In the glut of awards shows, the second annual BET Hip Hop Awards already stands out - even before it airs tonight.

Multiplatinum-selling, Grammy-winning rapper T.I., up for a leading nine awards, was arrested hours before he was to appear on the show, recorded Saturday in Atlanta. The rapper-actor born Clifford Harris was busted in the parking lot of an Atlanta shopping center, where he allegedly tried to pick up three machine guns, two silencers and a pistol from an undercover officer.

On TV BET Hip Hop Awards show airs at 8 tonight on BET.