As I sit here reflecting on some losses I’ve experienced in the last few years, I can’t help but to recall the music of the offbeat, off-note rapper Lil B, aka the BasedGod. The song that is at the top of my mind is his 2012 viral hit “I Love You,” that spilled over into 2013. Although he rapped less than two minutes on the song, occupying the remainder of the song with heartfelt words of encouragement, his message continues to resonates even in 2021. His entire mission…just to spread love.
As much as people mocked his style and delivery of music, Lil B, born Brandon McCartney, has done and continues to do music (have you heard Santa) that so-called gangsta rappers from the hood don’t have the courage to do, and that’s to speak the truth. In the machismo hip hop world that exists today, fans would be hard pressed to find a rapper that would admit that everything he owns was purchased with advance loan money, a scam that’s similar to those car title and paycheck loans that high interest rate financiers advertise to people already dealing with poverty.
In fact, as I write, some of the biggest stories in rap are so trivial to what’s really going on in the world that it’s hard for me, a diehard hip hop fan who has been loyal to the genre even when it glorified what people from the hood have been trying to get away from since inception, to whole-heartedly support without feeling guilty with the knowledge that it’s misleading the youth.
That’s a bit much, but balance in hip hop has become an anomaly. The outliers and outcasts who have sweated blood to reach people with “real shit” have been martyred in the name of keeping it real or have nearly thrown in the towel to let the game be swept away by industry plants and perpetrators.
Not that I don’t appreciate ratchet music. I enjoy a good time. Yet, I got to ask, is hip hop totally aloof of the realities that the demographic it serves deals with every day? Ain’t no love in the heart of the city, and as Lil B says, “Nothing’s promised.” I know we have Polo G, Denzel Curry, Money Man, and a few others that take the time to tap into that vein. But, when was the last time you listened to a record and shed a tear? When was the last time you truly felt fully alive when you listened to a new single? It’s a shame that there’s a muted numbness in the music that lacks the ability to stir emotions or to last beyond three months. What’s really going on?
Back to Lil B, with all the clowning and shit talking that people could say about the 32-year-old (happy bday!) California rapper and his legacy, I guarantee that he has made more people feel something than many of these out-of-touch, “poppin'” rappers obsessed with validation and flattery.
Listen To Lil B’s 7-Hour Mixtape ‘Hoop Life 2’ (2020)
The world needs voices like Lil B right now because it’s bleeding. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. The selfishness and callousness of hearts. Every now again, someone would come along and restore faith in humanity. Lil B, who reminds us he’s not perfect, played his part in terms of reminding people what life is really about, while simultaneously blazing a trail for not taking yourself so seriously. Like I said before, at the end of the day it’s all about balance.
This time a year ago, I lost three dear people to me. To this day, I think about these special people often and I’m still trying to recover and come to terms with their absence. Sometimes, the selfish thought of not having them in my life leaves me truly speechless as I wish I could’ve changed fate. So, after a long day, I’ll go to YouTube and put on Lil B’s “I Love You” and he says everything I basically feel, but can’t bring myself to say.
“Even though things, sometimes are hard, I just put it up to…”
