2010 was a big year for Berkeley, California's Lil B, aka "The Based God." He taught the world how to "Cook," supplied his disciples with new gospel almost daily, and graced the cover of The Fader.
Now at 21 years old and only a month into the new year, he's released a digital album, been interviewed on MTV, added to the Coachella lineup and even mentioned by Justin Bieber on Twitter (that little kid who has more followers than the President).
Lil' B's "First Date" with MTV reporter Rya Bracker aired this past Sunday. One of his turn-offs? When a girl thinks she looks better than he does.
The Based God dropped his most recent digital album, Angels Exodus, last Tuesday. The cover art features the Based God hung on a cross with women's lingerie hanging from it above subscript that reads "The BasedGod will never die for he is his people." Pretty prolific stuff.
Why he's relevant: Via Twitter, B is the first rapper to threaten to rape Kanye West if he didn't work with him. They're both on the Coachella bill, so maybe we can expect a collaboration in 2011. Or some jail time.
He's used blogs to market himself (by himself) and capture the attention of an impressionable audience bored to death by the new rap music put out by the blogosphere every day.
The accessibility of the Internet has devalued hip-hop in a sense; anyone can become a rapper, anyone can put out a mixtape. The new breed of hip-hop consumers are all looking for a character they can buy. There is no other character like the Based God.
The best "recipes" for beginners:
"I'm God," "Hipster Girls," "Wonton Soup," "Pretty Boy" and "I'm Paris Hilton." Because he's given the blogs so many songs - over 1,000 in 2010 alone - you can access his mixtapes virtually anywhere and individual songs on DigitalDripped.com.
His followers connect through various social-networking sites and have been thanking him for his blessings via pictures that they tag of him (you can access him by his government name, Brandon McCartney, on Facebook.)
The Based God's fans get really creative with their pictures. Here's our Thank You, Based God (TYBG) gallery. Also, it's NSFW.
