Beyoncé, Jay Z and Drake vying for BET Awards
Music industry power couple Beyoncé and Jay Z leads the nominees for the upcoming BET Awards, with Toronto rapper Drake not far behind.
The married hit-makers earned five nominations each — including for their collaborative track Drunk in Love — for the awards show, which celebrates African-American achievement in music, film and sports. The pair are slated to kick off their first joint tour in late June.
Canadian rapper and Grammy-winner Drake, who released his third studio album Nothing Was the Same last fall, earned four nominations.
He goes head to head against music mogul Jay Z in the category of best male hip hop artist, with Kendrick Lamar, Future and J.Cole rounding out their competitors.
The former Degrassi: The Next Generation actor is also vying for the BET Viewer's Choice Award and a contender in the categories of best video (for Worst Behavior) and best collaboration for his song Hold On (We're Going Home), featuring Majid Jordan.
Other top nominees for the awards, to be presented June 29 at a televised Los Angeles gala hosted by Chris Rock, include Happy singer-producer Pharrell and rising star August Alsina.
"This year's nominees represent the best of our culture," Stephen Hill, BET's president of musical programming, said in a statement.
This week, Beyoncé and Jay Z made headlines upon the emergence of a leaked security video that appears to show the rapper and the singer's sister Solange engaged in a minutes-long spat (in Beyoncé's presence) inside a New York hotel elevator, apparently following their attendance at a recent Met gala.
Late Wednesday, officials for New York's Standard Hotel said it had identified and fired a staffer for "breaching the security policies of the hotel and recording the confidential CCTV video."
Representatives for Jay Z, Beyoncé and Solange have not commented on the video.
With files from The Associated Press