All Hail Hip Hop! Then...Make Room for Family!

NEW YORK, Oct. 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- On Tuesday, October 11th at 8:00P.M.* hip hop headlines a night of must see TV when the "BET HIP HOP AWARDS 2011" airs immediately before the series premiere of "REED BETWEEN THE LINES."  In its sixth year the "BET HIP HOP AWARDS," hosted by comedian Mike Epps, continues to deliver the best two hours of hip hop on television.  This year's show features performances by DMX, Wale, Big Sean, Meek Mill, Rick Ross, Wiz Khalifa, Roscoe Dash, Swizz Beatz, Young Jeezy, T.I., Lupe Fiasco, Erykah Badu, Heavy D, along with seven sets of pure rap genius highlighted in cyphers including Chris Brown, Eminem, Rick Ross and his Maybach Music team, Joe Budden, Yelawolf, Estelle, Busta Rhymes, Eminem, Ludacris, Ace Hood, Blind Fury, and many more.  Also, LL COOL J receives the "I AM HIP-HOP" Icon Award.  

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BET once again teams up with Cossette Productions, the famed producers of the GRAMMY Awards® and the record-setting BET AWARDS shows, to handle production of the telecast. Stephen G. Hill, BET President, Music and Programming, along with Lynne Harris Taylor, BET Vice President of Specials, are executive producers of the telecast.

Tracee Ellis Ross and Malcom-Jamal Warner return to television on Tuesday, October 11 at 10:00PM and 10:30 PM, in BET Networks' brand new original scripted comedy series REED BETWEEN THE LINES.  Also starring Anna Maria Horsford and Melissa DeSousa, REED BETWEEN THE LINES is a modern day love story that follows a sexy, successful, African-American couple juggling  three kids – Keenan (Nadji Anthony Jeter), Kaci (Zoe Soul) and Alexis (Zoe Hendrix), demanding careers and outspoken coworkers (Anna Maria Horsford and Melissa De Sousa).

Throughout the series, Dr. Carla Reed (Tracee Ellis Ross) has to manage multiple roles as psychologist, wife, mother, and friend. In the first episode we see just how sticky multi-tasking can be when a female patient battling sex addiction ends up way too close to home. In the second episode, Dr. Alex Reed (Malcolm-Jamal Warner) realizes being an NYU professor is sometimes easier than being a home-schooling dad as he struggles to find the fine line between supportive and smothering when it comes to his baby girl Alexis.

REED BETWEEN THE LINES is executive produced by Arthur Harris, Jacque Edmonds Cofer and Warren Hutcherson. The series is produced by Tracee Ellis Ross and Malcolm-Jamal Warner.

*All times are ET/PT.

About BET Networks

BET Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), is the nation's leading provider of quality entertainment, music, news and public affairs television programming for the African-American audience. The primary BET channel reaches more than 98 million households and can be seen in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom and sub-Saharan Africa. BET is the dominant African-American consumer brand with a diverse group of business extensions: BET.com, a leading Internet destination for Black entertainment, music, culture, and news; CENTRIC, a 24-hour entertainment network targeting the 25- to 54-year-old African-American audience; BET Digital Networks - BET Gospel and BET Hip Hop, attractive alternatives for cutting-edge entertainment tastes; BET Home Entertainment, a collection of BET-branded offerings for the home environment including DVDs and video-on-demand; BET Event Productions, a full-scale event management and production company with festivals and live events spanning the globe; BET Mobile, which provides ringtones, games and video content for wireless devices; and BET International, which operates BET in the United Kingdom and oversees the extension of BET network programming for global distribution.

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