Jay-Z tops MTV music video award nominations

MIAMI - Rap artist Jay-Z tops the race for this year's MTV Video Music Awards with six nominations for his video 99 Problems.

New Zealand's own Steriogram have been nominated for four awards, including Breakthrough Video.

The music television network said on Tuesday that R&B star Beyonce, pop-punkers No Doubt and hip-hop duo OutKast followed hot on Jay-Z's heels. Beyonce had four nominations for Naughty Girl and one for Me, Myself and I. No Doubt had five for It's My Life and OutKast received five nods for Hey Ya.

The 2004 MTV Video Music Awards will be broadcast live from Miami on Aug 29, the first time the award show has taken place outside New York or Los Angeles in its 20-year history.

Dave Sirulnick, one of the show's two executive producers, said that, in another first for the show, the stars would not roll up to the red carpet at Miami's American Airlines Arena in the usual stretch limousines but on boats.

MTV Video Music Awards