Confusing Lil Pump for Justin Bieber might seem like the biggest stretch in the world, but there are actually warranted, substantial, and superficial reasons for such a mistake. While Pump was waiting for his plane to begin boarding, he was approached by a fan—one who thought she was speaking to Justin Bieber. Fortunately, the rapper took it as playfully, as anyone should, and humored her with some conversation while recording the interaction for his fans.
“I told the guy you were Justin Bieber,” she said. “I knew that, I knew that. You are my pal.” Pump is clearly beyond thrilled at this fan interaction, presumably for two reasons: first, getting mistaken for Bieber is probably a good omen for such a young up-and-comer whom the older generation looks down on, and secondly—Pump’s normal fan interactions are probably a little less chill than this one.
Initially, this news did what Pump haters might want it to do—we all had a chuckle and pictured the encounter as some sort of entertaining moment of cringe we all wished we experienced first-hand. Immediately after that unnecessarily immature reaction, though, two things happened in rapid succession: Pump became tremendously likable through his kind, charming interaction, and the comparisons between him and Bieber revealed incredibly clearly how and why a portion of the game is so firmly rooted against the rapper.
Bieber became a superstar through a combination of Disney magic, popstar marketing, and sheer talent. As he got older, the singer started encroaching into hip-hop culture, criminal behavior, and tattooing a large portion of his body. The worldwide fascination with Bieber only pitted his critics more staunchly against him, who were frustrated that “real musicians” weren’t as popular as he was.
In many ways, this is a complete parallel to Pump, whose mere existence seems to antagonize the older heads of hip-hop, who argue that face tattoos and mumble rap have replaced a more nuanced image and lyrical dexterity. Additionally, it looks like Pump’s career trajectory is slowly but surely growing into wider acceptance as time goes on. Frankly, I’ve already come around to him—and hope he continues to earn others doing so as well.
