in a movie. I'm out the loop.

D Smoke's performance was nice, but he's dope every time I see him.

I would've liked for the Little Richard tribute to have been taken more seriously and done by a seasoned, full-time singer.

I know Kobe was a big loss, but it's kinda silly to me that he got a tribute on a music awards show while neither Betty Wright nor Bill Withers did. I mean really, wtf.

And with the theme of this whole show being around black lives, I didn't particularly care to see Lil Wayne on it unless he opened with a recanting of his claim that there's no such thing as racism.