Lil B the BasedGod took the stage Wednesday night in Eisner & Lubin Auditorium for a very #rare speech at NYU. The Oakland rapper came out to the chants of a packed house, filled with college students screaming, “Thank You BasedGod”. He started his anticipated speech by letting the room know that none of this was written down; the whole night would be off the top of his head. If you are familiar with Lil B you know that he pushes his messages filled with positive, “teachings”.
Lil B lives what he speaks, that is why he claims he can go to sleep happy at night. He tackled his thoughts on society early on, saying that the media shouldn’t influence us as much as it does. He also spoke about how people have given negative words too much power. The BasedGod hit the audience with a simple answer, “You can have a million stones thrown at you and still be a positive person.” Going into detail on how society’s mentality is that when you get hit, you hit back, Lil B emphasized that everyone should be forgiven. He admitted that at first he had trouble forgiving people but with much practice he became the positive person he is today. Lil B also spoke about the fact that people nowadays are too concerned with their physical appearance, he believes at the end of the day we should pat ourselves on the back, just for being us.
The speech was set up so that as Lil B was speaking, anybody could shout out whatever they wanted and he would answer. This provided one of the highlights of the night when someone shouted that he should run for president. Lil B answered in classic BasedGod fashion,“I may run for president because when you run for president everything comes out, and I have nothing to hide or be ashamed of.”
On the music side of things Lil B made a big announcement: he will be releasing a rock album titled California Boy. Lil B says, “it won’t be like other rappers experimental rock albums”, his is going to be, “real garage, real punk.” When asked about collaborating with Lil Wayne, Lil B said he considers Mack Maine, Birdman and Lil Wayne his brothers and that it won’t be the last time he works with Wayne; they already have more songs on the way.
Lil B revealed two secrets tonight: the first being the secret to life, which he believes is, “to look at everyone as if they’re a baby.” The other is that he is working with the biggest artists on earth, though he did not say whom.
All in all it was an epic night for Lil B. He shared with the crowd that he prefers painting with watercolors, that he is still 100% in The Pack, that he feels as if he is a role model, and though he is not on television now that he eventually will be. One can only speculate what is next for Lil B and until his next #rare appearance we’ll just have to let Lil B be Lil B. Check the slideshow for more pictures from the event.
Updated with 6 minute clip courtesy of Pitchfork.
-John McAuliffe (@John_Mac310)
Photo Credit – Mike Knapp (@Mknappp)
