LOS ANGELES - T-Pain, Kanye West and Keyshia Cole had the potential to win multiple trophies at Tuesday's BET Awards, but the real buzz going into the ceremony revolved around promised performances from current chart king Lil Wayne and superstars like Usher and Alicia Keys.

"This is truly the Super Bowl of awards shows," BET chairman Debra Lee said at a private dinner the night before the show. "We're really proud of it."

Rapper and singer T-Pain, who has seemingly collaborated with every top performer in urban music, is up for five awards, though fittingly the nominations all come for his work with others and not his own hits. Kanye West and Keyshia Cole received three nominations, and double nominees were newcomer rapper Flo Rida and veteran songstresses Alicia Keys and Mary J. Blige.

But the performances at the annual awards show are as anticipated as the actual awards, and this year, Lil Wayne was perhaps the biggest draw, thanks to the phenomenal 1 million sales debut of his album "Tha Carter III" last week and his smash hit "Lollipop," which was perched on top of the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart for weeks.

Lil Wayne was also featured on the remix to Usher's No. 1 hit "Love in This Club," and the singer was expected to perform at the show too. Others on the bill included Rihanna and Chris Brown (though the rumored lovebirds are expected to perform separately), as well as Keys, T-Pain and West.

D.L. Hughley was set to host the show — a live broadcast from the Shrine Auditorium.

Jill Scott was also poised to perform a tribute to Al Green, who was slated to receive BET's Lifetime Achievement Award. Quincy Jones was to be honored with the network's Humanitarian Award in recognition of his work with the Listen Up Foundation, which encourages young people to embrace creativity and diversity.

Presenters included Terrence Howard, Jennifer Hudson, Samuel L. Jackson, Ice Cube and LL Cool J.