It’s official: Everyone gives away awards now

Yes. That’s right. You’re not high. That’s Snoop and George Lucas.

Did anyone know that the Hip Hop Summit Action Network had its own awards? No? Anyone? They call them the “Action Awards.” They’re shaped like shooting star. And it’s their fifth annual awards event. Hmm. Still not ringing a bell? Well they had their awards last night in NYC honoring Snoop Dogg (why?), Ciara (again, why?), Doug E. Fresh, Chris Lighty, Jim Jones and Mellody Hobson.

Snoop was in almost every shot of Johnny Nunez’s reel on Wire Image. Here he is with Doug E. Fresh who was the illest when I was in the fifth grade.

Like the blinged baby offspring of the NAACP Image Awards, the event is a fund raiser for HSAN’s non-profit work. For those who don’t know, HSAN is the group founded by everyone’s favorite hip hop airhead Russell Simmons and activist Dr. Benjamin Chavis, who’s job I’ve always assumed was to lend HSAN some credibility – like how George W. used Colin Powell in the first four years of his presidency. EURweb.com claims the group “utilize(s) the power of hip hop for positive social change. Each of the Action Award recipients has made an outstanding contribution to the empowerment of others and to their communities.”

On HSAN’s Web site the group has the motto “Taking Back Responsibility.” I’m going to try to hold back the chuckles on that one. I don’t mean to pick on HSAN but Barack Obama kind of blew them out the back door in the race to get young people to register to vote. And other than their voter registration drives, various summits to heal “rifts” in the rap community and occasional defense of the “poets**,” I honestly don’t know what the hell they do. But they had an event last night where they gave out some awards for charity work.

Pharell Williams (who I both love and can’t stand) with Bryan Michael Cox and Dr. Ben Chavis.

Ciara with friend. Ciara’s outfit was hideous, but what do you wear to an awards show that’s not being televised? It’s not like anyone is going to see this anyway. And I’m assuming she couldn’t bring her boyfriend Fiddy lest his ignorance disrupts George Lucas’ “Force.”

LL Cool J on what looks like a Blackberry and Dame Dash appearing to be nosy.

Leor Cohen and Chris Lightly

** As a bonus, I’m posting one of my favorite rebukes to Russell Simmons’ defense of the “poets,” as in hip hop like Lil’ Jon and Fiddy Cent’s right to call me a “bitch” and a “ho” in a metaphorical sense. There is also a reference to “reality flavored cheeseburgers” on the clip. It was the greatest hip hop criticism piece I’d ever seen from Jay at illdoctrine.com, who I totally wanted to marry after he said this.

It originally aired during the Imus debacle last year.