Beyoncé Biopic Ballad 'Be Alive' Earns Singer First Oscar Nomination

Kristopher Harris via Wikimedia Commons

Music megastar Beyoncé has 28 Grammy Awards, more than any other performer in history, and tied with legendary producer Quincy Jones for the most overall — but Tuesday the 40-year-old singer found a new frontier to conquer.

Her song, "Be Alive," which she co-wrote with songwriter Dixon for the Will Smith-led biopic "King Richard" about the life of Venus and Serena Williams' father, Richard Williams, earned the artist her first Academy Award nomination.

The nomination was one of six Oscar nods for the movie announced by actor-comedian Leslie Jordan and actor, CEO and producer Tracee Ellis Ross Tuesday via a global live stream as they revealed the nominees for the 94th edition of the Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Will Smith as Richard Williams.

The moment may have been bittersweet for Beyoncé, whose husband Jay-Z didn't make the cut in the same category with "Guns Go Bang," from the black cowboy Netflix epic “The Harder They Fall," but it was well deserved according to the daughter of the film's subject Serena Williams.

 

"When the film came out, there was no other person that could do this song except for Beyoncé. I feel like we've had a similar path in our lives. We've trained since an early age to reach a goal," the tennis pro shared while on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" in November, about approaching Beyoncé, whom she's collaborated with before about doing the original song for the movie. "For us it was really only one answer, and she embraced that. There was no doubt in her mind that it belonged to her as well. The original song is amazing, and I love it."

Check out the video below for the complete list of nominations or go to oscars.com.

  

Watch: The Queen Bee Impersonates Adele on 'Carpool Karaoke'

Adele's rendition of Monster, while appearing on "The Late Late Show with James Corden" during a “Carpool Karaoke” segment in 2016, is the stuff of legend.

Both viewers and the musically-inclined host were left impressed by the 15-time Grammy Award winner's effortless flow and familiarity with the subject matter.

At the time the Queen Bee herself even co-signed the performance. She tweeted, "Adele is mad ratchet. I can’t take her #UK #WutsGood,” with the laughing emoji, seeming impressed with the take on her verse.

This past Thursday (Feb. 3) it was Minaj's turn to return the favor. While appearing on the talk show, she did her own take on the superstar chanteuse that was just as stunning.

“First of all, it’s Adele. Second of all, it’s ‘Monster.’ You guys made such an amazing freaking tag team,” Minaj said about the Adele impersination. “That made my day, my year. I probably got a thousand phone calls about that one thing.”

Nicki then got into character as Adele and spoke with a British accent.

“All right, in order for me to channel Adele, I sort of have to think like a black lady in London, right?” Nicki said while getting into the accent.

Adele is mad ratchet. I can't take her😂 #UK #WutsGood

— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) January 14, 2016

She continued, “Because the thing is, normally, everybody knows … my British accent is sort of like a posh white lady. A rich white lady, right? But with Adele, I sort of have, like, to transform. She might have used to sell crack. Maybe she used to be hustling nickels and dimes in the hood and then she got her big break.”

Watch the entire video below:

Syl Johnson, Soul Singer Sampled by Hip-Hop Heavyweights, Dies at 85

I, Sumori, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Chicago R&B legend Syl Johnson, whose soulful response to the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. helped make him a star, is dead at age 85.

“It is with extreme sadness that our family announces the passing of Soul & Blues Hall of Fame legend Syl Johnson,” his loved ones confirmed in a statement to the music site Pitchfork Sunday. “Dad, Brother, Grandfather, Great Grandfather, Uncle, Friend & Artist, he lived his life as a singer, musician, and entrepreneur who loved black music.”

The family did not release a cause of death for the artist, whose demise comes less than a month after his brother and fellow musician Jimmy Johnson died at the age of 93 on Jan. 31, according to a statement on his website.

Born Sylvester Thompson in Mississippi, Johnson rose to fame in the 1960s. His releases for Twinight Records, originally named Twilight Records, and Hi Records made him a prominent member of the Chicago soul scene.

It was 1969, "Is It Because I'm Black," a song inspired by the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., that would become Twinight's biggest hit and make him a star — reaching No. 11 on Billboard's R&B chart.

"I didn't want to be a militant," Johnson told The Los Angeles Times in 2012 of writing the song. "I didn't want to make something that alienated the white audience that I played for a lot." 

The poignant piece solidified his legacy, but it was a previous release that would preserve it for future generations. 

The hit song, "Different Strokes" from Johnson's 1968 debut album "Dresses Too Short," has become one of the most widely sampled pieces of music in hip-hop. Jay Z and Kanye West ("The Joy"), Public Enemy (“Fight the Power"), and Wu-Tang Clan  ("Shame on a N***a") are just some of the artform's heavyweights to employ his music in their craft.