Breaking the Swagtastic Legion of Doom off with more Based God footage from the Highline Ballroom performance in New York City. This video consists solely of Lil B’s most entertaining talking points from that night.

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.

Last night Lil B blessed his loyal followers with a live performance at Highline Ballroom in NYC. As much hype as he had this show was still going to be my first introduction to the BasedGod so I entered with no expectations. When he finally hits the stage my man has on the smallest shirt I’ve ever seen a regular size dude wear that wasn’t, you know, playing for the same team. “Swag” is what he calls it, “being honest” was the theme for the evening. Kids, guys and girls, were doing all the could to have some of his Swag rub off on them. At one point (we have video we’ll show), he passes the mic around to those lucky enough to be in the front to let them “thank the BasedGod.” They telling Lil B he could fuck their girlfriends, mother’s and even, get this, their daughter, it was interesting to watch to say the least.

For now, check out his entrance on to the stage and “Ellen Degeneres” live. She needs to have him on her show, that would be great.

In the 6 weeks that i’ve had the Vespa, minus at least 2 weeks of travel, i have already hit the 300 mile mark on the odometer. And that’s just city driving! An interesting fact: being on this Vespa has helped me curb my drinking habits. Knowing that i have to ride out on two wheels has made me refrain from having too many cocktails, gotta be safe.

Check out pics of spots I hit last week after the jump.

Monday Night Football hosted by NY Giant Danny Clark at The Ainsworth. All proceeds benefit the Danny Clark foundation. The night is Sponsored by Diesel, Coors Light, Svedka Vodka and Zirh.

The Ainsworth has screens everywhere, great spot to watch sports.

DJ Berrie and Danny Clark announcing raffle winners.

Finally made it to the Roots Jam @ Highline Ballroom. The show was crazy, we posted a video earlier this week, make sure you check it.

The packed house enjoying the show.

Had to eat after the Roots show so i hit up the famous Joe’s Pizza for a couple slices. Skinny fat guy.

The perspective is off in the pic, sorry, but had to take a shot of this vehicle cause it was decorated with stickers about saving the environment but yet it’s a old inefficient vehicle that i’m sure emits more harmful things for our atmosphere than a newer one. So you’re helping cause you have stickers on your car? You’d probably do more by not driving it.

The Roots Jam @ Highline Ballroom NYC 9.15.09 from LTD Magazine on Vimeo.

Finally made it out to The Roots Jam Session. It was my good friend Derek Jackson’s birthday (he found The Roots, Lords of the Underground) so he was able to drag me out and get me to the Highline. We caught a great medley with DoItAll (Lords of the Underground), Craig G, Marley Marl and Tarik on all rocking on stage together, classic material. Check it out.