Tichina Arnold’s old squeeze, rapper MC Lyte, posed with rapper T.I. on the red carpet at the 2008 BET Awards on Saturday. As you know T.I. never made it this far last year because he took a detour to a supermarket parking lot, and, well, you know the rest of the story. Rumors are flying that T.I. and his boo Tameka “Tiny” Cottle are having marital difficulties because she didn’t accompany him to the awards show and he flew to DC after the BET Awards without her. There’s a simple reason why they didn’t attend the awards together: Tiny is a stay-at-home mom now. T.I. and Tiny’s 5-month-old son Major looks just like his mommy did at 5 months.

Atlanta was host to the 2008 BET Hip Hop Awards again for the 3rd straight year. Things started off a little rough with singer Keyshia Cole leaving industry types cooling their heels at Keyshia’s private birthday party at the W hotel on Friday. I hear her well-appointed guests were not happy that she stood them up. Where was she? Keyshia was shooting an upcoming cover for Essence magazine. I agree that a photo shoot at that time of night does seem a little strange.

ELECTRONIC GLADIATOR
I heard a rumor about Bow Wow this weekend that I won’t repeat because it will be all over the blogs soon enough. Shad is going to give his mom fits if he doesn’t tighten up his act. Bow Wow’s outfit looked like a throw back from the movie TRON.

R&B diva Monica attended the awards with her man Rocko, though neither walked the red carpet together who walked the red carpet together. They both hooked up backstage and took great shots together. I love Mo’s outfit with her new Louis Vuitton Speedy. That’s hawt!

I love Crime Mob’s former rapper Diamond in this outfit from Frederick’s of Hollywood. Diamond loves Frederick’s celebrity couture corset line. Her boots are by Aldo Shoes $400. Diamond tells SR.com she’s about to drop a new mixtape which should be available any day now.

See more pics after the break…

Actors Jamal “Gravy” Woolard, who plays Notorious B.I.G. in an upcoming biopic, and Derek Luke (“Antoine Fisher”) stopped by the BET Awards to make a presentation. Luke is still married to his lovely Latina wife of 10 years, Sophia. And Gravy has his work cut out for him in “Notorious”.

Rapper Yo Yo graced the red carpet with her appearance again this year. However, I must say she did her thing last year in the style department. But I guess she decided to mix things up a little this year since no one talked about her last year.

Ne-Yo was looking sharp wearing a lambskin leather blazer and black jeans accented with a red and black scarf tossed over his shoulder to achieve that perfect metrosexual look. I heard that Ne-Yo’s Cirque De Soleil themed birthday party following the BET Awards was very well attended by the industry’s elite.

Doesn’t Young Jeezy look handsome in his suit and tie? I don’t recall ever seeing Jeezy look this hawt! Of course Jeezy was showing his support for Sen. Barack Obama. Maybe BET should have hired Jeezy to host the show since Katt Williams was a no-show. According to BET.com, Williams lost a bet to T-Pain in a break dancing competition earlier in the day. This is the official story, but I heard a different story that didn’t involve any bets.

R&B crooner Keith Sweat stopped by Devyne Stephens’ mansion party which was sponsored by Allure and Ciroc vodka. Sweat is currently in the studio with R&B group Dru Hill and he will appear in their upcoming reality series. Sweat says the guys are united as one and there is no beef between the members.

Old school rapper Lady Of Rage rocked her trademark afro puffs to the Hip Hop Awards. Lady joined other old school rappers MC Lyte and Salt & Pepa in performing a tribute to Sen. Barack Obama.

The Desperate Housewives of Bankhead, I mean the Real Housewives of Atlanta, sashayed down the red carpet like they owned it. No one knew who they were, but that’s okay because they are legends in their own minds.

Old school legend Ed Lover (center) and DJ Trauma (right) attended the Grand Hustle All Swagged Out Producers Takeover Mixer at MODA404 on Saturday.
Photo courtesy: AW Media Group PR

I don’t know if the rumors about Lil’ Wayne knocking up Nivea are true or not. But I hear he announced he has a baby on the way during his performance. Lil’ Wayne won three BET awards (yawn).

Photos: Wireimage/Getty except where indicated