Brandon McCartney, better known by his stage names Lil B or The Basedgod, is one of the most fascinating individuals to have ever lived. He is an overwhelmingly positive person who advocates love, kindness and happiness for all people.
His Twitter account boasts that he is a “Mogul, first rapper ever to write and publish a book at 19, film score, composer, producer, director/photo/branding/marketing/historical online figure,” and amazingly enough, he has lived up to each of those titles.
In his music career alone, Lil B has released 10 studio albums (seven solo and three with his group “The Pack”), 48 mixtapes (one of which has more than 850 songs on it), worked with artists like Lil Wayne and Wiz Khalifa and has influenced hip-hop music in a way no other rapper has while remaining a completely independent artist.
It doesn’t matter if you think Lil B is an artistic genius or a total hack. Love him or hate him, Lil B has lessons to teach everyone.
His philosophy, the “based” philosophy, is how Lil B lives his life and what his fans aspire to live by as well. But what does it mean to be based? It’s simple really: love and cherish everything you have, love and respect all people no matter who they are or where they come from, show compassion toward everything, spread positivity to the best of your ability, help those in need, do everything in your power to accomplish your goals and most of all, be happy.
His live appearances are surprisingly rare for an artist with such a rabid fan base. He announced recently that he would be giving a lecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Nov. 21, an event that he promised would change the lives of all in attendance.
At a typical show, Lil B will most likely tell his fans he loves them at least once between every song. At a lecture he gave at New York University, he told those in attendance he loved them at 11 different times and spoke about the importance of accepting those who look different, how respect is the key to success and how ants are just like us, among other things.
Lil B is affective. He genuinely seems to have impacted and even changed the lives of some of his fans, and he is inspired by the love that his fans show him. The connection that Lil B has made with his fans is on par with Oprah or The Pope. He never turns down a request to have a picture taken or to autograph something, and always seems to leave the fans he talks to with some positive advice.
Marketers could take a note or two from Lil B. He is incredibly active on social media, constantly responding to and retweeting fans that have tweeted at him. He follows nearly a million people, most of whom are fans.
Even the comments on his YouTube videos are unbelievably positive, which is surprising for the medium of Internet commenting.
Nearly all of Lil B’s music is available free online either on iTunes or Datpiff.com.
“Every single person you meet, look at them like a golden million dollar baby,” Lil B said.
Stay based everyone. I love you.
