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      *At the BET Awards Tuesday night, Prince didn’t do a performance drive-by like he did at the “American Idol” finale. He stayed, got comfortable and even made a heartfelt speech to accept his best male R&B artist award.

       In a night that featured high-energy performances by Beyonce, Busta Rhymes and surprise appearances by Eminem and Janet Jackson, it was Prince who seemed to electrify the Shrine Auditorium through both of his stage appearances – once during a show-stopping tribute to Chaka Khan featuring Stevie Wonder, India.Arie and Yolanda Adams; and another that actually did stop the show.       

Prince & Chaka Khan perform during the 2006 BET Awards

       Meanwhile, Chris Brown, Mary J. Blige and the “Gold Digger” combo of Kanye West and Jamie Foxx  each picked up two awards apiece to lead the roster of winners (listed below).        

      For those who missed the show, here are the highlights:

• Beyonce channeled Tina Turner for her scorching performance of “Déjà Vu” to open the program.  Boyfriend Jay-Z dipped in for his part, then promptly dipped back out. The singer's new all-girl touring band also made their national debut and did not disappoint.

• Jimmy Walker, Bernadette Stanis and Ralph Carter had no idea that their former “Good Times” co-star Janet Jackson was even in the building when she sashayed across the stage and joined them to present an award. And just like that, she almost had another wardrobe malfunction when Thelma accidentally caused her right strap to fall off her shoulder. There was slight panic in her eyes as she read the teleprompter while yanking it back to its proper place.

• Don King, waving a tiny U.S. flag, introduced the self-proclaimed king of the South, T.I.  The rapper then had severe sound problems during his performance of “What You Know.” 

• Jamie Foxx brought out Fantasia to perform his latest single, “DJ Play A Love Song,” and then threw his tongue down her throat midway through the set.

• Chris Brown hit folks with a little “Run It” then brought out Lil Wayne for “Gimme That,” during which he channeled MiJac’s look in the “Smooth Criminal” video and did somersaults. Next, he climbed into a cage to perform “Yo (Excuse Me Miss)” and it floated over the audience toward the balcony, where he picked up a young lady and serenaded her while floating back toward the stage.

• Mo’Nique and Rihanna were presenting an award together when the comedian suddenly pulled a Star Jones Reynolds, who had announced her departure from “The View” earlier in the day with the opening phrase, “Something's been on my heart for a little bit.”   Mo’Nique said to Rihanna, “Excuse me, sugar,” then said to the audience, “I got something on my heart I gotta tell yall.” She pointed at Beyonce, who was sitting in the front row next to Jay-Z, and told the crowd she’d have to go “into rehearsal tonight,” insinuating she must learn the singer’s sizzling ‘Déjà Vu” choreography. (Several years ago, Mo’Nique opened the BET Awards with a dead-on reenactment of Beyonce’s “Crazy In Love” video.) Mo’Nique continued, “Jay-Z, I need you as my prop.” Meanwhile, Rihanna – who was rumored to be dating Jay-Z on the side – simply stood by and smiled through the awkward moment.

• Prince actually uttered sentences upon receiving his best male R&B artist award. He said the honor was “unexpected but appreciated nonetheless.” He thanked – in this order – Jehovah God, Chaka Khan, Stevie Wonder, India.Arie and Yolanda Adams for “continuing to be such an inspiration in my life.”  

• Mary J. Blige sang “Be Without You” before unleashing her rap alter-ego “Brooke” to help her through a crowd-pleasing performance of “Enough Cryin’.”

• Keyshia Cole started her performance of “Love” in the audience and strolled her way to the stage.

• Diddy dissed the soundman for messing up his mic, then blamed him for destroying T.I.’s entire set before introducing his Bad Boy artist Yung Joc and joining him for a performance of “It’s Goin’ Down.”

• Busta Rhymes, Kelis and will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas – and of course Spliff Star – performed “I Love My Chick.”  For the hyped performance of “Touch It,” Busta was joined one by one by Mary J. Blige (or shall we say, Brooke), Rah Digga, Missy Elliott, Lloyd Banks, Papoose, DMX (via the music video) and – surprise – Eminem (wearing a t-shirt that read “Shady” on the front and “Proof Forever” on the back).

• BET congratulated itself (through presenters David Banner and Vivica A. Fox) for its S.O.S. telethon that raised $14 million for the Hurricane Katrina effort.

• Jagged Edge presented an award in Capri pants.

• Steve Harvey introduced lifetime achievement award recipient Chaka Khan. Her musical tribute featured Stevie Wonder (who wrote her hit “Tell Me Something Good”), Prince (writer of “I Feel for You”), India.Arie and Yolanda Adams. They started with the opening notes of “Ain’t Nobody” (Prince on guitar, Stevie on keys), before moving into “Sweet Thing” (Adams on vocals). That gave way to “Tell Me Something Good,” (lead vocals by Arie and Stevie, with Prince pitching in). Chaka Khan herself took the stage for “Through the Fire” - speaking of which, Kanye West (who sampled the song for his first hit “Through the Wire”), was shown in the audience recording the whole performance with his digital camera. You can’t have Prince, Chaka and Stevie on the same stage and not do “I Feel For You,” which they did and brought the house down. The grand finale was “I’m Every Woman.” (Imagine if Whitney Houston had gotten herself together enough to join them onstage for that – marking her big return to civilization by saluting Chaka Khan. But it wasn’t to be.)

• BET head honcho Debra Lee and actor Danny Glover saluted Harry Belafonte with the show’s Humanitarian Award.

• Ne-Yo performed “Sexy Love,” with a chair as a prop, then flowed into “So Sick.”

• OutKast presented the final award, but not before promoting their “Idlewild” soundtrack and film (due Aug. 22 and 25 respectively).

• For the closing performance, Prince re-emerged with his hair wrapped in that black scarf that ties in the front and ripped through “3121” with protégé Tamar, who was dressed in a hot pink, Asian-influenced dress and toted a silk fan. When the song ended, Damon Wayans came out to close the show and tried to promote his upcoming Showtime series, but Prince started playing his guitar over him, firing up “3121” again and bringing out will.i.am to spit a rhyme before ending the song for good. 

• The show ended at about 11:06 p.m., which means those who TiVo’d the program missed the last six minutes.

Here are the winners:

Best Female Hip Hop Artist: Missy Elliott
Best Male Hip Hop Artist: T.I.
Best Male R&B Artist: Prince
Best Female R&B Artist: Mary J. Blige
Best Actor: Terrence Howard
Best Actress: Taraji P. Henson
Best Group: Black Eyed Peas
Best Duo/Collaboration: Kanye West/Jamie Foxx “Gold Digger”
Best New Artist: Chris Brown
Best Female Athlete: Venus Williams
Best Male Athlete: LeBron James
Best Gospel Artist: Kirk Franklin
Viewers Choice Award: Chris Brown “Yo (Excuse Me Miss)”
Video of the Year: (tie) Mary J. Blige “Be Without You” and Kanye West/Jamie Foxx “Gold Digger”
Lifetime Achievement Award: Chaka Khan
Humanitarian Award: Harry Belafonte

For BlogCritic's  dead on review of the 2006 BET Awards, click HERE.