Soulja Boy, Bun B & Diddy React To Online Hip Hop Awards Nods

With over 80,000 nominations counted, and yesterday's announcement of the finalists for next month's Online Hip-Hop Awards (OHHA) 2008 ceremony, several nominees react to the honor.

"At first I thought y'all forgot about me," he told SOHH. "I am honored and look forward to taking something home with me!"

With the emphasis on awards being based upon having an online presence, UGK's Bun B took a minute to acknowledge what it means to receive an OHHA nod as compared to other awards shows.

"Initially it would seem like the truest nomination because it's literally the people voting for you," Bun B told SOHH. "It's just the people going on the internet saying they down with me and my music. It's got nothing to do with record sales or radio play. It's just the people. And that's really who you make music for."

Bun B is up for "Album of Year" for II Trill and "Music Video Of the Year" for "You're Everything."

Upon finding out about her own nomination for "Artist to Watch," R&B newcomer Jazmine Sullivan expressed her gratitude for being recognized by the fans.

"Wow I'm happy that people appreciate my music," she affirmed to SOHH. "I put my heart and my soul into everything that I do so when it's appreciated, I'm really honored."

Despite competing against some stiff competition like Soulja Boy,  5o Cent and Weezy for "King of the Net," hip-hop mogul Diddy has shown no concern about his chances at winning.

"Your boy has been nominated for an Online Hip-Hop Award," he said. "I've been nominated "King of the Net. It's crazy. Thank-you to everybody that has logged on to the Diddy blogs, Diddy TV and my Myspace page, Diddy.com. I'm always online. I walk around with my [laptop]. You know, it's king of the net. This is, you know, 14k gold, but that is a king's computer." 

As previously reported by SOHH, the nominations and finalists were announced yesterday as Alicia Keys and Trey Songz also impacted the polls with nods in three categories, "Artist of the Year (R&B)," "Album of the Year (R&B)" and "Digital Download of the Year." 

Popular gossip blogs including Mediatakeout, Bossip, Concreteloop, YBF and Missinfo.tv will all duke it out for the "Gossip Folks" award while popular urban sites 2dopeboyz.com and NahRight.com will battle each other for "Music Lover Blog of the Year."

For a complete listing of the finalists  and to vote for your favorite nominees, log on to the official OHHA website. The voting process for this year's OHHA kicked off yesterday and will proceed through November 20 with the ceremony streaming live online later in the month.