Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, DJ Khaled, Ace Hood 'Hustle Hard' At BET Awards

Things started off slow when Rick Ross took the stage to perform at the 2011 BET Awards on Sunday (June 26) evening. Wearing a half-buttoned red silk shirt, Rozay emerged as his 2010 hit single "Aston Martin Music" blared from the speakers. Neither Drake nor R&B singer Chrisette Michele, who both sing on the song's hook, were present onstage, and their absence was noticeable as Ross carried on without them, spitting his LL Cool J-inspired bars, "When I'm alone in my room, sometimes I stare at the wall," with his usual gruff.

The set began to pick up, however, when DJ Khaled stormed from backstage with his protégé Ace Hood. Khaled shouted his usual "we the best" mantra, and a shirtless Ace, along with Ross and Khaled, performed Hood's "Hustle Hard (Remix)."

The hustler's anthem definitely raised the energy in Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium, but it wasn't until Lil Wayne came out for the song's third and final verse that the crowd reached a fevered pitch. Weezy, who wore a white sleeveless tee, black fitted hat and black sunglasses, bounced around the circular stage, rapping, "OK, now black card in my pocket, ridin' around in that 'Gatti/ Pistol off in my boxers, I ain't got time to be boxin'."

As Wayne got deeper into his verse, Ross, Khaled and Ace gathered around Tunechi in what resembled an old-school rap cypher, which typically took place in the urban neighborhoods of New York, where rap originated.

Still, despite their street-corner appeal, the pyrotechnic-laced performance proved that Ross, Wayne and company came to put on a show. It may have started off sluggish, but by the end, it was clear that Ross, Wayne and Khaled have themselves another hit.