"Raise It Up" is a 2007 song written by Jamal Joseph

Jamal Joseph

Jamal Joseph is a U.S. writer, director, producer, poet, activist, and educator. While incarcerated for his active participation in the Black Panther Party, Joseph earned two college degrees, and wrote five plays and two volumes of poetry. He is currently a professor and Chair of Columbia...

, Charles Mack and Tevin Thomas for the motion picture August Rush

August Rush

August Rush is a 2007 drama film directed by Kirsten Sheridan and written by Paul Castro, Nick Castle, and James V. Hart, and produced by Richard Barton Lewis.-Plot:...

. "Raise It Up" is performed in the film by Jamia Simone Nash

Jamia Simone Nash

Jamia Simone Nash , also known simply as Jamia, is an American child singer and actress.-Private life:Jamia was born in Virginia Beach, Virginia and she is African and West Indian descent. She attended Mason Elementary School, where she participated in a talent show and first discovered her fame...

 and Impact Repertory Theatre, an African-American youth theatre group based in Harlem

Harlem

Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...

. The song was produced by Joseph and Mack.

In the film, August Rush (Freddie Highmore

Freddie Highmore

Alfred Thomas "Freddie" Highmore is an English actor. He is best known for his roles in the films Finding Neverland, Five Children and It, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Arthur and the Invisibles, August Rush, The Golden Compass, The Spiderwick Chronicles, and Toast.-Early life:Highmore was...

) wanders into Harlem and is drawn to a church by the voice of a young soloist named Hope (Nash) singing this song, which inspires him. Hope ultimately brings him to the attention of her pastor, Reverend James (Mykelti Williamson

Mykelti Williamson

Michael T. "Mykelti" Williamson is an American actor best known for his role as Benjamin Buford Blue in the 1994 film Forrest Gump, as Detective Bobby "Fearless" Smith in the critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful crime drama Boomtown, and recently for appearing as the head of CTU for...

), who helps August further develop his talent.

"Raise It Up" was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song

Academy Award for Best Original Song

The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . It is presented to the songwriters who have composed the best original song written specifically for a film...

 at the 80th Academy Awards

80th Academy Awards

The 80th Academy Awards ceremony honored the best films in 2007 and was broadcast from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California on ABC beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST/8:30 p.m. EST, February 24, 2008 . During the ceremony, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented Academy Awards in 24...

; however, the nomination announcement originally said "Nominees to be determined". The production notes credit the song to the Impact Repertory Theatre as a whole; however, Oscar rules allow no more than three individuals to be credited with the song for nomination purposes. (This was the same rule that prevented Beyoncé Knowles

Beyoncé Knowles

Beyoncé Giselle Knowles , often known simply as Beyoncé, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, she enrolled in various performing arts schools and was first exposed to singing and dancing competitions as a child...

 from sharing in the Oscar nomination for her 2006 song "Listen" from Dreamgirls

Dreamgirls (film)

Dreamgirls is a 2006 musical drama film, directed by Bill Condon and jointly produced and released by DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures. The film debuted in three special road show engagements beginning December 15, 2006 before its nationwide release on December 25, 2006...

, even though she co-wrote it.) The next day, the Academy updated its list to show Joseph, Mack and Thomas as the nominees.

On July 24, 2008 on The Young and the Restless

The Young and the Restless

The Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...

, the characters Devon Hamilton

Devon Hamilton

Devon Hamilton is a fictional character on the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless, played by actor/musician Bryton James since June 1, 2004. James' portrayal of Devon has earned him the 2007 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series, and the 2009 NAACP Image Award...

and Ana Hamilton (played by August Rush's Nash) sang this song in the gala.