STARS TEAM UP FOR THE CLASSICS ON VH1'S HIP HOP HONORS SHOW!

When VH1's "Hip Hop Honors" airs this month, viewers will notice a new look and a new home for the annual event.
The festivities moved from Manhattan to the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Howard Gilman Opera House, where the biggest names in hip hop came out last month to honor the 25th anniversary of Def Jam Records.

"We honored a label as opposed to six to eight different artists," executive producer Lee Rolontz told The News. "Def Jam is the hip-hop brand, created by a very diverse group of people who have this incredible story of achieving the American Dream. Instead of trying to fit that all into one segment, we wanted to try something different."

The sixth annual "VH1 Hip Hop Honors," airing Oct. 13 at 9 p.m., will be hosted by Tracy Morgan - his third year as emcee - and include performances by the Roots, Eminem, Public Enemy, DMX, Gym Class Heroes, Mary J. Blige, Warren G, Method Man, Ludacris, Foxy Brown, Kid Rock and more.

Anthony Anderson, Eve, Jimmy Fallon, Brett Ratner and Chris Rock are presenters.

The show was taped to allow Rolontz and her production team time to make sure the show stays within its time constraints. With music medleys, she said, things often run long.

Taping might also prevent any of Morgan's notorious off-the-cuff antics that could cause network officials agita, but Rolontz said the "30 Rock" actor was nothing but a professional onstage.

"Tracy's at the top of his game right now, and he was the best that he's ever been on the show," she said. "He can be unpredictable, but he loves hip hop so much, he was so in line with what the show is, we didn't touch him in postproduction."

Though "Honors" and other hip-hop awards shows have seen their share of bad press due to the unfortunate behavior by some, Rolontz said the overall vibe of the "Honors" is always civil.

"Depending on who you ask, hip hop can have a bad or good connotation. Many people are wary of hip hop just because they don't know what it is," said Rolontz.

"When we created the show, we saw it as the Kennedy Center Honors of hip hop, and we modeled it after that. We really created a show where the artists are so respectful and so happy to be there, and that has continued through this year."