“I’m a rebel. I’m a punk. I’m like a rocker in the rap world. I’m one of the outcasts. The motherfucking guy that’s just fucking crazy. Playing pranks on the fucking football stars and the athletes and then fucking their sisters.”
You may have read Bob Foster’s article “Lil Wayne Is Being Himself, And Himself Is Hilarious” in which he gives props to Lil’ Wayne for being a genuine weirdo and using his being mentally un-hingedness (totes not a word but wotevz yeah) to produce shit that bangs hard, but I say fuck that guy, you really need to get learned about my boy Lil’ B.
Lil’ B aka The Based God aka Princess makes Lil’ Weezy look like a even more of a square version of Biff Tannen when it comes to the few bars short of a verse stakes. It may have taken 6 albums and a crippling purple drank addiction for Weezy to start being an eccentric but Lil’ B was born ready. In his previous life as a member of Bay Area group ‘The Pack’ he was already putting out anthem’s championing Vans skate shoes at 15/16 (a precursor to all that faggy New Boyz jerkin’ shit) in a era when Weezy was still dropping shit with played out song titles like: “Money On My Mind” and “Hustler Musik”.
But what makes Lil’ B stand out from other rappers who also have spaced out stream of consciousness style rhymes is the fact he’s genuinely creative and original artist, the frequent comparisons to ironic hipster pin-ups Gucci Mane and Weezy does Lil’ B a disservice. Neither of them has output anywhere near as prolific or as innovative, instead of machine-gunning the internet with mediocre mixtapes every week, Lil’ B came upon the genius idea of releasing Youtube videos on a near enough hourly basis, that are surprisingly more hit than miss. Dude’s work rate is undeniable.
If rap is the mid to late 80′s Chelsea side then Lil’ B is Pat Nevin to Lil’ Wayne’s Kerry Dixon. Kerry Dixon may have got the goals, the glory, the attention and the youtube clips of said goals but Pat Nevin was a player as skillful as he was intelligent, he was also pretty cool: he was friends with John Peel, he championed the NME way back when and there was even rumours that he once got himself sent off so he could leave early enough to see Siouxsie and the Banshees in time, and nowadays he even DJ’s indie nights. This analogy is getting kinda strained but you get my point.
Who else do you know that can make a video in the middle of a suburban high school kids football match whilst rocking a Palestinian Keffiyeh?:
Who else is do you know that can make songs with Elliot Smith on the intro and contemplate suicide in their videos?
Who else do you know that can self produce a spaced out ambient rap album and call it ‘Rain In England’?:
Who else do you know that can make a song about being a nerd getting pussy?:
Who else do you know that can sample blog hype getting band How To Dress Well for a rap song?
But don’t get it twisted, ’cause for all his madcap antics, the Based God is fundamentally a great MC and he can really spit that gangster shit when it comes down to it:
Who else do you know that can make a song with a 90′s NY feel despite being a Bay Area rapper that started his career party-rap group?
One more thing:
Head over to The Martorialist for great collection of Lil’ B videos. Check his other shit with posts contemplating who in the rap game is most like CJ from Eggheads and the like. Dude is killing it right now.
And one more thing:
Oh and for those still unmoved; I’ve uploaded a mixtape for your listening pleasure. Get it, get it. You won’t regret it:
Poo October 1, 2010 at 5:42 pm
oh cool a rapper that samples cool buzzbands sounds edgy and innovative