Chris Brown, Beyonce earn BET Award nominations
Music's power couple Jay Z and Beyonce, and rapper Drake led the BET Awards nominations announced on Wednesday with five nods each, followed by R&B singer聽Pharrell Williams聽and hip-hop singer聽August Alsina聽with four.
Jay Z and Drake will vie for best male hip-hop artist along with Future, J. Cole, and聽Kendrick Lamar. The two will also battle it out for video of the year with other nominees Beyonce,聽Chris Brown, and Williams.
Beyonce also earned nods for best female R&B/pop artist and best collaboration, with husband Jay Z on "Drunk in Love," as well as nominations for video of the year for "Drunk in Love" and her song "Partition."
"This year's nominees represent the best of our culture," Stephen Hill,聽BET's聽president of music programming and specials, said in a statement.
The annual BET Awards began in 2001 to celebrate African-American and other minorities in categories spanning music, film, and sports. The awards will be presented live on the聽cable TV聽network BET,聽Black Entertainment Television, which is part of Viacom Inc, on June 29 from the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles.
In the film category, Oscar nominees聽Angela Bassett聽and聽Oprah Winfrey聽as well as聽Gabrielle Union,聽Kerry Washington, and Academy Award winner聽Lupita Nyong'o聽scored nods for top actress.
Oscar nominee聽Chiwetel Ejiofor, Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker, along with聽Idris Elba,聽Kevin Hart, and Michael B. Jordan, will compete for the best actor award.
Tennis stars Venus and聽Serena Williams, basketball players聽LeBron James,聽Carmelo Anthony, Blake Griffin, and boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. earned nominations in the sports category.
