BET’s “SOS Save Ourselves: Help for Haiti” telethon was studded with stars, talent and a positive message Friday night. MTV news reports that Queen Latifah, Diddy and Pharrell spearheaded the event that was held at the American Airlines arena in Miami, and encouraged viewers to donate to the cause of Haiti.

The night opened with Wyclef Jean and Mavado’s performance of “Hold On”. Clef, who brought Haitian MCs to perform alongside him, told the audience he wanted to teach them “Creole 101”. The Haitian born rapper transitioned into a mini-set that began with “Sweetest Girl”, with Akon making an appearance. After doing “I’mma Zoe” with Haitian singer Black Dada the performance ended with everyone waving Haitian flags.

Viewers were treated to a range of performances from inspirational, powerful vocalists like Mary J. Blige and Jazmine Sullivan singing “We Gonna Make It,” to an unlikely combination of Justin Bieber teaming up with Ludacris for “Baby” (the 15-year-old saluted Haiti with singing parts of “One less Lonely Girl” in French).

Other performances included Robin Thicke’s amazing rendition of “Mercy Mercy Me” by Marvin Gaye, Busta Rhymes’s brand-new Haiti-themed song and Keri Hilson singing her single “Knock You Down.”

Following her performance, Hilson delivered an inspirational message to the crowd:  ”No one is paid to be here. We’re all here from the bottoms of our hearts. We’re all brothers and sisters in Christ. No one is exempt. We can all do something.”

Nas took the stage with reggae artist, Damian Marley, as they performed “The Strong Will Continue”, from their upcoming LP entitled “Distant Relatives”.

“This is for the strong,” Nas shouted. “This is for Haiti!”

The evening continued with Chris Brown performing “Crawl” and “With You”. India.Arie, Jazmine Sullivan and Chrisette Michele gave a beautiful and special performance of Kirk Franklin’s Haiti relief song “Are You Listening”, followed by breaking out into “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” in the middle of the song.

Diddy, Pharrel and Queen Latifah closed the show starting with a “Lean on Me” sing-a-long which brought out most of the other performers of the night and stars like Monica, Pitbull, Brian McKnight, Sean Kingston and Gloria Estefan.






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