First thing: the 99 awards will always hold a special place in my heart because that was the day Dreamcast dropped and I saved up all summer to buy it. Lot of chores, odd jobs for neighbors and just collecting as much change as I could to take to Coinstar.
Anyway, only reason I watched it is because my girl was over and she wanted to watch it so we did and I told her some of the same things: MTV holding a video music awards makes no sense as they've phased out videos completely and the ceremony really does serve just to embolden their partnerships with corporate sponsors and other artists and the sponsors of those artists (KIA and Maroon 5 for instance) but the main thing I noticed is that MTV really is just for teenage girls now. I asked her if it was different when we were younger or if that's just me noticing it now at 28 but no, I remember they not only showed artists that appealed to men but also had advertising that appealed to us as well. All of the artists who performed at that show appeal to women and all of the recipients appeal to women. There's nothing wrong with that at all though because Lord knows there is enough stuff out there that is just for men and ignores the fact that women make up 51% of the audience, but MTV just isn't for guys. I saw commercials for Degree for Women, women razors, clean and clear (with women in the ads) and most of MTV's shows now appeal to women or just teenage women. So the days of MTV and DMX doing a joint performance decked out in jeans, chains, durags, and with a mob on stage and a Bentley as the backdrop is over. Drake winning the best hip hop award for a song that featured no rapping should tell you that