As the official VMA house band, hip-hop’s newest challenger Wale and the legendary go go band UCB hyped up the audience as they put their own unique spin on some of the biggest songs of the year, his own material and a few classic covers.  They collaborated with a number of artists including Kid Cudi with “Day And Night,” The All-American Rejects with “Gives You Hell,”Pitbull with “You Know You Want Me” and 3OH!3 with “Don’t Trust Me”.  Kid Cudi honored DJ AM during his performance of “Make Her Say.”

During a commercial break, after Kanye West’s tirade, Wale tried to quell the crowd. Addressing the audience, he cracked a joke about Serena Williams, saying that her match-ending tantrum at the United States Open on Saturday was the result of “roid rage.” Returning to the subject of Mr. West, Wale said, “You can’t fault a man for speaking his mind,” and he was roundly booed.

However, labeled as “Most Underused Performer” Wale’s witty and wily style of emceeing turned out to be good for the show. The only real let down was MTV’s only letting him do interstitial music around the commercial breaks and awards. He deserves better than being relegated to Russell Brand’s sideman.

Also sending out a special shout-out to DMV’s own Frank Sirius (aka Scooby) for winning the VMA Award for Breakout Artist for Washington, DC.