Jay-Z was surprisingly absent from the 2013 BET Award show last night. Despite the upcoming release of his new album Magna Carta Holy Grail, the rapper skipped the opportunity to promote his new release and perform one of its singles at the event.

The Brooklyn rapper's absence was all the more glaring because in the past, Jay-Z seized such opportunities to promote an upcoming album by premiering a song from it during his previous performances at the show. At the first ever BET Awards in 2001, the Roc Nation CEO debuted his smash hit Izzo (H.O.V.A.) at the June 19 ceremony, in promotion for the release of his The Blueprint album later that year in September. The performance created a major buzz for the LP, which went on to sell over two million copies.

It's possible that Jay-Z could be saving the debut of a new song from Magna Carta Holy Grail for his July 8 free concert atop Time Square's Ed Sullivan Theatre--home of the Late Show with David Letterman . Another possibility is that because Samsung purchased one million copies of the rapper's new album, which they will release to their Galaxy smartphone users three days before the official release of the record, Jay-Z was contractually forbidden from releasing any music from the album until Samsung did.

Chris Brown, for one, was under no such obligations and debuted his new single Love More, from his upcoming album X, which is scheduled for release on July 16. Nicki Minaj is featured on the single and joined Brown for his performance at the BET Awards.

Brown took home the Fandemonium award at the ceremony and other winners included Kendrick Lamar, who took home two awards for Best Male Hip Hop Artist and Best New Artist. Nicki Minaj, Drake, A$AP Rocky, Miguel and Rihanna also won awards at the event.

Tags
Jay-Z, Magna Carta Holy Grail