Berry Gordy to be Honored With Icon Award at Celebration of Black Cinema and Television

Berry Gordy

Motown founder Berry Gordy is among the honorees at the upcoming fifth annual Celebration of Black Cinema & Television.

The Critics Choice Association, which sponsors the event, released a statement today announcing that the 92-year-old music executive will receive the organization's Icon Award for his "unparalleled contribution to music, film and popular culture."

"The unprecedented amount of content about the Black experience on film and television made it very difficult to choose our honorees for this milestone year," CCA board member Shawn Edwards, who is serving as executive producer of the event, said. "And our special Icon Award honoree, Berry Gordy, pushed open a heavy door during the '70s and '80s through his Motown Productions with a string of movies and TV series that helped pave the way for future Black storytellers."

CCA CEO Joey Berlin added, "We're thrilled to be able to recognize such outstanding projects across both film and television, and to honor these incredible actors and filmmakers for their work."

(L to R: Berry Gordy, Angela Bassett, Nicco Annan, Quinta Brunson, Danielle Deadwyler, Michael B. Jordan, Jonathan Majors, Scott ‘Kid Cudi’ Mescudi, Gina Prince-Bythewood)

Several other celebrities will join Gordy at the ceremony.

The Groundbreaker Award will go to rapper Kid Cudi. The Grammy Award-winner starred in the lead role of his animated Netflix project "Entergalactic," which he created. The movie also served as a visual companion piece to his album of the same name.

More traditional stars of the big and small screens, led by Angela Bassett (Career Achievement Award), Michael B. Jordan (Melvin Van Peebles Trailblazer Award) and Quinta Brunson (Actress Award for Television), round out some of the notable major award winners.

Actor and comedian Bill Bellamy will host the event, which will take place on Monday, Dec. 5 in Los Angeles, and be broadcast nationwide on Nexstar stations in 2023 throughout February in honor of Black History Month.

Takeoff, Member of Popular Atlanta Rap Trio Migos, Dead at 28

Takeoff, second from right, was shot and killed Tuesday morning in Houston.

Takeoff, one-third of the popular Atlanta rap group Migos, is dead following an early morning shooting in Houston.

Rest in Peace Kirshnik “Takeoff” Khari Ball

Takeoff’s legacy lives on in Atlanta and across the world

Our deepest sympathies go out to his family and friends pic.twitter.com/27UbMtCLkY

— Atlanta Falcons (@AtlantaFalcons) November 1, 2022

A spokesperson for the Houston Police Department said the artist was shot outside a bowling alley on Tuesday.

Police responded to reports of a shooting at 810 Billiards & Bowling at around 2:30 a.m. When officers arrived on the scene, they discovered one man dead (from a gunshot wound to the head or neck) and two other people injured.

Takeoff wanted his flowers 💐🕊️ pic.twitter.com/KbjLgBlorv

— Hot Freestyle (@HotFreestyle) November 1, 2022

Later authorities positively identified the victim as Takeoff. Born Kirshnik Khari Ball, the 28-year-old was the youngest member of the chart-topping group he formed with his uncle Quavo and cousin Offset.

Media partners: We will have a 3 p.m. news conference at HPD Headquarters at 1200 Travis St on this fatal shooting investigation.

Additional information will be released at that time. We will live-stream the news conference on our Twitter and Facebook platforms. #hounews https://t.co/NjRs2vcHTE

— Houston Police (@houstonpolice) November 1, 2022

When the incident transpired, forty to fifty people were at the after-party, including Qauvo. No arrests have been announced yet.

Formed in Atlanta in 2008, Migos has been one of hip-hop's most successful acts. The group has sold over three million albums and received two Grammy Award nominations.

Takeoff also found success outside the group. His solo album, “The Last Rocket,” debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 chart in 2018. Recently, along with Quavo, he released “Only Built for Infinity Links,” which peaked at No. 7.

Jay-Z Tops Hip-Hop Billionaires List, Diddy Surges, as Kanye West Falls

Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Sean Combs

With Kanye West's self-immolation nearly complete, as he continues to burn down his music and fashion empires with his heated and hate-filled rhetoric, another has risen to replace him on the throne of hip-hop's billionaires.

Jay-Z, an idol, mentor, and sometimes partner-in-rhyme with West—who legally changed his name to Ye in 2021—now holds the number one spot thanks to his $1.5 billion fortune.

The news comes courtesy of reporting from former Forbes entertainment editor Zack O’Malley Greenburg. Currently covering the business of music at Substack, Greenburg dove deep into the numbers to find Ye's wealth-heir apparent after the rapper lost a reported $2 billion in net worth.

"All in all, the genre’s top five acts are now worth a combined $3.8 billion," Greenburg, who published his last hip-hop wealth list for Forbes in 2019, wrote. "Since then, the world has changed quite a bit, but the five richest artists’ combined net worth has jumped 20% from a pre-pandemic total of $3.17 billion."

Hailed as the first hip-hop billionaire in 2019, Jay-Z overtook his former protégé with a diverse and growing portfolio that includes investments in everything from real estate to art and spirits.

Fellow mononymous artist, Diddy, another former collaborator surged into second place on the list with a $1 billion net worth, courtesy of lucrative deals with Cîroc, DeLeón Tequila and the Revolt media network, among others.

Following antisemitic comments and other erratic behavior that led to the end of lucrative deals with a slew of companies, including his massive partnership with Adidas — distributor of his Yeezy shoes — Ye fell to third on the list with $500 million.

Gilbert “Berner” Milam ($410 million), and Dr. Dre ($400 million) rounded out the top-five earners in hip-hop. Milam, a Bay Area rapper, secured his spot on the strength of his cannabis empire, Cookies. The company sells 70 strains of weed and 2,000 different marijuana-related products around the globe.

Dre, who once proclaimed himself the first billionaire in hip-hop following the sale of his Beats headphone empire to Apple, was No. 5 on the list. The producer, whose fortune peaked at $800 million, has taken hits to his wealth in recent years thanks to a divorce and some expensive investments, including the purchase of Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen’s Los Angeles mansion for $40 million.

For more information on Greenburg’s methodology, click here.