Creed and Empire lead NAACP Image Awards nominations

Boxing drama Creed and hip-hop series Empire will be the ones to beat at the 2016 NAACP Image Awards after picking up top nominations.
The Rocky spin-off leads all movies with six nods, including Outstanding Motion Picture, a category which also features Beasts of No Nation, Concussion, Dope and Straight Outta Compton.
Creed co-stars Phylicia Rashad and Tessa Thompson will vie for the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture title, while the film’s director Ryan Coogler is up for Outstanding Writing and Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture.
Creed’s leading man Michael B. Jordan also earned two of his own nominations with Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture as well as Entertainer of the Year, alongside Pharrell Williams, Viola Davis, TV mogul Shonda Rhimes and ballerina Misty Copeland.
N.W.A. biopic Straight Outta Compton racked up five nominations, including an Outstanding Supporting Actor nod for O’Shea Jackson, Jr, who played his father Ice Cube in the film, and Corey Hawkins, as well as nods in the writing and directing categories.
Meanwhile, in TV, Lee Daniels’ Empire scored an impressive 12 nods, and will compete against Scandal, Power, How to Get Away with Murder and Being Mary Jane for Outstanding Drama Series.
Empire stars Terrence Howard, Taraji P. Henson, Jussie Smollett, Bryshere Y. Gray and Grace Gealey all earned acting nods, while Daniels was shortlisted for Outstanding Directing in a Dramatic Series, and again for Outstanding Writing in a Dramatic Series with co-creator Danny Strong.
Empire also dominated in the music category, with the season one soundtrack vying for the title of Outstanding Album against releases by some of R&B’s biggest stars, Janet Jackson, The Weeknd, Charlie Wilson, and Jill Scott, and Smollett, who earned a nod for Outstanding New Artist, was also nominated for Outstanding Duo, Group or Collaboration and Outstanding Song – Contemporary.
Other multiple nominees include TV series black-ish and How to Get Away With Murder, Queen Latifah’s Bessie Smith biopic Bessie, and recording artists Janet Jackson, Pharrell Williams and Jill Scott.
The winners of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Image Awards, will be unveiled at a ceremony on 5 February (16).