How Muni Long's "Hrs And Hrs" 2022 BET Awards Show Performance Paid Homage To A 1970s Performance By Singer/Dancer Lola Falana

BETNetworks, June 26, 2022
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As of July 3, 2022 at :9:50 AM ET this video had a total of 800,716 views. 

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases R&B singer/songwriter Muni Long's performance at the 2022 BET Awards Show. A number of online commenters have noted that Muni Long's segment paid homage to a 1970s peformance by African American singer/dancer Lola Falana.

Information about Muni Long is also included in this post along with information about Lola Falana.

In addition, selected comments about Muni Long's 2022 BET performance are included in this post, with a focus on the choreography that accompanied Muni Long's singing.

The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Lola Falana for her cultural legacy. Thanks also to Muni Long for her music and thanks to all those who are associated with the two performances that are showcased in this post. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.

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INFORMATION ABOUT MUNI LONG

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muni_Long
"Priscilla Renea Hairston (née Hamilton; born September 14, 1988), known professionally as Muni Long (pronounced "money long"), is an American singer and songwriter married to Masimba Chibanda.[3] Under the name Priscilla Renea, her solo debut studio album, Jukebox, was released through Capitol Records in 2009. She then spent the following decade co-writing songs for other recording artists, including the singles "California King Bed" by Rihanna, "Worth It" by Fifth Harmony, "Love So Soft" by Kelly Clarkson, "Imagine" by Ariana Grande, and the global chart-topper "Timber" by Pitbull featuring Kesha.

Returning to her career as a solo artist, her second studio album, Coloured (2018), was released via Thirty Tigers and Sony Music, and saw Hamilton exploring Americana and country soul genres. After adopting the stage name Muni Long,[4] she experienced major commercial success as an independent artist with the single "Hrs and Hrs", which reached the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100; which led to her signing a record deal with Def Jam Recordings. She has also received a Grammy Award nomination for Album of the Year through her work on Back of My Mind (2021) by H.E.R.[5]

[...]

Long began writing songs for other recording artist. In 2010, she co-wrote the UK number-one single "Promise This";[17] as well as "California King Bed", a track from Rihanna's fifth studio album, Loud, released in November 2010.[18]...  She continued her songwriting career, landing credits on 2011 and 2012 albums by Rihanna, Demi Lovato, Madonna, Mika, Selena Gomez & The Scene, Chris Brown and Little Mix.[20][21]

[...]

Renea [has been], working under the pseudonym "Muni Long" (pronounced "money long"^[34]) as of 2019"..
-snip-
Here's the link for the official YouTube video for Muni Long's "Hrs and Hrs (with statistics as of July 3, 2022 at 8:37 AM ET) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okfR_VIbXEQ 53,143,881 views  Premiered Nov 22, 2021

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INFORMATION ABOUT LOLA FALANA
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lola_Falana
"Loletha Elayne Falana[1] or Loletha Elaine Falana[2][3] (born September 11, 1942),[5][6] better known by her stage name Lola Falana, is an American singer, dancer, and actress.[7

[...]

American TV audiences became familiar with Lola Falana during the early 1970s. She often appeared on The Joey Bishop Show and The Hollywood Palace, displaying her talent for music, dance, and light comedy. These appearances led to more opportunities. She was the first supporting player hired by Bill Cosby for his much-anticipated variety hour, The New Bill Cosby Show, which made its debut on September 11, 1972 (her 30th birthday) on CBS. Cosby had met Lola Falana in his college days, when he was a struggling comic and she was a 14-year-old dancing for $10 a show in Philadelphia nightclubs.[citation needed] Throughout the mid-1970s, Lola Falana made guest appearances on many popular TV shows, including The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Muppet Show, Laugh-In and The Flip Wilson Show. She also starred in her own television specials. In 1975, Lola Falana's disco record There's A Man Out There Somewhere reached #67 on the Billboard R&B chart. That same year, she returned to Broadway as the lead in the musical Doctor Jazz. Although the production closed after just five performances, Falana was nominated for a Tony Award and won the 1975 Theater World Award.

With help from Sammy Davis, Jr., she brought her act to Las Vegas and became a top draw there. By the late 1970s, Falana was considered the "Queen of Las Vegas". She played to sold-out crowds at The Sands, The Riviera, and the MGM Grand hotels. Finally The Aladdin offered her $100,000 a week to perform. At the time, Falana was the highest paid female performer in Las Vegas. Her show ran twenty weeks a year and became a major tourist attraction. While still playing to sold-out crowds in Las Vegas, Falana looked to other key TV roles, originally being slated to star in a remake of the 50s Vampira Show. When this project collapsed she joined the cast of a short-lived CBS soap opera, Capitol, as Charity Blake, a wealthy entertainment mogul."...

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SHOWCASE VIDEO #2: Lola Falana!



corey ingeison, July 28, 2018

This, right here, is why Lola was known as "The First Lady of Las Vegas." She's thrilling to watch. From one of her TV specials -snip-
As of June 3, 2022 at 9:53 AM ET, this video had a total of 39, 712 views.

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SELECTED COMMENTS FROM SHOWCASE VIDEO #1
This compilation includes a small number of the comments in that video's discussion thread that refer to Muni Long's 2022 BET performance (with a focus on the choreography that accompanied her singing). 

All of these comments are from June 26, 2022 to July 2, 2022.

These comments are given in relative chronological order and are numbered for referencing purposes only.  

As always, I'm interested in documenting not only what was said, but how it was said.

1. Endia Rapier
"Muni, Muni... FLAWLESS!! I’m probably about to sound like a whole judge on The Voice or something—but, trust when I say, those vocals were smooth and every note was beyond the scale of EXCELLENCE!!

The wardrobe was on point; especially, the creativity of the dancers that blended in with the dress; who would have thought?🤔🤗

I can watch this performance for hours and hours....🥰🥰"

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2. Love Melanin
"Beautiful performance. Muni stage presents with feather dancers is truly amazing. 🥰😍🌸💐🏵🌹🌺💖💜"

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3. Tim Edema
"Felt every bit of this performance😩🔥❤..And the costume design and visuals🔥🔥😍"

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4. Ms. Lowery
"Omg!!!!! Being a performing Arts student!!!! Her set is everything!!!! Yessss! The feather choreography is Life!!!!! Makes the song even more amazing! So in love! 🥰🥰"

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5. Sherika Reid
"What a beautiful, outstanding performance 💖 I had to rewatch it because it was EVERYTHING 💕 Great job, Muni 💖"

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6. As told by Kaycee
"This was so beautiful to the eye and very Aesthetically pleasing kudos to whoever came up this idea!💕💕👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽"

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7. Conie Juu
"This performance was beautiful! The voice, the movements, the artistry, just stunning!"

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8. Charelle Unique
"This was sooooo dope visually. Who ever came up with this is a genius"

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9. Anita Knight
"I totally agree! The visuals were on point.  My son, JaQuel Knight choreographed this piece for her.  He did a great job! Proud moment."

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10. C Lett
"@Anita Knight  Your son did an amazing job!"

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11. Charelle Unique
"@Anita Knight  He's the truth! I hope to work with him one day🔥🔥❤❤💯💯"

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12. Me
"Lola Falana did it first ! But it was cute"

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13. Spiritual Being
"A drag queen named NINA WEST  from NY & RUPAUL'S DRAG RACE! ORIGINATED THIS. LOOK HER UP."

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14. D.J. Tyree
"@Spiritual Being  Lola Folana did a version of this in the 70s too! It’s always so cool when I see it done!"

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15. John Smith
"Lola Falana did it 1st,over 40 years ago,the video is here on YouTube (Lola Falana I am love) .Lola was the Beyonce of the 70s"
-snip-
That video is given as Showcase Video #2 in this pancocojams post.

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16. John Smith
"@Me  Yes as soon as I saw her massive pink feather skirt, I new what was up."

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17. Huni Buni
" @Spiritual Being  Really? This style seems like a throw way way back to the very classic vintage era."

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18. Huni Buni
"@D.J. Tyree  Just watched, that was the inspiration for sure, both renditions were awesome."

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19. D.J. Tyree
"@Huni Buni  right cus when I saw it at the ball I was shook!"
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"Ball" here refers to drag [queens] balls. 

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20. Seddycakes
"@Spiritual Being  yikes...please remember most things drag queens do, especially on RuPaul, came from Black women"

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21. Kris Sanders
"Latto visual artist cause she did this last year for the hip hop awards!"

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22. Cece Giles
"@Anita Knight  your son😂😂😂"

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23. Cece Giles
"@Spiritual Being  that's a dam lie"

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24. Cassandra Daniels
"@Spiritual Being  Drag Race? Try a Black Woman in the 70s"

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25. Cassandra Daniels
"@Spiritual Being  Not to mention Vaudeville in the 50s.  Let's be careful with how we try to give credit where it isn't due at the expense of a wonderful performance."

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26. TRAVEL & WELLNESS TURNED UP
"It’s true, as others have said, that Lola Falana did this first. Not much new under the sun. It’s all about execution nowadays and this was executed almost flawlessly."

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27. MissAlphaOmegaGOD - 2U!
"Anita Knight  omg I love your son!!!🥰"

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28. Anita Knight
"@MissAlphaOmegaGOD - 2U!  That makes two of us! Thank you so much for the love. ❤"

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29. Missouri LLC
"Yes..was beautifully orchestrated"

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30. Sean Livingston
"@Seddycakes  or gays who helped black women which were very active in the theater arts for sure."

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31. Nicole Hall
"Show girls have been doing this for decades.  Finally, someone who can sing has a great team!"

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32. Benjamin Parkman
"I feel she was inspired by Mariah Carey's 2018 AMAs performance (but also the original Lola Falana) and I'm even MORE of a fan now! We need more singers who can (and have the ability to) serenade us with their voices!"

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33. All Spots Clean
"They were inspired by the miss continental pagent and ballroom scene, they take it and place it on the mainstream artist."

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34. k b
"@All Spots Clean  I’ve actually seen this performance recreated in ballroom but the original is Ms. Lola Falana"

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35. All Spots Clean
"@k b  I hear ya, but I'm sure the queens were doing that before her though they went unsung and uncredited."
-snip-
"The queens" in this comment refers to drag queens.

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36. Love Melanin
"Feather dancers reminds me of Lola Falana"s late 1970's to early 80's Las Vegas performance."

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37. KIAN, The Skorpion.
"I was so gagged last night! I thought that was an entire dress whew"

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38. BETTYBOOP
"(lola falana inspiration🌺) BEAUTIFUL PERFORMANCE! SHE'S  SOOOO BEAUTIFUL & CAN SAAAANG, SHE HIT THAT HIGH NOTE, WHITNEY STYLE🔥🔥🔥

THE DANCERS WITH THE PINK FLOWERS SCENE IS STUNNING...I WASNT EXPECTING THE FLOWERS TO MOVE....THAT WAS BEAUTIFUL!🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌺🌺🌺🌺"

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39. Rabia Jones
"I want a dress that move like your dress money long😩💃💃💃💜girl you kill it...."

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40. Ms. Lady
"IT WAS THE FEATHERS FOR ME THO!!!!!!"

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41. john stewart
"OK

H😲LD UP

THAT WAS SICKENING ‼️

S🤎 D🤎PE‼️

AND U KNOW THAT WAS BLACK PEOPLEs CONTROLLING THOSE PLUMES ‼️🤣🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎

That was IN-CREDIBLE‼️"

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42. ISAYWHATIWANTjackson jackson
"YALL IM LIKE GURRRLLLL YO DRESS ALIVE🤣BEAUTIFUL THOUGH VERY CREATIVE ❤️"

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43. Leticia McWilliams
"That was so beautiful I smiled the whole time. I have to admit. I didn't expect that and wasn't ready. I had to watch this a couple of times."

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44. N C
"Sang gal!!! That's a sanger and doesn't have to scream and yell words out to make us feel what you're saying."

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45. Deandratoosweet Bullard
"Very elegant especially with those feathers !! 🥰🥰"

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46. Marvelous M
"Come thru Vocals and Visuals 😍💕"

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47. ThatWhichISee
"Wow. I loved the performance. That was different. Feathers. Flowers. For hours......"

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48. Domineik
"Cmon girllllll *waves church fan lol 🔥🔥🔥"

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49. Charley Rae
"She did that🙏❤️🙏❤️🙏❤️🙏❤️🙏❤️🙏❤️🙏❤️🙏❤️🙏❤️🙏❤️🙏❤️"

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50. ENO AFIA
"Best stage craft of the night 🔥😍👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾"

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51. Marissa Joy
"My jaw dropped when the dancers moved the fans away"

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52. Mz Thang 318
"She definitely ate that and the flowers in the back was everything"

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53. Claudette Birden
"This girl is the truth....SANG MUNI"

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54. Erin F.
"Sis ate and left no crumbs"

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55. Cupkake stone
"Can I get an 'Amen' 'church'💯💥"

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56. Brandy Bell
"Best Performance of the NIGHT🔥🔥🔥🔥 the Visuals were SICK🔥🔥🔥🔥"

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57. Roses 4me
"I could sit and listen to this queen for HOURS!!!! She is simply gorgeous, talented, and gifted. Kudos to all of those "fan dancers". They SLAYED that dance number."

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58. YaBoiTweety
"Oh this is GOOD DRAG 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾"

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59. Meeky
"Whoever’s ideas this was is amazing. It added so much to the performance. She looks beautiful and it sounds just as good if not better."

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60. Saucé Kay(Sauce Kay)
"I was thinking.. damn that dress beautiful. She look like a princess. Then the dress start moving and I was dang they got me. That was very captivating. Beautiful choreography. 💃🏾❤🔥"

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61. Missdeeinspired
"I hear her and see her but those feathers got my attention very artistic whoever came up with this idea"

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62. Raquel C. Gary
"This girl better SAAAAAANNNGGGG!!!!! Love the visuals💕"

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63. TheDippymusic
"Ms. Lola Falana inspired, I lived!"

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