Rappers Respond to Lil B “Gay” LP Title
Talib Kweli, Freddie Gibbs and Killer Mike weigh in on the name of the Based God’s new controversial album…
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Over the weekend, the rap world went nuts after a video of Lil B announcing the title of his new album was posted on hundreds of Web sites all over the ‘net. For those still playin’ catch-up, the 2011 Freshman told the crowd at Coachella during his performance on Saturday (April 16), that his new disc will be called, I’m Gay. [Watch above]
Onstage, B explained the reasoning behind the name of the LP. He said that he does not partake in that lifestyle but, but he wants to make a statement about the power of words, or lack thereof.
XXLMag.com reached out to various artists from the East, the South and the Mid-West: Talib Kweli, Freddie Gibbs and Killer Mike; to find out their reactions to the news.
“Immediately (upon hearing the hubbub) I’m like not that’s a fuckin’ social experiment, if I’ve ever heard one,” Kwe told XXL. “Look I don’t care who you sleep with at the end of the day. I don’t care if Lil B’s gay or not. It doesn’t change my life in any way, but for him to name his album I’m Gay, issues such a challenge to his fans. I’m not sure if it’s brilliant or not, but what he did with that, in one fell swoop, was challenge every single bandwagon fan. Like are you really down with me or not. And me as an artist, I have no choice but to respect that. “
Gibbs, also a former XXL Freshman alum, sees it differently. “[The] Lil B shit was funny at first but now I feel like it’s just a bunch of white people laughing at a nigga, like a minstrel show. Shit is wack. I ain’t dissin’ gays, if you gay that’s yo biz.”
Mike Bigga, on the other hand, feels as if he understands B’s strategy behind the title. “He’s a happy guy, Gay means happy,” the ATLien reminded readers. “It makes perfect sense to me. It’s a provocative, bold thing to me. That’s what B does. It’s not as shocking to me. From a social element . . . this just feels like knocking down walls and stereotypes, embracing controversy and flipping it. Bravo to him for being the next Madonna. I also don’t think Lil B could ever make some of the music that I make. If he’s rapping about (gay) lifestyle the whole album, no I probably wouldn’t want to hear it. If he’s rapping on some hip-hop shit and it’s a weird ass, weird Lil B album . . . I’d probably buy it like i I did his last (album) and have a little laugh.”
Regardless of the differences in opinion, one thing Kweli points out is that the rap world as a whole is becoming more accepting of different lifestyle choices as it continues to grow up, which as he implies, is a move in a more positive direction. “I’m happy to see young hip-hop heads move [away from] homophobia,” he said. “Regardless of what your stance is on gay people, homophobia or the act and practice of it, is extra wack.” —Jesse Gissen with additional reporting from Mark Lelinwalla and Nicole LoPresti
This is great news! My dream is coming true. Now all I have to do is get in contact with Lil B and we will have sex unconditionally until the end of time. Now that’s destiny.
Hhaha lmfao
Swag
Fag Fag Woop Woop
Total loser Lil. He will never have the LGBT community at his concdrts until he learns that calling yourself “gay” to fit in with urban vernacular does not espouse the cause as fought daily in the trenches. Eff-u Lil.
Freddie Gibbs hit the nail on the head with the minstrel comment. Lil B is definitely a coon and no white person would ever get caught listening to Lil B. You will find white people at Common, Talib Kweli, and Mos Def concerts. All black concerts are Webbie, Gucci Mance, and Wacka Flacka. Now what are some differences between those rappers?
lyyyyriiics. so we can conclude that black people arent smart enough to understand lyrics so they listen to people like waka flocka who ends every bar in “nigga”?
The former rappers actually have well-constructed lyrics that have a deeper meaning while the latter rappers mainly rap about whatever superficial trend is hip these days? Just a guess.
Tha majority of Lil B fans are white u big dummie
untru majority is black
and we still cookin (fuck twerkin)
Based Lord !!!!
idk bout this
Hey dumbass, the majority of Lil’ Bs fans are white. He definitely makes horrible music, but have you seen most of his videos? It looks like the shooting of Sweet 16.
its funny how you said no white person would listen to his music but yet at the concert his album title was announced theres more white than anything lmao funny
Hu, Im sorry but you are in fact incorrect. First of all that black and white bullshit needs to stop. Race is nothing but a social construct so uhhh lets cut the shit. As a person of color and female gender you would never catch me at a lil b concert, waka flocka, gucci, 50 cent, lil wayne, drake, nicki minaj, none of those clowns! But in fact you will catch a lot of caucasians at these concerts, they are in fact the majority that buy these rap albums. And yes look up that fact, they do buy more rap then any other culture or ethnicity.Try not to generalize so much hu. I love common, talib, and plenty more.
Look dude is gay. how many pink and periwinkle combo’s is dude gonna have to try before he feels we all know he puffs peter. I think if dude really wanted to shock people he should make an album called “im straight”. Plus if dude could get some sorta flow to his raps and thow in some different phrases and shit it might actually matter.
fuck this queer ass nigga
EPIC FAIL of the decade…..
Everyone is looking into this way too deep. He said the reason was to prove words don’t mean shit. He’ll still be fucking your bitch and have “swag on a hundred thousand” and making money. All the hate and saying he wont be respected by the LGBT doesn’t effect him at all. No matter what you think Lil B will always have the most swag because he’s always felling himself.
i already new this niga didnt care bout words cause he cant rhyme em for SHITT
naw a lot of us ain’t thinking too deep. we can see what dude is doing. Y’all ain’t gotta explain nothing, a lot us are OGs and smart individuals.
most of us don’t even care if son is gay. a talented gay artist doesn’t have to resort to this buffoonery, all they have to do is make great music and live their life.
Sylvester, Luther Vandross, Freddie Jackson, Queen Latifah, Da Brat, to name a few. We knew. Even presumed Missy went both ways. The homophobic label should stick to humanity, not just to rap.
Lil B ain’t doing nothing special but “shock and awe” promo, to mask the fact that his music is horrible. Eventually y’all who are riding for him will begin to tire of the shenanigans and see you have no connection to his music and this guy will fall into obscurity due to the lost fanbase.
But remember this is the music industry, not the actor’s guild. Dude is gonna have to make good music soon to prove he’s qualified to be a recording artist, or he’s done, just like every other music artist. Bottom line.
I did this blog weeks ago…
Once again your looking to far into it. Good use of bold words though, nice try. He doesn’t care what people say about him or how much he sells. He says what he wants and knows that no matter what you think of him he is still getting paid. What the fuck do other gay people have to do with this. He says that words don’t mean shit and that he can have an album that says Im gay and still fuck your bitch, thats all he saying. As usual people flip shit when someone says some real shit from time to time. You’ve probably seen it before though since your such an OG…
lmao…keep going with the jabs, you’re proving my point for me…
maaan, at the risk of sounding like I’m riding for lil b I gotta say that he probably has more potential as a lyricist that most ppl give him credit for
potential being the keyword…he aint there yet but going through some of the “real” tracks that his stans post on some of these forums, there are actually a couple of lines that stand out
“why in school they didnt teach about the taxes
in the real world man its all about taxes
all about tv and livin above average
where the fuck ya stayin, all about your status
what the fuck you drive to the size of your mattress
how big ya chain and the girls that your smashin
how much ya work plus the time you relaxin
time spent in jail and on the streets savage
mixed with the robbers the stress and the addicts
mixed with the greed and the guns and the havoc
mixed with the weed and the pills and the acid
killin off my people and the media is laughin
learn about the past but the present is whats happenin
probation slavery, pissin for the master
the cops is a gang and they really beat yo ass
and the court is the mob and its ran by the cash”
I actually looked up the track after reading that cause I couldnt picture a rapper I had on a level below waka and soulja going for lyricism….like I said, its just potential…even on his “real” tracks his flow,delivery,lyrics are straight amateur but he’s young enough to get better if hes actually serious about making music….jay elec and lupe are cosigning this kid and supposedly recording with him and if lil b takes advantage of the experience and learns the craft from real lyricists i don’t think its impossible to see him transition to being a “serious” artist at some point…and if he actually is gay at least itll give him some original content to rap about lol…a new kind of struggle
then again, this shit could all be the “emperors new clothes” and in that case niggas like me that are actually writing essays over this bullshit and paying attention to sons moves are the ones that are really clowning aha
whaddup render?
“then again, this shit could all be the “emperors new clothes” and in that case niggas like me that are actually writing essays over this bullshit and paying attention to sons moves are the ones that are really clowning aha”
^ exactly
lol and you can’t say I dont recognize thats a possibility…but if thats the case then i aint the only one…jay electronica, lupe, 9th and a bunch of cats with unquestioned artistic cred are doing the same
i think whats earning lil b cosigns from reasonably intelligent ppl is less his music and more the idea he represents …read thru comments on anytype of hiphop forum and you see so much bullshit about “real music” “real hip hop” “90s was this”, “if you aint listening to so and so rappers right now, you aint hiphop”
Its backwards looking hiphop republicanism. Lil b’s appeal probably has something to do with the fact that he obviously aint tryin to earn anyones respect….either from heads that fuck with jay elec or the mainstream that doesnt fuck with gay rappers
does that lead to good music? as of now? not really….will it? I dunno and the possiblity of it is probably why I waste a couple minutes every now and then checkin these links and videos…lol cant say its the most worthwhile use of time, but fuck it…”my laptop is meant to sedate me” anyway, right basedgod?
On one hand. i respect his audacity to challenge hip-hop, the most anti-gay genre besides reggae. Hip-hop is more accepting these days. We got former kid actors, skaterkids, white suburban kids, hipsters, etc. Cats from Canada, Kansas, Pittsburgh etc. Lil B tryin to push that next envelope, but you can tell its not genuine. It’s a bizarre marketing ploy from a garbage rapper even if he is gay.
Lets see if the powers that be will let dude have this provacative title or if they will put the kabosh on it like they did to Nas…..
“Lil B tryin to push that next envelope, but you can tell its not genuine. It’s a bizarre marketing ploy from a garbage rapper even if he is gay.”
^ this
all hiphop is real…it’s either real good or real bad. But somewhere down the line this dude is gonna have to make decision about his craft because the controversy is gonna wear thin on the fickle fanbase and it may come sooner than he thinks it will.
at michel c. you and your way of thinking is the fucking problem with hip hop today, you and lil b should both get pimped slapped and never allowed into hip hop again, this is by far the all time low of hip hop, and you young motherfuckers start running round calling each other gay like its cool
im going to start slapping people my self
naw fam…
let’s show them thru facts…
bboycult.com/2011/03/illusions.html
^ I’ve been saying this…
@ whomever’s stanning for lil’ man…
can y’all name some songs from the last mixtape that are worthy of airtime and promo? how come xxl didn’t give him more features on that mixtape? can y’all do like render and post some lyrics and songs that people should lookout for?
$yk checked out your blog. a whole 6 following you is nice. keep up the good work!
your blog talked about what xxl has on the tape from him. DIGGY DOESN’T HAVE A SONG ON IT.
your blog sucks and so does your hatred of Lil B. your probably made he fucked your bitch.
where does it say its cool to call people gay? and if you were such a hip hop fan you know hip hop isn’t at a low point anymore, ask XXL because its seems like the said the fucking rescission is over. in yet another post i have to say it but your reading way to in to this. he said
words dont mean shit
im making my album title “im gay”
i still fuck bitches
lil b isnt a traditional rapper but respect a man the way he makes money in ways other would love to. if everyone was a j cole or wale then rap would be way to repetitive. look at XXL’s feature with soulja boy and 50 cent. not all rap needs to be “super lupe lyrical” all the time.
And my way of thinking is how the world needs to be. open minded and taking the positives others have to bring to the table. and if your going to start slapping people, to quote wiz “look in the mirror and shoot the first thing you see”
YEAH BITCH
ps. sawg
Haha. You spelled “swag” wrong. SMH.
Delusional lame ass Lil’ B fans at it’s finest.
i bet he really is feeling his self after coming out
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