Nicki Minaj and Rihanna are flying pretty freaking high right now. Both ladies have snagged the most nominations for the upcoming American Music Awards with a total of four noms each.

The mega-stars will compete in the Favorite Female Artist Rock/Pop category with Nicki also being up for Favorite Album Rock/Pop, Favorite Artist Rap/Hip-Hop, and Favorite Album Rap/Hip-Hop. Rihanna is vying for Artist of the Year, Favorite Artist Soul/R&B, and Favorite Album Soul/R&B. Drake, Justin Bieber, Maroon 5, One Direction, and Usher aren’t far behind the ladies with three nominations each, and Breezy and J. Cole are up for two potential AMAs.

Winners will be determined by online voting which starts today on the Coca-Cola AMA voting website amavote.com. The annual awards show is slated to take place November 18 in LA. Here are a few more nominations of interest. Check out the full list here. Who has your vote?

ARTIST OF THE YEAR

• Justin Bieber
• Drake
• Maroon 5
• Katy Perry
• Rihanna

NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR

• J. Cole
• fun.
• Gotye
• Carly Rae Jepsen
• One Direction

FAVORITE MALE ARTIST – POP/ROCK

• Justin Bieber
• Flo Rida
• Pitbull
• Usher

FAVORITE FEMALE ARTIST – POP/ROCK

• Kelly Clarkson
• Nicki Minaj
• Katy Perry
• Rihanna

FAVORITE ARTIST – RAP/HIP-HOP

• Drake
• Nicki Minaj
• Tyga

FAVORITE ALBUM – RAP/HIP-HOP

• J. Cole/Cole World: The Sideline Story
• Drake/Take Care
• Nicki Minaj/Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded

FAVORITE MALE ARTIST – SOUL/R&B

• Chris Brown
• Trey Songz
• Usher

FAVORITE FEMALE ARTIST – SOUL/R&B

• Beyoncé
• Mary J. Blige
• Rihanna

FAVORITE ALBUM – SOUL/R&B

• Chris Brown/Fortune
• Rihanna/Talk That Talk
• Usher/Looking 4 Myself

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Source: celebrific.blogspot.com

It’s almost summer, and with that season approaching with the quickness (not until June, but you know Memorial Day ushers in the summertime way of thinking and naked-ness), it’s time to get ready for another presentation of the BET Awards. Nominations came out yesterday, and while I’m sure most–no, make that some–of the nominees are geeked up about their honors, I kind of rolled my eyes at not only the nominations, but the idea of another unorganized award show. Is it just me, or have the BET Awards become pretty irrelevant and unnecessary at this point?

I’ll never forget when the show was at its prime. The award show as a whole started in 2001 and has been a force to be reckoned with over the years, even pulling in MTV Video Music Award numbers, sometimes record numbers for the network. The most entertaining BET Awards presentation was probably the one in 2003 when Mo’Nique was the host, and anybody and everybody that was hot in the industry (and black) was in the audience. That was the year Bey performed “Crazy in Love” live for the first time, a very popular 50 Cent (remember, this was a LONG time ago) slayed the stage, and that was the year the show honored James Brown and Michael Jackson came out and got down with him. Our last glimpse of the men together on stage before both passed. Pretty awesome indeed.

But if you look forward after those years, the ceremonies became more and more ridiculous. From hosts who bombed (I still love you Damon Wayans), to reckless mess (Lil Wayne singing “I wish I could f**k every girl in the world” with his daughter and her friends dancing on stage), the terrible censorship (covering up clean words and accidentally letting the F-bomb and worse be aired on national television), and Debra Lee’s wardrobe choices, folks have been begging BET to go back to the drawing board with this once very fun and exciting annual event.

I’m sure most would say we need the BET Awards in order to honor OUR stars, but how does the show benefit and represent for black celebrities when half of them don’t even show up for the award’s ceremony??? Maybe they started to think the show was obscure as well, because last time I saw folks like Rihanna or even Kanye at the show, they had different boos on their arms and were all smiles before big scandals that would change the direction of their music and careers. And in all honesty, the show has started to honor the same folks over and over again rather than really showcasing a wide variety of talented black stars. And it’s getting pretty tired at this point.

For instance, this year, the video of the year category has two nominations for Bey and two for “The Throne” (Jay-Z and Kanye), leaving just one random nom left for Usher’s video, “Climax.” And that video came out, what, two months ago? And let us not forget that it has been the Chris Brown/YMCMB show for the last three years (Lil Wayne or Drake has consistently closed the show with stomach-turning flashes of Wayne’s panties and expletive-laden performances). Who can forget the fact that they let Chris Brown perform on-stage about three times last year and just HAD to give us a streamed performance of Beyoncé performing at Glastonbury? (They could have kept that.) And after a year that sprouted new female rap talents like Iggy Azalea and Azealia Banks, why Nicki Minaj is nominated against folks like Diamond (she had new music???), I have no clue. They might as well mail her that award now and save her the trouble of coming out. And No Jill Scott in the Female R&B category??? *scoffs*

I do commend producers for including the humanitarian award, the lifetime achievement award (which is hand’s down my favorite part of the show) and letting gospel talents perform (too bad they have to sit in the audience and listen to so much ratchet-ness a majority of the night). I even like that they try to broaden people’s musical tastes by having awards for international acts, but what good is that award when you hand it out before the program starts??? You see, for every step forward the show takes, it winds up taking a few more back. But then again, that’s the history of the network as a whole.

With this type of job, I’ll be watching so I can help provide coverage about what happened, who wore what, and all that jazz (just as I did last year), and I’m really just looking forward to the show’s attempt at honoring Whitney Houston. But I’m hoping with the time they have to put on something fancy, it will be great, and that the awards as a whole can get a major upgrade. But these days, I’m finding that this show…honestly, make that most music award shows, are becoming as irrelevant as as can be, and there’s nothing you can do about it but tune in to laugh, or tune out to maintain your right mind.

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The Academy Awards are on Sunday! With Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer getting a lot of love for their work in The Help, we hope that it will be an easy win from them on the big day (but you know how the Academy can play folks). While we’re happy for their accolades, we’d also like to acknowledge a few other actresses whose roles should have garnered a lot more love from the allegedly majority white, male, old guys in the Academy. Just on a side note, some of these ladies weren’t even nominated, but their performances deserved some recognition in our eyes. These are just a few of our favorite picks, but feel free to share your own faves in the comments.

Source: neebeep.com

Whoopi Goldberg as Celie in The Color Purple

Lost to: Geraldine Page in The Trip to Bountiful

Not to stereotype, but I’m pretty sure most black folks have seen The Color Purple. While we can all attest to the fact that Steven Spielberg’s attempt to bring Alice Walker’s book to life was masterful, it got no love from the Academy, folks. It did rack up 11 nominations, but wound up being the “India Arie” (as Common would say) of the ’85 ceremonies, going home empty handed. While Oprah did transform big time in front of our eyes, presenting herself in a way we hadn’t seen before, I felt as though Whoopi gave a consistent and courageous performance as Celie. She went from a meek, abused an unloved wife, to an outspoken, pants wearing free woman. Whoopi would go on later to win an Academy Award for her work in the film Ghost, so I’m sure she’s not too pissed about this robbery.

Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer (no, not Sherri Shepherd or Yvette Nicole Brown) got great news this morning when it was announced they both received Academy Award nominations for their work in The Help.

For Davis, who garnered her nomination for playing Aibileen Clark, the soft-spoken maid and heroine of the film, this is her second Oscar nod. She picked one up in 2008 for her role as the pathetic mother, Mrs. Miller in Doubt. Coincidentally, for this year’s Academy Awards, she’ll be battling for the little statuette against her Doubt co-star, Meryl Streep. Oh yeah, and some other folks.

For Spencer, who has racked up any and everything this awards season, including her recent Golden Globe win for playing the hilarious Minny Jackson in the film, this is her first Oscar nomination, but probably not her last. She seems like a frontrunner for the award and we’ll definitely be rooting for both Spencer and Davis on the big night–Feb.26.

These two seem to be the only black folks who picked up nominations this year, and after last year’s drought, two is better than none at all, right? But I’m just wondering, where is Pariah at nominations wise? I guess after not being able to grab a Golden Globe nomination, there was no way the awesome independent film could slip in the back door for Oscar noms–but still. Kim Wayans should have picked up some kind of something for her amazing work, and I know I’m not the only one who was moved by the movie. But I guess, to each their own. You know how I like to rant (*smile*).

But anyway, congrats ladies!

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“The Help” is swimming in award nominations right now. On top of the four Screen Actors Guild Awards announced yesterday, the movie has picked up an additional five Golden Globe nominations.

Octavia Spencer and Jessica Chastain will once again compete for Best Supporting actress, with Viola Davis picking up a nomination for Best Actress. The film could also take home Best Motion Picture Drama and Mary J. Blige may win for Best Original Song for “Living Proof.”

British fav Idris Elba, was also nominated for Best Actor in a miniseries or TV movie for his role as Det. John Luther in the BBC miniseries “Luther.” I may need to tune in for this.

The Golden Globes will be broadcast Jan. 15, 2012, do you plan on watching?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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Nicki’s got a lot to be amped about these days. She garnered herself some very exciting Grammy nominations yesterday, including a nod for Best New Artist! I know Lil Kim is somewhere steaming at all this success, preparing her next diss record (kidding!). But while she is doing good with all that career wise, let’s see if her outfit to last night’s Grammy Nominations Concert was a winner or a loser.

The woman of many personalities came to the event decked out in a skintight blue dress that gave her a lot of lift (if you know what I mean), and accessorized the look with a pair of multi-colored neon pumps, an iced-out watch and bracelet, as well as her signature “Barbie” necklace (did you notice her nails matched her dress?). Up top, she went for a pink wig with blonde tips and those blunt bangs we’re so used to. I tell ya, nobody rocks a wig like Nicki does these days…

So I must say, I do like this look on her. I think the color is beautiful, and for once her wig isn’t overly distracting. The shoes are a smart choice as they match in a way, but also add a bit of extra neon pop to her already bright ensemble. The makeup is fresh with her signature lip shade, and she just looks…normal. And that’s not actually a bad thing Nicki! The over-the-top-tacky-to-look-cool-gimmick thing can get pretty annoying actually, so I’m a fan of this toned down version of her. A very colorful look for a very colorful artist. I’d steal it (just maybe not so tight dress wise). But what do you think? Steal it, or stop it?

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