Brandon McCartney a.k.a. “The Pretty Bitch,” b.k.a. Lil B, is the new “nigga ya love to hate!”, word to Ice Cube. Despite this, he has a strong fan base within his tween & teen target demographics as evidenced by the tens to hundreds of thousands views for every video he has uploaded onto YouTube, his 100,000+ Twitter followers and his sold out shows. He is constantly interacting with the “Based community” via these social networking platforms and has even written a book based solely on text messages and emails written to his fans. Despite all of the negative criticism, Brandon’s marketing strategy, albeit strange and sensational, has been working for him, though it remains to be seen if this can be translated into long-term success. Regardless, he has garnered the attention of major publications, label executives, and has helped bring you to the LTD Magazine website today.
What was experienced at the Highline Ballroom concert can’t wholly be explained through the highlight reel video. Lil B had a capacity crowd at this show yelling for him throughout the duration of the opening act. I saw people right next to me literally bowing down and praying for him to get on stage. I was almost struck by a man jumping off a banister because he was just, well, that hyped. Once Lil B took to the stage and began to perform his discography, excuse me, collection of not yet mastered, nor mixed, mp3 files, the crowd erupted. The floor shook from the entire venue getting based & cooking all at once to his music. Swag t-shirts, cooking utensils, (yes, spatula’s were seen) and master chef’s hats all contributed to the cacophony. The crowd did not lose its intensity throughout the duration of the show despite having his “avant-garde” ambient rap records interspersed within the set and speeches whose topics ranged from how much of a pretty bitch he is to preaching on spreading positivity.
I haven’t seen this much crowd control and overall energy exuded by fans at a rap show in years. I give Lil B his due respect for this. He has the allure that every rapper, whether it be new-age or golden-era, wants to have in the sense of being in control of their fan-base throttle, both online and at live shows. He had the entire front row reaching out towards him, caressing his legs and all throughout the entire show. At one point, his fans were testifying to the fact that they would sacrifice their entire families for Lil B to fornicate with in order to prove how much of a fan they were. I left the show with a sense that I had just seen the modern day Jim Jones, not the Diplomats affiliate but Capo of the Peoples Temple, the cult leader behind The Jonestown Massacre. Instead of Flavor Aid, there’s a euphoria of being “Based” and he chooses to replace the cyanide with industrial sized vats of “swag”.
Lil B is a well calculated business man, regardless of what you may believe. Despite the maniacal mixture of ignorant music and abrasive statements, what is publicly apparent does not make up the breadth of what he has going on intellectually, strictly in a business sense. His shock-rap and supporting antics have landed him in a plethora of discussions on the Internet and has translated into the tangible world where he is being sought out by fans, music media and executives alike. This article goes without even touching upon the possible issues that have caused for Lil B, or his fans, to behave in the manner that they do. It also does not discuss the quality of the music or the authenticity behind his statements of positivity. I will leave that for everyone else to discuss. Just know that Lil B put on an insanely energetic performance. He is going to be around for a little while so you might want to make an attempt at understanding the appeal or preventing the based cult from fully formulating. This might all be a charade or maybe his intentions are good in which Lil B is in the same boat as The Animals & Nina Simone in being misunderstood.
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