Rappers Jay-Z and OutKast swept up most of the “Moon Men” at the MTV Video Music Awards Sunday with four each, as the music television network held its annual awards show in Miami, Fla., Reuters reports.
Jay-Z’s video “99 Problems” came into the award show with more nominations than anyone else and ended up with four awards for Best Rap Video, Best Direction, Best Editing and Best Cinematography.
Hip-hop duo OutKast and their video “Hey Ya” garnered Best Video, Best Hip Hop Video, Best Special Effects and Best Art Direction.
No Doubt got two trophies for “It’s My Life,” winning Best Group and Best Pop Video.
R&B artist Beyonce won Best Female Video for “Naughty Girl” and Usher took the Best Male Video for “Yeah!” featuring Lil’ Jon and Ludacris, as well as Best Dance Video.
Alicia Keys surprised the audience by performing her song “If I Ain’t Got You,” which won the award for best R&B Video, with music legends Stevie Wonder and Lenny Kravitz. Then the trio rocked the house with a rendition of Wonder’s song “Higher Ground.”
Maroon 5 won Best New Artist, while the Aussie band Jet won the award for Best Rock Video for their video “Are You Gonna Be My Girl.” Linkin Park won the Viewer’s Choice Award and alternative rock band Yellowcard won the MTV2 Award.
It was also a night to urge people to vote in this election year. The show featured Jenna and Barbara Bush, the daughters of President Bush, in a video link from New York, and Vanessa and Alexandra Kerry, daughters of the Democratic challenger Sen. John Kerry. Several artists, like rapper Lil’ Jon, sported P. Diddy’s “Vote or Die” T-shirts and called on young Americans to vote on Nov. 2.
