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#BASED PAPER MOST COOKING IN PAPER Lil B GOES SO HARD IN THIS ONE

Every year there’s a rap convention where all the rappers go to establish conventions and practices in rap music. Lil B hasn’t attended since 2009. Actually there isn’t, but Lil B works hard to challenge the basic form of rap music. Lil B is hip hop’s most ardent deconstructionist. He applies the postmodernist technique of deconstructionism to elements as fundamental as rhyme, rhythm, and meaning, liberating the art from constraints it’s been bound to since Grandmaster Flash. Many people have expressed criticism of Lil B, claiming that he doesn’t rap well. They’re wrong. By subverting the privilege of concepts seen as the basis of rap music, Lil B is fundamentally challenging the genre more than any other  rapper.

#BASED DECONSTRUCTION

Deconstruction is a practice associated with Postmodernism in which an artists observes the rules patterns and assumptions inherent in a style of work, asks himself why those rules patterns and assumptions exist, and then makes new work in which the rules patterns and assumptions are broken. The thing about deconstruction is that because the result inherently deviates from established norms of the form, it can be misleading to evaluate deconstructivist art using established criteria. The art doesn’t seek to conform to established standards of beauty or success but challenge and break them.

#BASED RHYME

Though it is often considered the basis for rap, Lil B challenges the need for rhyme. Rapping is in fact often referred to colloquially as rhyming. The book How To Rap states, “rhyme is often thought to be the most important factor in rap writing… rhyme is what gives rap lyrics their musicality.”[1] The #Based God asks why. In the majority of Lil B’s songs, he uses rhymes only sporadically, with far more near rhymes and not-so-near rhymes than real OG rhymes. This is one of the primary criticisms of Lil B used by haters; but this is because it’s one of the primary conventions of rap that Lil B is subverting. Rap without rhymes sounds wrong; especially when combined with B’s instance on keeping his flow out of the pocket.

#BASED RHYTHM

Lil B uniquely challenges the need for beats in rap. You’d be hard pressed to find a definition of Hip-Hop that didn’t mention beats. From the first, beats have been a fundamentally inescapable element of hip-hop. One could in fact easily argue that without beats hip-hop could not exist. Lil B sees sees this issue differently.In his 2010 album, Rain In England, Lil B eschewed percussion and rhythm entirely, much to the confounded derision of mainstream critics[2]. Rather than traditional beats, the #Based God delivered his stream-of-consciousness spoken word flow over boring atmospheric New Age synth textures. As you might expect, the album doesn’t sound very good[3]. Critics dismissed the album, calling it “terrible”, “unlistenable”, and “not good.” A mostly-positive article in Cocaine Blunts got closest to the crux of the issue, calling the album Outsider Art[4]. However, the difference between outsider art and deconstruction is knowledge of the medium being deconstructed.

#BASED TECHNIQUE

Some argue that Lil B is simply bad rather than deliberately different. Deconstruction fundamentally requires a deep understanding of the things that it subverts, which Lil B has. Whether or not you think Lil B “is serious,” he’s accomplishing a serious deconstruction of hip hop. When one brings up Lil B in conversation, discussion inevitably degrades into an argument over whether he is “serious” or “a joke”. Often a recent Lil B initiate will claim as an epiphany that they finally appreciate the #based god because they “realize he’s in on the joke”. In response to this discussion I must raise a few questions. Firstly, what exactly is the joke? Expressions of jokiness typically hinge on the axiom that because B sounds so dissimilar to rappers typically held in high esteem he must not be a Serious Rapper. This in turn depends on the precept that the #based god wants to sound like a typical Serious Rapper. This is clearly not the case.

To demonstrate that Lil B sounds exactly how he means to, I can point to Lil B’s pre-2010 work with The (Wolf)Pack, the group with which he garnered his initial success. In the Pack, Lil B played it straight. Their hit song Vans was listed as one of Rolling Stone Magazine’s best songs of 2006[5]. Even since then, B has occasionally dropped a normal, listenable, track with strong flow and writing. For example, a New Yorker article called his 2010 track The Age Of Information, “a heartfelt display of lyrical skill” and went on to say (unironically) that “he sounds like Tupac, if Tupac had lived to see Twitter.”[6] How can one man be simultaneously hailed as the worst rapper alive[7] for some of his work, and also compared to Pac in the New Yorker for other stuff? The only plausible explanation is that he isn’t trying to sound like Pac. This makes criticism of his work on the grounds that he doesn’t rap correctly pretty invalid. Clearly he raps different. That’s the point.

#BASED MEANING

Perhaps the deepest-running thing that Lil B challenges is basic English diction. By ignoring the meanings of english words the #based god achieved an abstract, stream of consciousness style flow that followed in the footsteps of Ultramagnetic MC Kool Keef’s solo work and opened doors for rappers such as Kool AD and Lil B’s Cali-based compatriots the likes of OFWGKTA, Riff Raff, et. al. One popular trope that exemplifies this practice is the line “hos on my dick ‘cause I look like ___”, followed by comparitors as diverse as “Jesus”, “Martha Stewart”, “Obama” and “A Frenchman”. Clearly the #based god does not look like all of the aforementioned people, but through this eschewing of literalism he expands the scope of the English language and frees himself to use a broader set of words.

#BASED THEMES

Lil B doesn’t only apply deconstruction to fundamental concepts in rap music but also to specific themes. His best selling release was his 2013 mixtape I’m gay (I’m happy). The title of the mixtape combines Lil B’s deconstruction of language with a message of support for the LGBT community. In a 2011 interview with MTV, he said, “I got major love for the gay and lesbian community, and I just want to push less separation and that’s why I’m doing it, … I hope GLAAD sees that I’m taking initial steps to break barriers.”[8] Hip hop has historically been highly intolerant of gays[9], so B’s album comes as a major inversion of that norm. Pushing the theme even further, he followed up with an AIDS Awareness Song, “I Got AIDS” in which he urges the listener to practice safe sex and get tested regularly.[10]

#BASED WORLD CONCLUSION

Lil B is changing the game by deconstructing the fundamentals of hip-hop. He knows how to rap normally, but he chooses to spit offbeat rhymeless flow. He says meaningless things, and completely subverts established rap-music norms. Despite this, he has managed to gather an enormous following. Despite (or perhaps because of) a mostly online-based presence, his shows fill up and his albums sell. Critics don’t really know what to do with him, but fans do. Perhaps because of his #based ethos. Lil B sees himself as a sort of evangelist of #basedness, which incorporates positivity, acceptance of others and being one’s self. This philosophy is a huge part of Lil B’s persona, and highly popular with fans. The #Based God is a postmodern bastion of positivity and acceptance, and one day he will rule the world.

WORKS CITED

  1. Edwards, Paul; Kool G Rap (foreword) (December 2009). How to Rap: The Art & Science of the Hip-Hop MC. Chicago Review Press. p. xii.

  2. “Rain In England.” Metacritic. Metacritic, 21 September 2010. Web. 14 May 2013.

  3. “Lil B - Rain In England” Dusted Reviews. Dusted Magazine, 27 October 2010. Web. 14 May 2013.

  4. “God In The Building” Blunts. Cocaine Blunts, 31 July 2010. Web. 14 May 2013.

  5. “The 100 Best Songs Of 2006.” Rolling Stone. Jann Wenner, Web. 14 May 2013.

  6. “The Dumb Brilliance Of Lil B” The New Yorker. Condé Nast, 13 April 2012. Web. 14 May 2013.

  7. “It’s Official: Lil B is the Worst Rapper Alive.” Refined Hype. Refined Hype, 23 December 2011.

  8. “Lil B Says I’m Gay LP Title Provoking Death Threats, Slurs” MTV News. MTV, 21 April 2011. Web. 14 May 2013

  9. “Hip Hop Homophobia” Hip Hop Homophobia. Hip Hop Homophobia. 11 June 2011 - Present. Web. 14 May 2013 http://hiphophomophobia.tumblr.com/

  10. “Lil B - I Got Aids Lyrics” Rapgenius. Rapgenius, Web. 14 May 2013