He's Keeping His Name in Your Mouth
Did you hear about Lil B's album title?! Of course you did. Titling your album something as incendiary and divisive as I'm Gay is about as attention whore as you can get. It's a bold move, and while he's lost some fans as a result, he also may have even more eyes watching him now. (More on that later.) Plus, he's staying on his current events grind:
He's Gaining Big Supporters
Sometimes rap is like politics: you're only as legit as the people backing you. Some way, some how, the Black Ken's co-signs are growing at the same pace of his buzz. First there was a song with non-mainstream but still highly respected rappers Phonte and Jean Grae. Then GLAAD came through to support the album title (of course they did). Since then Brandon's got a dizzying, mystifying list of collabs and co-signs in the pipeline:
- beats from Just Blaze and 9th Wonder
- a collaborative EP with Jay Electronica (Watch the Throne indeed)
- a feature on the upcoming Weezy mixtape
- performing at festivals like Bamboozle, Coachella and SXSW
- cameos for and from Puffy
- a touring deal with Live Nation
Meanwhile, disses from the likes of Rhymefest and Freddie Gibbs just get brushed off. When CyHi Da Prynce jokes about the G.O.O.D. team cooking during studio downtime and Justin Bieber randomly yells "Swag!" on the Grammy's red carpet, you know you're doing something right.
He Continues to Prove That He's Actually, y'know, Intelligent
Allow me to take credit for calling early on that Young Based, despite songs like this, is actually smart as hell. Knowing full well that this is his moment, Brandon is displaying more and more intelligence with each interview. Dude got on CNN Radio for Christ's sake! Peep that interview plus his guest spot on Rapfix for his suprisingly intellectual take on his album title, what it means, and why he's doing it.
Update: Lil B's debut album cover
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| *Shrug* |
Thoughts? Agree or Disagree? Is Based God here to stay or will he be gone way before the Mayans predicted?
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