NPR Lil B Article - Understanding Raps New Rebel

[tenders]

http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2011/01/27/133245953/lil-b-understanding-raps-new-rebel


i don't know about how many of you here are a fan of Lil Bs music, but even if you hate him and find yourself confused about his whole persona then this is a really good indepth read on what homies doing. heres a clip from it


"From a distance it would be easy to mistake him for an eccentric hiccup in the long line of in-the-moment pop rappers, but further inspection reveals a considerably more complex artist, one whose body of work look less like a musical catalog than a broad conceptual cross-media art project, or perhaps a relentless soundtrack to one young man's compulsive disorder."

 

[Relic]

Interesting. NPR always does a deep job on the rap artists it covers.

 

[Ominous]

"When rumor of a planned collaboration between Lil B and the well-regarded "conscious" rapper Lupe Fiasco broke, a concerned fan confronted him at a Q&A session: "I just want to know why you decided to collaborate with Lil B, who I feel is a rapper that is ruining the future of hip-hop.""

 

[dacalion]

Call me old school or whatever but I don't think this cat can get deep enough for me to like his work. I'm not knocking what he does, I mean to each's own... maybe he is the future of rap, if so, then so be it BUT I'm not feeling anything that I've heard from him yet.

 

[tenders]

let me hit you up with a song real quick, this is one thats a little more serious than a lot of his stuff

 

[UNORTHODOX]

Dude said he's a "pretty bitch".... you dont come back from that. lol

I'll check the article tho. Question: What sparked you to post this?

 

[Ominous]

let me hit you up with a song real quick, this is one thats a little more serious than a lot of his stuff

YouTube - Lil B - I Am The Hood(MUSIC VIDEO) DIRECTED BY LIL B!! BASED

That was pretty dope. That other shit in that article was wack. He's all over the place, but I guess that is smart. You don't lock yourself into one vision and you have freedom to do what you want with your work. Some of it is too out there for me to grab which I guess you can say means I'm TOO SIMPLE to hang.

 

[Sucio]

I understand what he's doing...

But I feel that he's making a mockery of hip-hop.

Calling himself a god.

The music sounds so ignorant....which is not what hip-hop is about to me.

 

[Pug]

Ugh, I can't stand his voice/delivery, don't know if it's just me. Had to stop about 20 seconds after he started rhyming... ouch.

 

[dacalion]

My question... Are we subtly insinuating that he is borderline genius or something? Or Is his lyrics so deep that we can't understand them? I think not, dude has some good one or two liners (that do rhyme) but by the time he does a complete verse you're left thinking wtf? He sounds really sparactic and (giving him some credit) it sounds almost as if he's adlibing it. Taking this guy seriously is really hard to do because of his delivery which really does make him appear to be mocking hip hop like Sucio said.

To his credit though, I can't knock his hustle. It appears to be working for him (judging solely on his youtube hits). I just can't see him being (at minimum) a gold selling artist. People have to relate and understand what he's representing and I think he may be "too deep" for that...lol. Overall I say "goforit", he is coming from an entirely different angle.

 

[Tr3ydeeze]

He sucks. Anybody that follows his is brainless and brainwashed. I don't care who I offend. This is bull$hit rap music not hip hop. He is a industry produced artist that markets directly the weak minded and easily led astray youth. Ya'll really have to be subjective and be careful to who and what you subscribe to in terms of music. I've listened to his music and he most def doesn't add on to the culture. Just look at his fan base and how the act at his live shows lol. You gotta be deaf dumb and blind not to see what this guy really is.

 

[Fade]

I just watched the video and it sucks. He sounds out of breath and has no flow.

 

[LouBez]

Not a lil b fan...his clip with tony yayo was cool though...it just seems on this forum, that if ypu dont have a crazy multi syllablatic rhyme pattern then you are the worst thing to happen to hip hop since ( insert your culture destroying refrence here )

 

[Tr3ydeeze]

Not a lil b fan...his clip with tony yayo was cool though...it just seems on this forum, that if ypu dont have a crazy multi syllablatic rhyme pattern then you are the worst thing to happen to hip hop since ( insert your culture destroying refrence here )

What makes a good MC is the quality of their content and context. Lil B has neither. Why would I give props to an artist that is garbage. Maybe Im old lol but I refuse to give props to somebody that sucks especially when it comes to music. This is why the music game is so garbage now. If you like Lil B then hey... But I think he is "DooDoo Butt Cheeks" ! Lol.

 

[dacalion]

Is there a forum that accepts his work as pure art? If so, I want to check it out, granted I wouldn't fit in but I would find it very interesting.

 

[LouBez]

So moving the crowd is less important than content?

 

[Sucio]

Both are equally important....

 

[tenders]

Lil B is the stephen colbert of hip hop imo

 

[UNORTHODOX]

So moving the crowd is less important than content?

What you do to move a crowd, and how you represent hiphop, the black community, and anything else, in an era where the people feel disconnected and lackluster and uninspired is whats important. There are wack lyricists, and there are gimmick artists, both get no love equally.

Fact is, the music isnt good. Everything he does is shock value. Shock value needs some type of skill See Eminem, or any successful 90's rapper.

Even now, that group OddFuture. They're shock artists/horrorcore but they have talent to prop it up so they got a break performing on nationl TV for a week (Late Night with ___ )

 

[dacalion]

it just seems on this forum, that if ypu dont have a crazy multi syllablatic rhyme pattern then you are the worst thing to happen to hip hop since ( insert your culture destroying refrence here )

Lou I think the general consent here is that dude doesn't represent hip hop very well. It's not about any one forum but more about the persona he delivers, I watched several videos of dude trying to explain himself and saying that rappers aren't real but he is. Don't let anybody tell you that you can't do whatever and so on...

People can relate to that message because there are more that have been told "NO" than "YES". But thats his gimmick, he can scream "Real Talk" all day long and some will buy into it. But those that understand this is his way of relating to the crowd also understand that this is him trying to get on through those that feel the same way he does.

So I don't dislike him for trying to get people to buy into what he's preaching, thats what he's supposed to do. For me, it's simply his lyrics and it's content. He preaches love but then talks ish about EVERYTHING in his rap. Thats wack!