Lil B Has a New Fan, So Sue Me

The hardest concept to pull off as an emcee in the new age world of blog rappers is mastering a crowd. Yes, you’re taking aim at a particular audience of six billion or so, all of whom are glued to their computers, smart phones, notebooks or whatever mobile technology device in search of the next big thing to latch on to. Rappers use the internet as much as we do, since they are normally the main ones clocking in time on popular blog sits to see how many fans or “haters” checked out their new song.

It’s no secret that the celebration of nihilism has run rampant in hip-hop. When artists such as Gucci Mane & Waka Flocka take aim at merely living life with no actual purpose, it’s the type of lifestyle that 2Pac glorified in his later years, strung out in revenge and hell bent on that and nothing else. While each particular new blog rapper emerges from his (or in Nicki Minaj’s case her) own ecosystem composed of the lushes and evils of life – only one seemingly has embraced all of the negatives and created a buzz not like anything you may have ever seen: Lil B.

The hate towards Lil B is already well documented, heavily. For every post you may find on your favorite rap blog about the guy, there are about a million or so who slam him for referencing himself as a “pretty bitch” or proclaiming he looks like Jesus. Much like many currently in rappers like Wiz Khalifa: B’s subject matter leans on money, sexIt hasn’t stopped him as he’s literally took the crowd of attention deficit fans and immediately went into a mode of work eerily similar to the last rapper who came from a weird place and became loved & hated by nearly all – one Dwayne Carter.

From tattoos to demeanor, the similarities are the same. While Wayne will rap in numerous croaky syllables about snatching up the baddest woman inside of a club, Lil B will keep it simple. Check the chorus from “Wonton Soup” that has turned into Internet Meme:


"First I stunt my car (swag!) then I drop my roof
Wet like wonton soup. That’s just how I do (swag!)
Then I park my car, then I fuck your bitch
Eat that wonton soup, swag like wonton soup"

Straight forward and to the point, and for that I’m a fan. I can move past the lyrics and lack of delivery considering that half of the music I grew up on lacked density when it came to metaphors. Juvenile’s 400 Degreez is one of my favorite albums ever and I doubt anybody remembers it for a sixteen bar verse that made Juvenile on the same path lyrically as Jay-Z. A purist like myself can nod and dance and get rowdy to another misunderstood genius in Waka Flocka Flame and be educated by Mos Def. That simple.

To watch Lil B work a crowd can be compared to watching Mozart conduct. He’ll shower the crowd with little things here and there, quips on his life and thoughts before launching into a full blown show like a ring leader. Play “Wonton Soup” for a group of internet savvy fans and they’ll immediately wind up and contort their bodies ready to perform the cooking dance. Even those purists who can hate on anything not written by KRS-One and ordained from the Bible of Hip-Hop cannot mistake Lil B as one of the few marketing geniuses in hip-hop.

Any man that has a large cult following literally offering family members up for sexual sacrifice is onto something.

Yes, Lil B has songs like “Violate That Bitch” where he takes shots at Kat Stacks and belongs right up there with Odd Future in terms of shock rap that pushes the limits between comedy and horrorcore. He also has songs like “Age of Information” and even offered fans a 250 mixtape for free download last year. People immediately want to hear what Lil B has to say next. If any of his tweets tell you, he has created the top of circus around him that P.T. Barnum would look at and smile with beaming adulation.



It’s ironic that in the day and age where everyone is clutching to their phones and Flipcams at shows trying to capture the moment, Lil B would rather create them. Take for instance his sold out show at the Hammerstein Ballroom two weeks ago. As Miss Info pointed out in her recap, 80% of the crowd partook in something that made Jim Jones’ cult look like child’s play. The other 20% of the crowd were stumped, bewildered. Yet, they were there, obviously working on the same logos that Bob Dylan had when he wrote “Ballad of a Thin Man”.

Where Dwayne started his grassroots campaign with a string of mixtapes and random guest appearances, Based God is taking everything his fans give him from social networking, shows and every interview from FADER to Complex and has mastered the art of becoming an image, something fans want to see any time and any where. It’s the type of work one of the perceived “saviors” of hip-hop would kill for.

Does Lil B have an "Exhibit C" in him? Who knows. He still sticks by everything you deem impossible to keep around. The word swag, calling yourself pretty, the works. It all points towards the same motions a kid who could care less about authority and merely living for the hell of it would do.

Cook.