It's quite a rarity to have so many hip hop luminaries in one room, or one (Hammerstein) ballroom, as it was. But VH1 managed to cram as much talent as possible into their Hip Hop Honors show, which taped last night but airs Monday at 10 pm. Yes, there was a lot of talent there, but I don't count Tracy Morgan, who hosted the awards and couldn't quite get that teleprompter thing down. Could his SCRAM have been going off right about that time? No worries, I'm sure they'll have that all cleaned up by Monday.

I had the pleasure of spending the evening in the press room, where the honorees and presenters came back to chat. In fact, so many VIPs were in attendance, I decided to write up my experiences in a handy superlative format. Check out the Best and Worst, plus lots and lots of pictures, after the jump.

Happiest

Missy Elliott

She smiled brightly as she fawned over both her award and Kerry Washington (most likely to be my girl crush, incidentally), who presented it to her. I would say she is also most likely to get really drunk after the show, but, considering the crowd, that's probably not the case. She did cite her prospective alcohol consumption as the reason her mother didn't come. Apparently, her "Mama's a Christian."

Most Youthful Looking
Teddy Riley

Especially standing next to Andre Harrell, who was wearing those special eyeglasses he favors. Also, check out Teddy Riley's daughter on MTV's My Super Sweet Sixteen, coming soon to a cable box near you!

Most Entertaining

Ice T

On interracial/interplanetary love:
"Well, look man. I'm too light-skinned to ever say anything about white people. Plus, I'm not that kind of cat, you know. I'm just looking for somebody that can understand what I'm saying. If a Martian landed and she was talking the right drama, then I'd be sleeping with a green woman right now. Ya feel me?"

On Law & Order:

"I'm gonna be on that show until they throw my black ass off."

On Money:

"Money is very important to me because it allows me to help my friends. i got friends in the penitentiary. I got friends that's fucked up. I got to have capital in order to handle those situations. I mean what's really important to me is peace…It's peace, that's what people want…You need capital in order to have peace."

On Kids And Gangs:

"It's hard to talk about gangs when I'm up here representing gang banging."

On His Legacy:

"When I die, I want people to say, 'Ice T was a motherfucker.'"

Most Mystifying

Harvey Keitel

Not only did Harvey Keitel present Snoop with his Hip Hop Honor, he had this to say when he did it:

There really is no artist in any discipline, any of the arts, that I would rather give an award to. Your work affects the way young people think. I can't think of a better honor than that. You deserve it."

Interestingly, a lot of critics have mentioned something about Snoop's work affecting the way young people think, but I'm not sure it had anything to do with "honor."

Best Short-And-To-The-Point Answers

Snoop Dogg

On what defines West Coast rap:

"Snoop Dogg."

On what he regrets most in his career:

"Nothing."

On how he keeps a smile on his face all the time:

"Holla at me in the Green Room."

To be fair, there were subjects he was more talkative about, including his fondness of Bow Wow and his charitable work, which he doesn't like the press to film because he doesn't do it for publicity. Oh, rappers as fathers, which is a positive part of their lifestyle that the media doesn't cover.

Most Likely To Talk A Lot

Old School MCs

Much respect to Busy Bee, Fab Five Freddy, and Whodini. Not only do they have every right to command the microphone for as long as they want to at a show called "Hip Hop Honors," I also know that people like Snoop and Missy have far more opportunities to talk about themselves in public than they do. So, by all means, they should talk to their hearts content.

But my eyes might glaze over after a while. That's all I'm sayin'.

Cutest Duo

Salt 'n' Pepa

First of all, I saw the nose job up close. It doesn't look any better. I will say that Pepa's body is sick, and, considering she had notable weight fluctuations throughout SnP's run, I commend her. Second of all, Pep doesn't talk much at all. And when she does, Salt rolls her eyes at what she says, in a sister-ish way. It's cute and makes me look forward to their show. Oh, and they love Spinderella, who had a shouting conversation with them from across the room while they were on the podium.

Most Gracious

Phife from a Tribe Called Quest

He was the only person to say that winning a Hip Hop Honor was the best moment of his career.

Alternate Superlative for Phife — Most Frightfully Skinny