Does Justin Bieber sing black music? Or is he considered pop? Or does having Usher behind him make him urban? Either way he has been nominated for a Best New Artist BET Award and P. Diddy has praised that fact by saying: “The awards are important to hip hop and to show [hip hop artists] in the right light. But the beauty of BET is, if Justin Bieber’s hot, then he deserves to be on that stage. Sometimes, at other award shows, the colour of your skin or the type of music you make takes away from getting the accolade you deserve”.
There has been some controversy over Bieber’s inclusion in the nominations this week, which, according to some, stem from him being white or maybe this could be being said by people that actually don’t think he’s very good musically.
Anyway, Bieber said via Twitter: “Thank you to BET for nominating me for Best New Artist at the BET Awards this year! This is an incredible honour and I’m very grateful. Read some articles about my BET nomination and I think this goes to show that music is colour blind. Music is the universal language no matter the country we are born in or the colour of our skin. [It] brings us all together”.