Lil B is GAY

DustedDon

Lil B Says I'm Gay LP Title Provoking Death Threats, Slurs

'One-hundred years later, people gonna thank me, because people are going to be free,' the Based God tells MTV News.

By Rob Markman

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1662490/lil-b-im-gay.jhtml

In his steady rise to rap notoriety, Lil B has relied heavily on his viral fanbase. His multiple MySpace pages, Facebook "likes" and army of Twitter followers have helped propel his music and message. But ever since Lil B announced at Coachella last week that the title of his next album will be I'm Gay, some fans have turned on the Based God. A few have even sent digital death threats.

"People been hitting me up like, 'I'm gonna bash your head in,' 'you f----t,' 'I'm gonna kill you,' " Lil B told MTV News on Thursday (April 21), as he drove to a show at the Mezzanine in San Francisco.

With upcoming shows lined up in Chicago, Detroit and at the Bamboozle Festival in New Jersey in the next few weeks, Lil B showed no signs of fear and said he'd proceed with his scheduled dates.

"I'm not gonna stop and I'm not scared of anybody on earth," he said of the Twitter backlash. "That's why I [titled the album I'm Gay] and nobody gonna stop me."

B insisted he's not a homosexual, but that he is gay, i.e., extremely happy, flipping the word and focusing on its other definition. "I'm very gay, but I love women. I'm not attracted to men in any way. I've never been attracted to a man in my life. But yes I am gay, I'm so happy," he said. "I'm a gay, heterosexual male."

A spokesman for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) told XXLMag.com that they hope Lil B's album title is "not a gimmick, and is really a sincere attempt to be an ally."

B stressed to MTV News that he is in fact a supporter. "I got major love for the gay and lesbian community, and I just want to push less separation and that's why I'm doing it," the Based God said. "I hope GLAAD sees that I'm taking initial steps to break barriers."

When we asked about the makeup of his fanbase, B said he hadn't noticed whether there was any significant portion of his following that identifies as gay, but that some have already had a negative reaction to his title selection.

"A lot of my supporters have turned on me. It's been a few supporters that's saying, 'I'm not gonna rock with you anymore,' " the controversial MC revealed. "That's fine, because you know what? They didn't love me for real anyway."

Although the rapper has yet to begin recording the album, he expects to have it ready and available on iTunes in the next month or two. Lil B also believes that even though he's facing resistance now, in the future he'll be hailed as a hero. "One-hundred years later, people gonna thank me, because people are going to be free. And that's the main thing. Even if it's 1 percent of the people that listen to me and are gonna be free, that's better than none," he said. "That's better than not speaking up at all ... and I spoke up and I did it."

Unknown

Lil B is a useless insect.

Cosmo

It would be great if he was actually gay and that's why he used it for his album title instead of relying on the sensationalism of it, while on the backs of actual gay people who struggle for equal rights and respect every day.

Rockadelic

Cosmo said:

It would be great if he was actually gay and that's why he used it for his album title instead of relying on the sensationalism of it, while on the backs of actual gay people who struggle for equal rights and respect every day.

I'm betting the thirty something year old dudes who ride this little boys dick don't care one way or the other.

Jonny_Paycheck

Rockadelic said:

thirty something year old dudes who ride this little boys dick

so... he is gay?

Rockadelic

Jonny_Paycheck said:

Rockadelic said:

thirty something year old dudes who ride this little boys dick

so... he is gay?

Don't know....don't care......hype is hype.

bassie

Not really a fan of the guy and I agree that it's exploitation....but I will also say there is something to be said for the more "gayness" is taken out of its stereotypical context, it will have a normalizing affect.
A dude in a very homophobic environment using this as a title may work to make homosexuality less and less stigmatized.
Whatever the intent - gimmick or genuine - the outcome might be worthwhile. If nothing else, for raising the topic.
The first few hundred steps to changing people's perceptions are always messy and rarely comfortable for all involved.

edit - is it normalizing affect or effect? I always get mixed up.

fishmongerfunk

this is more exploitive than courageous since he isn't really putting himself on the line at all. he makes a big point of letting everyone know that he actually only has sex with women.

this, on the other hand, struck me as much more courageous (although he is exploiting it too i guess since it's also a promo for his new book):

In a Twitter posting to his 89,805 followers Sunday night, CNN anchor Don Lemon linked to a New York Times story that reveals he is gay, and thanked his followers in advance for their support. The revelation comes in advance of his upcoming book, Transparent (due out June 16), and in the interview with NYT???s Bill Carter, Lemon reveals that, while his sexuality was known to his colleagues, going public carries with it considerable anxiety.

Lemon reveals to Carter that, in addition to the ???normal??? stress of coming out, he worries about acceptance from the black community:

???It???s quite different for an African-American male,??? he said. ???It???s about the worst thing you can be in black culture. You???re taught you have to be a man; you have to be masculine. In the black community they think you can pray the gay away.??? He said he believed the negative reaction to male homosexuality had to do with the history of discrimination that still affects many black Americans, as well as the attitudes of some black women.

???You???re afraid that black women will say the same things they do about how black men should be dating black women.??? He added, ???I guess this makes me a double minority now.???

Elsewhere in the interview, he describes the process that led him to this decision, and expresses a hope that announcements like his will make it easier for others struggling with the decision, and perhaps avert tragedies like the Tyler Clementi suicide. He also allowed that other closeted public figures need to be able to make up their own minds about such a personal decision.

Whatever the effects on Lemon???s career, the decision to go public is a courageous one, and his willingness to challenge his own cultural norms is doubly so. The phenomenon he describes was made evident when 70% of black voters voted in favor of California???s Proposition 8, which outlawed same-sex marriages. Exit polling also showed that 84% of regular churchgoers supported that measure.

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/cnns-don-lemon-comes-out-publicly-acknowledges-he-is-gay-via-twitternew-york-times/

Soulhawk

haha MLJ & Rock are mad

Rockadelic

Soulhawk said:

haha MLJ & Rock are mad

Why the hell would I be mad??

The whole Lil B phenomena seems to me to be hype...this is no different.

If the dude can cash in with this nonsense, good for him.

bassie

crabmongerfunk said:

this is more exploitive than courageous since he isn't really putting himself on the line at all. he makes a big point of letting everyone know that he actually only has sex with women.

I would not go as far as to use the word courageous.

The way homophobia works, as I'm sure everyone is aware, once the label is attached to you, all the protestation or proof of heterosexuality won't eradicate the label or suspicion.
I am not as concerned as what it means for him as what it potentially means for the image and assumptions of gayness.

Mjukis

People/The media want crazy antics, not struggles for equal rights. It's just the way it works. I still think Lil B is doing more for tolerance/openmindedness than the average person who has that kind of spotlight on him. The fact that he gets publicity from it doesn't mean there isn't some idealism in there too.

I still would like to meet someone who could listen to "Rain in England" or "Paint" in its entirety though.

Junior

From what I've seen, once you step off the Internet and see B's live shows his fan base is a lot younger and much more of an even spread of male and females than the thirty something year old dudes (Hi!) writing about him may suggest.

I don't really think he's a rapper with a traditional rap fanbase and the guy has already recorded songs as Ellen and Paris Hilton among others while wearing tiny pants and labelling himself a pretty bitch so it's kind of a logical step to push it further since the more hipster end of the fanbase likes the throwaway stuff more than when he's got a purpose to the song.

I just hope he takes it a far as actually featuring the subject in a track on the album. Oh, and that the album's decent.

I've listened to Rain In England all the way through.

Jonny_Paycheck

That is entirely too reasonable and informed for this website

Beatnicholas

the whole things interesting as well when you consider Lil B doing this in relation to Tyler's continual, casual use of the word "faggot" in his songs and speech, as this article does.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2011/may/09/hip-hop-homophobia

excerpt: On the other hand, Lil B caused a furore ??? and attracted death threats ??? last month when he announced his forthcoming album would be titled I'm Gay. Though the former Pack member is straight, it's hardly out-of-character for a rapper who specialises in stream-of-consciousness surrealism. His penchant for blurring gender and sexuality lines is already well known, whether exclaiming "Damn, I'm a princess" mid-freestyle, referring to himself as a "pretty bitch" or throwing down the gauntlet to the biggest female rapper around: "Nicki Minaj, I'm the finest bitch out!" And with songs entitled I'm God, I Am the Ocean and I'm Paris Hilton, I'm Gay is less of a grand statement than it might appear.

HarveyCanal

Lil B's rapping is so horrendous, I imagine he was getting plenty of death threats before the album title was announced.

b/w

Straight or not, dude is gay.

Junior

^^^^^^^^^^^^

CAN'T HANDLE THIS AGE OF INFORMATION.

The real question of course is how Soulja Boy is going to rip this latest move off.

Mjukis

Junior is one of the struts most underrated poasters. AND he's listened to Rain in England all the way through? He's skyrocketing on my "Strutters you'd like to meet"-list.

bassie

Mjukis said:

Junior is one of the struts most underrated poasters......He's...on my "Strutters you'd like to meet"-list.

Yep. I am a fan.

pcmr

bassie said:

Mjukis said:

Junior is one of the struts most underrated poasters......He's...on my "Strutters you'd like to meet"-list.

Yep. I am a fan.

thirded
furthermore he brings eloquent discourse to controversial topics both on and off the soundscapes/pitch
Bring back the BLOG!!!!

The-gaffler

this thread is great!

Okem

Underappreciated maybe, but it's commonly known that he's tha greatest.

edpowers

Brian

i find it so ill that rock is more up on this shit than i am

The_Non

Rockadelic said:

Cosmo said:

It would be great if he was actually gay and that's why he used it for his album title instead of relying on the sensationalism of it, while on the backs of actual gay people who struggle for equal rights and respect every day.

I'm betting the thirty something year old dudes who ride this little boys dick don't care one way or the other.

I find it awesome that these two statements rolled one after the other with -0- intended irony attached.

Unknown

The_Non said:

Rockadelic said:

Cosmo said:

It would be great if he was actually gay and that's why he used it for his album title instead of relying on the sensationalism of it, while on the backs of actual gay people who struggle for equal rights and respect every day.

I'm betting the thirty something year old dudes who ride this little boys dick don't care one way or the other.

I find it awesome that these two statements rolled one after the other with -0- intended irony attached.

Irony is overrated. I know hipsters live for it, but they really should find better hobbies.

Junior

Cheers for the kind words, seems somehow appropriate that I got props in a thread concerning the gayness of Lil B.

Disclaimer: I've only listened to Rain In England all the way through once and it wasn't my favourite time spent with the Based God. I've been meaning to revisit it but there's not much time for reappraisal when he's released three new mixtapes in the time it's taken for me to listen to one.

Mr_Lee_PHD

bassie said:

edit - is it normalizing affect or effect? I always get mixed up.

Effect

Affect is to influence
Effect is a result

bassie

Mr_Lee_PHD said:

bassie said:

edit - is it normalizing affect or effect? I always get mixed up.

Effect

Affect is to influence
Effect is a result

Thank You.

That is going in my wallet for future reference.

pcmr

thoughts?
http://teganandsara.com/news/a-call-for-change/

DB_Cooper

bassie said:

Mr_Lee_PHD said:

bassie said:

edit - is it normalizing affect or effect? I always get mixed up.

Effect

Affect is to influence
Effect is a result

Thank You.

That is going in my wallet for future reference.

Easier to remember:

Affect is a verb
Effect is a noun