K’naan, Drake score BET nominations, but so does Justin Bieber

Four Canuck musicians are up for awards at this year’s BET Awards, including hometown artists R&B singer Melanie Fiona (with four nominations, including best new artist), Drake (with three nominations—best male hip-hop artist and two for best collaboration) and K’naan, who’s up for best international artist. BET usually honours black artists, so we were a little surprised by Justin Bieber’s nomination for best new artist—he’s the only white solo performer with a nod. The reason, according to Stephen Hill, the channel’s president of music programming, is because the Biebs is a crossover artist:

Bieber has crossed the color boundaries the same way that hip-hop has crossed the boundaries the other way for a number of years. He’s had rhythm in his music. He makes the type of music our audience likes.

In other words, Justin is one of the most popular artists on the planet, and BET isn’t going to miss out on that kind of hype. We don’t usually throw around the words “sell out,” but…

• Justin Bieber nominated for a BET Award [Angry Black Lady Chronicles]
• Baby-faced Canadian teen idol Justin Bieber scored a nomination on Tuesday for a 2010 Black Entertainment Television award [Reuters]
• Justin Bieber among the BET Awards nominees [Vulture]