Eminem, Kendrick Lamar Among Nominees Of 1st Ever YouTube Music Awards

It was only a matter of time before YouTube expanded their empire into credible and tangible forms of expression. So come November 3, the first annual YouTube Awards will be making their presence felt in a major way in New York City. As Billboard reported earlier in the week, the Pop media darlings like Arcade Fire and Lady Gaga are among those set to perform at the groundbreaking event (streamed live from NYC’s Pier 36 for the world’s convenience), but the video behemoth didn’t shun Hip-Hop when it came to the nominees. The winners will be crowned by the users since it is them who make the website as popular as it is today.

Eminem snagged a nod for artist of the year with his Marshall Mathers LP 2 album set to drop a day after the award show while West Coast flagbearers in Kendrick Lamar, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis have been honored with breakthrough rights of passage in a few categories.

Funnyman Jason Schwartzman will be the host of the festivities with M.I.A. and ~~rapper~~ PSY rounding out the performances. Peruse through the next pages for a list of the nominees as well as sample of their works up for fan review.

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Photo: Instagram

Video of the Year: Nominees represent the videos with the most fan engagement on YouTube over the last year.

Epic Rap Battles Of History — “Barack Obama vs Mitt Romney”
Demi Lovato — “Heart Attack”
Girls’ Generation – “I Got A Boy”
Justin Bieber (feat. Nicki Minaj) — “Beauty And A Beat”
Lady Gaga – “Applause”
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (feat. Mary Lambert) — “Same Love”
Miley Cyrus — “We Can’t Stop”
One Direction – “Best Song Ever”
PSY – “Gentleman”
Selena Gomez – “Come & Get It”

Artist of the Year: Focused on acts YouTube fans have made stars, nominees represent the most watched, shared, liked, and subscribed to artists.

Eminem
Epic Rap Battles
Justin Bieber
Katy Perry
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Nicki Minaj
One Direction
PSY
Rihanna
Taylor Swift

Response of the Year: Best fan remix, parody or response video, these nominees represent the top “unofficial” fan videos on YouTube based on views, shares and other social activity.

Boyce Avenue (feat. Fifth Harmony) – “Mirrors
Jayesslee – “Gangnam Style”
Lindsey Stirling and Pentatonix – “Radioactive”
ThePianoGuys – “Titanium / Pavane”
Walk Off the Earth (feat. KRNFX) — “I Knew You Were Trouble”