My Music, My Way: Lil B Is Cooking Up A Storm In 2011

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Lil B Is Cooking Up A Storm In 2011

MTV News takes the self-proclaimed 'Based God' on a date in Chinatown.
By Rya Backer

Lil B
Photo: MTV News

NEW YORK — If you aren't among the more than 120,000 Twitter followers of Lil B "The Based God" or the many fans of his freestyles, or the regulars on Dior Paint (a Tumblr site supposedly run by his stylist), you probably would have been a little confused by all the cooking going on at B's show earlier this month at Manhattan's Highline Ballroom. But after watching the many "chefs" doing B's signature dance, which literally involves miming the act of cooking, you'd probably also want to know a little more about the unusual rapper, whom we named a Mixtape Daily Fire Starter last year.

That's why MTV News met up with B for a First Date at Joe's Shanghai in Chinatown. Between dumplings and fried rice, the Berkeley, California MC, who released Angels Exodus last week, talked all about his Twitter, his recent success and his unique subgenre of music.

"Based music really is just doing what you feel, really letting the beats sink into you and letting the lyrics coat the beat," he explained. "It's really just about being yourself, though, and being positive. Doing what you want to do."

One thing that sets him apart is the Internet: B has over 150 MySpace pages, each one featuring unique tracks, and legions of aforementioned Twitter disciples who choose to show their devotion in rather interesting ways.

"A lot of guys show me love and want me to date their women," he said of his online fans. "It's an honor. And I will use that gift and their trust and I will do the right thing."

In return for such loyalty, he's given out about a dozen free mixtapes (including Rain in England, which he touts as hip-hop's first ambient mixtape), and he just as freely provides new songs as soon as they've been finished, often promising that they're "#rare." With gigs like the Coachella Music and Arts Festival on the horizon, and more new music promised, 2011 may be the year that we'll all be thanking Based God.

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