New Jersey White Boy's Rap of the Week: Anything by Lil B

(This would have came out sooner, but I had to go to the mandatory FoaLiaB staff outing to a Friends and Neon Indian concert. So blame Steve for the delay that I'm sure all of you are angry about).

Lil B is the most interesting rapper ever. I say interesting because no one, especially hip-hop heads, can agree if he’s the greatest example of sarcastic rap, or one of the worst things you can put into your ears (and that includes Skrillex. And yes, I’m making fun of Skrillex twice within a week. I’m not that funny or creative. Deal with it).

Based God was originally one of the members of The Pack, a rap group that got most of its fame from a product placement song with Vans shoes (Lil B gives the first verse). The song was actually pretty good, and got some play time. Of course, good is a relative term here, but even the snobbiest critics couldn’t deny that Lil B was the best one of the group and had some solid chops. Then The Pack broke up, and Lil B launched his solo career (and I’m sure the others have solo careers, but I like to think the hip-hop devil is forcing them to make elevator music). And that’s when things got really, really strange.

Much like the 2000 Presidential election, no one is exactly sure what happened, whatever did happen, things got good for the comedians and a very particular sect of people, and bad for the rest of us. Lil B lost all semblance of a flow, lyrical content, rhyming, and anything one could consider “good” or “artistic” about the medium. He created the idea of “based”, but has yet to define it. All anyone knows, including the Based God himself, is that it’s a good thing to be based. He pretty much exclusively uses the words “bitch”, “heater”, “Young Based God”, and “Swag”. He also frequently claims to look like anyone he wants, and will cite the number of his Youtube subscribers, Facebook fans, and Myspace friends.

So if he’s so bad, how is he so popular? In my opinion, it’s a 3-fold reason – 1) he’s a social media fiend, 2) we love watching a train wreck, and 3) those who criticize the “lower forms” of hip-hop/rap (i.e. the people who know the difference between the 2, and prefer Kendrick Lamar over Gucci Mane) see him as a sharp and satiric example of these lower forms.

Let’s talk about the social media aspect. I once saw the guy who runs Comcast’s customer service speak at my university. It sounds boring, until you realize that he is a social media savant, and directs Comcast’s Twitter and Facebook page. He said that the most effective way to use social media isn’t to just advertise, but to use as a way to get a look at who the real people are in the company. To give an example, other than Lil B, I’d cite Wallpaper. While I really do like his music (see my previous article on him that I linked back there), I liked him on Facebook (and would follow him on Twitter if I had one) just to read what he writes on there, because it’s not just “hey, come see my show” or “buy my album”, but interesting things that he’s doing in his daily life (he recently posted a video of him getting “iced”). It makes you feel like you know the person/company better, and creates this idea that you’re closer to them then you really are.

Lil B uses this to his advantage. His Twitter is full of fantastic quotes, such as “RT THIS if you are AGINST BROWN RECLUSE SPIDERS, BUT YOU TRULY LOVE ANIMALS - Lil B” and "WHAT IF YOUR DOG SOUL WAS A PERSON THAT DIED AND THATS WHY YOUR DOG AND CAT LOVE YOU SO MUCH, WAT IF ANIMALS ARE DEAD HUMANS - Lil B". Facebook is full of links to his videos and hilarious pictures of in-jokes (obviously, hilarious is a subjective term). “Based God fucked all my bitches” and “Thank you Based God” are common jokes people make, and will Photoshop his head onto someone’s body, or someone else’s head onto his body. He has dozens and dozens of music videos on Youtube, and posts just about every song there too. Furthermore, it creates intrigue – who is this guy all over Facebook and Twitter? Why do so many people follow/like him or retweet/share his stuff? It gets people to check out his music. He knows how to hustle the social media game, and has been wildly successful with that.

This next point ties in a little with the previous point. People like watching horrible things. That’s why “Friday” got so many views (yes, I referenced Rebecca Black twice in a week. I’m not that funny or creative. Deal with it), or why Tosh.O is so popular (it shows videos of people getting hurt/puking/generally embarrassing themselves). We love it when someone else publicly sucks at something, and that’s why, on the very surface of Based God, we love to watch him. He’s constantly off-tempo of his rather basic hip-hop beats, and doesn’t change the way he says each line, unlike any good modern rapper. He also will throw in a few sampled “swag”s as part of the beat, which only highlights the horrible flow/timing that Lil B has. And then there’s the lines. My god does he write horrible lyrics. He’s rhymed “Kristi Yamaguchi” with “Kristi Yamaguchi”. He’s used the line “Young Based God coming straight with the heater” in more songs than I care to count (that’s not laziness, that journalistic integrity). He’s proven that anyone with a 1^st grade education can make a song (Soulja Boy proves a kindergartener can make a rap song. Hip-hop zing!). And people love watching something on that level of bad.

Now the satirical part is a bit harder to spot. Since he’s never come out and said “I’m making fun of bad rap”, no one can know for certain. But the fact that he made “actual” rap with some proficiency in the early aughts suggests that he’s taking an inward look at where rap was going (until Kid Cudi changed everything) and decided to parody it. People like Soulja Boy, Gucci Mane, and Waka Flocka are the Michael Bay’s of the rap game; yeah, it’s exciting to listen to, but you forget about it 10 minutes later and there’s nothing clever or deep about it. Lil B takes that to another level, almost as a way to show just how low the music industry can stoop before they say “hey, stop now, this isn’t music”. Much like Stephen Colbert, he goes to the extreme in order to poke fun at the slightly less extreme.

Based God has outdone himself with his newest mixtape, #1 Bitch. Prior songs were at least listenable on some level. This album, however, is by far the least accessible and worst performance ever. Which makes it probably one of his best mixtapes. However, I will share with you one of my personal favorites, “Ellen Degeneres”. It’s an earlier song, so it’s a little easier tolerate. Also check out “Look Like Jesus” and "Wonton Soup". But if you enjoy this (ironically, I hope), then go for his newer stuff like “Imma Eat Her A$$” and “CNBFTBGB Based Freestyle”.