lil b (the based god)

it's kind of weird to me that even the smarter takes on this whole thing seem to lay the obnoxious LOLZ reception he got almost wholly at the feet of the audience itself as if Lil B's music and his presentation of it never actively encouraged that kind of engagement. and the idea that projecting a kind of super-positive motivational speaker/philosopher persona can't be in and of itself kind of a schtick really ignores the existence of Andrew W.K.

h8 posi zombies

Base yrself fitter

it's difficult to explain the middle ground

it's kind of weird to me that even the smarter takes on this whole thing seem to lay the obnoxious LOLZ reception he got almost wholly at the feet of the audience itself as if Lil B's music and his presentation of it never actively encouraged that kind of engagement. and the idea that projecting a kind of super-positive motivational speaker/philosopher persona can't be in and of itself kind of a schtick really ignores the existence of Andrew W.K.

― deejeridoo (some dude), Thursday, April 12, 2012 1:20 PM (19 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

See, I think the idiot savant element of Lil B is hard to properly explain, but I think there is some element of that in him, and I'm speaking as a huge Based God fan. And it plays into the is-B-putting-us-on aspect of the discussion. I don't think B is stupid, and I think there is some element of self-awareness to the whole self-help persona. I think he courts it to an extent, but here's the kicker—while B might be self-aware and acknowledge that it might be silly, it doesn't lessen the message. You can be ironic (not that B is ironic) AND sincere; you can joke but still be serious about "treating everyone like babies."

yeah i think he definitely believes in what he's saying, and it's perfectly OK to couch an honest message in humor or knowing absurdity, lots of great artists have. it just seems like bordering on willfully obtuse to act like anyone who came there to snicker and shout "thank you based god" is callously stomping over a serious event that more well behaved audience members went to witness with zero irony or rubbernecking intended.

totally otm

i mean this was LIL B GIVING A LECTURE AT NYU, there was a 0% chance it wasnt going to be awkward

Yeah, I agree there. But I'm sure there were SOME who did go there just to snicker at Lil B. Basically, it's complicated... but that feels like a cop-out? But yeah, why can't it be a sincere event but still funny? I do think that's a very precarious balance to find, an extremely fine line to walk.

it can't be a sincere event because anyone selling the kind of hippie dippy platitudes he's selling without any weirdness or lolz would not fill a room with NYU students

u dont think the dalai lama would fill a room w/ nyu students?

i mean more from lil b's perspective. i'm sure he was serious about all his advice, etc, regardless of the inherent lulz to them or any wink-wink self-awareness.

these are all really interesting points, very based discussion everyone

well i mean out of contemporary musicians who act like religious gurus, not actual religious gurus

Alright, y’all, so we’re about to wrap up. I want to take pictures with y’all for Facebook and Twitter. Let’s take these rare pictures real quick and we’ll get up out of here. [Proceeds to sign a variety of sneakers, MacBooks and cooking utensils, and take photographs and shake hands for a half hour]

that's from the end of the Fader's full transcript (!) of the lecture

www.thefader.com/2012/04/12/based-scripture-the-full-transcript-of-lil-bs-lecture-at-nyu/

I kinda admire Lil B's willingness to step up and accept the idolized-role-model status we give to celebrities who are even a little bit articulate, knowing and deep/energized, while humorously deflating it at the same time. When he loses that urge toward self-deprecating humor, he'll have lost touch with reality.

i dunno it just seems like such a smirky pantomime of hero worship and inspirational rhetoric for a bunch of jaded milennials that are too cool to actually look up to anyone or belive in anything without a thick layer if irony

act like anyone who came there to snicker and shout "thank you based god" is callously stomping over a serious event that more well behaved audience members went to witness with zero irony or rubbernecking intended.

don't think anyone's acting as if this is true

i think ppl at the lecture were probably engaging w/ lil b in a lot of different ways and w/ different levels/kinds of irony, jadedness, condescension, whatever. & some of it is probably warranted or brought on and encouraged by lil b & some of it not.

i mean there's some straight up heinous attitudes contained in some of those audience reactions

yeah but absolutely nothing that's inconsistent with the way people interact with him or his music online afaict. maybe having it acted out in the flesh makes it seem different, i dunno.

not much to add to the discussion, but I really enjoyed that Nabisco article, and listening to the lecture again and trying to tune out the crowd, and it's actually really nice and heartwarming - charming in its simplicity, like (i'm really eloquent today). I doubt the sincerity of the crowd much more than the sincerity of Lil B, mind.

wtf is a 'sincere event'?

is it demographically homogeneous & free of anything that cld go viral

well like if a kid gets killed and they have a candlelight vigil

ogmor, well, everybody could be delivered with a wink and a nudge, y'know, but he sounds so genuine (and yeah, he does have a sense of humour about it, but it doesn't seem very idk meanspirited). Regardless of anything that could go viral or anything weird or whatever, that's not what i meant.

Lil B openly encourages anyone in the room to say whatever they want at the beginning of his talk

Show at New Museum tonight was excellent.

it was

Lil B From The Pack (@LILBTHEBASEDGOD) is now following you on Twitter!

*LEAVES WORK, FINDS NEAREST BAR, BUYS EVERYONE SHOTS*

felt the same impulse

wait what, this just happened to you? i mentioned him once like a year ago and he followed me 5 minutes later

some of us are late bloomers, some dude

also i'm not sure if i've ever mentioned him

well, i'm proud that you've finally joined our very exclusive club that only a quarter of a million people belong to

thank you, some dude

i wonder if any other famous people have a 2-to-1 ratio of followers to followees, it's pretty insane

i have mentioned lil b a hndfull of times and have yet to get a followback ;_;

wait what, this just happened to you? i mentioned him once like a year ago and he followed me 5 minutes later

― some dude, Tuesday, April 17, 2012 12:21 PM Bookmark

ditto

o, synchronicity; he added me in the same spree this afternoon! p sure i haven't mentioned him, who knows the contingencies of the mind of the based god

the first albino Wale discovered!!!!!!

"#BASED NEWS THEY SPOTTED THE FIRST ALBINO WALE!! IM SCARED BECAUSE THERES MORE AMAZING ANIMALS WE DONT..." tmblr.co/Z2lMPyKBkGfU

someone tell him we've known about asher roth for years

lol

okay, dap for that

new found respect for lil b after finally watching the vid for "Ima Eat Her A$$". dudes changing the game.

i own swag is like a top 3 lil b song for me at this point

TRAPPED IN BASEDWORLD

beats BASED in TRAPWORLD

second song transforms into drowning pool dubstep

"MMMMMMMM Damn" is incredible, look forward to an all-disorienting lil b mixtape full of stuff like this and "bazzar model"