IN THE STREETS & ON THE WEB

SO LIL TWIST IS TO BLAME FOR BIEBER TURNING INTO A BAD BOY?

Rapper Lil Twist — who has been photographed allegedly smoking pot and quaffing Champagne with his underage “brother” Justin Bieber — may actually be providing the wholesome singer what he needs now: street cred.

The 19-year-old rapper from Dallas has allegedly turned the Canadian pop superstar onto reefer and was seen with his the underage pal pouring primo bubbly in Mexico on New Year's Eve, TMZ reported.

Some are concerned about Bieber’s apparent move from Pat Boone to Flavor Flav, but a little weed may only add to the legions of Beliebers, one celeb expert said.

"This may even help him by giving him a bit of an edge that might appeal to girls," said Dorothy Cascerceri, a celebrity trend expert for In Touch Weekly. "A little bit of a bad boy side might even up his sex appeal."

Bieber and Lil Twist have been joined at the hip for years.

"Lil Twist is my homey and we're working on stuff for fun." Bieber told MTV News in 2010.

Little is known about Twist, who is backed by hard living hip-hop superstar Lil Wayne.

"Sex, Drugs & Rock 'n Roll" is scrawled repeatedly on Twist's Twitter page, and his profile photo shows him surrounded by a cloud of smoke.

He has yet to release a full studio album, but a series of mixtapes and cameos have made him a hit with the teenybopper crowd.

Twist, who cultivates an image of a smoking ladykiller, was at the Newport Beach, Calif. hotel room where an opportunistic reveler snapped photos of Bieb looking as if he was feeling the buzz, according to TMZ.

"(Twist) and Bieber, they're like brothers," Mack Maine, the president of Young Money records told Vibe in 2010.

Bieber has made a fortune by never straying from his public image as a heartthrob who needs no "Parental Advisory" sticker.

But public perception could start to shift due to recent events.

On New Year's Day paparazzo Chris Guerra was struck and killed by a car as he tried to score a photo of Bieber's Ferrari, which had been pulled over by cops. Guerra, 29, had said he saw Bieber smoking pot earlier in the day, and thought the singer was in the car.

It turned out Lil Twist was the wheelman and Bieber was nowhere to be found.

Publicly, Bieber expressed contrition for the pot pictures — sort of.

"Everyday growing and learning. trying to be better. u get knocked down, u get up," he tweeted Saturday.

Last year Sean Kingston was Bieber's BFF