First of all, this is a long post. I feel like I have to tell people that now because literacy is at an all-time low. People never hesitate to call someone stupid for having a different opinion, but when that someone takes the time to explain the reasons for the different opinion, those same people will say, "I aint tryin to read all that." Exposing themselves as the true idiots. If you belong to those kind of people, check out now. Just know that hip hop discussion is not for you and you're not an intellectual in any way shape or form, despite what you may think about yourself.
Now that I've gotten that out of the way...
You're switching gears. I was talking about creativity in terms of their actual music (without the gimmicks), now you're talking about gimmicks. OK... let's talk about gimmicks.
You're absolutely right. Lil B is a gimmick. Every single rapper has a gimmick. The question is
a) Is the artist honest about having a gimmick, and is his/her fanbase aware of it?
b) Is it a creative and unique gimmick?
c) Does the music stand on its own? Take the gimmick out, is it still great music executed at a high level? So that people who don't buy into the gimmick can say, "yeah I feel that! I really enjoy some of those songs."
For Lil B
a) Absolutely. He knows he's a joke. His fans know he's a joke. It's part of the fun. We don't think he's Nas or even close or ever will be close. You'll never see us compare Lil B to Illmatic, unless we're joking. At least Lil B and 'taskforce' are honest about it.
b) Yes. Highly unique. Extraordinarily complex. When was the last time you saw a rapper come up through trolling/satire on the scale that Lil B has accomplished it? If you start looking into what Lil B has done, it's actually quite stunning. He has a bigger social media presence than most rappers signed to big deals. And this is without any kind of machine, from what I can tell. His satire cuts across all coasts/styles of rap, while appropriating Prince (he does this quite a bit) and random shyt (dreampop, video games). It's borderline hip hop encyclopedia shyt.
b) Yes and no, leaning towards no. If you don't understand Lil B's gimmick (many people don't, it's a lot more complex than people realize), you probably won't like his music. If you understand it and still don't like the gimmick, you won't like the music. A lot of it has to do with how weird the music is (a lot of people aren't good with 'weird'), and the fact that the execution level isn't high across the board to overcome the weirdness. The majority of Lil B's music ranges from decent to shoddy garbage on its own.
Lil B has some songs that even haters say, "yeah that's pretty good". But in general, no. The music and the gimmick are 50/50. They go hand in hand.
For Kendrick, J Cole
a) No. Both of these guys never acknowledge the fact that they are sold as 'hip hop saviors'. They pretend to be 100% genuine and super deep guys who make music because they want to contribute to making hip hop better. They know that 'being the savior' is the marketing scheme, and absurdly high reviews get pushed to every blog (especially Kendrick). But ask Kendrick, and he'll pretend like he or his team aren't calling his album classic and marketing his album as classic. That it's "the people" who are ordaining him "king". Such bullshyt. And his fans have no idea, nor do they care to know the truth. They just want the validation.
b) No. The hip hop savior gimmick is as old as Kanye. Even earlier to the underground/Rawkus days. And you could argue even earlier to Outkast/Arrested Development. You know, the guys that come in to 'save hip hop' from its ******ish behaviors.
c) No. Their music is bland and weak as fukk. If you don't buy into their personalities and their 'mission statements', you wont like the music. That's why reviews focus on the "necessary messages" these guys are supposedly trying to put out, instead of reviewing the actual music: e.g. Is the beat good? How is the vocal delivery? Is this song replayable? What is the song actually saying instead of what it's trying to say?
No one's talking about stuff like this, but instead wasting time on "Black Excellence" and "It's taking hip hop back to its roots" and "addressing issues."
Now tell me who is the bigger gimmick.
this shyt GOES
Im going to check out these young brothers stuff
