I don't support violence and I don't support negative energy. I don't support people putting other people down.
Lil B
Based means being yourself. Not being scared of what people think about you. Not being afraid to do what you wanna do. Being positive.
I mean, everything that is upon this earth, even from a worm or a caterpillar that blossoms into a butterfly, you know, these things are just amazing.
Well, Tony Yayo is my dude. Tony Yayo is a big supporter of my music.
I came in the gate as an African-American poor kid wanting to be a neurosurgeon but - with American life and the places I was put due to American history and laws and the oppression of black people - I had to make it work in other ways.
I don't have any contracts, so I don't have to split any money up. That was my main thing - just making sure I'm taking care of myself and taking care of Lil B. Just learning to survive, for myself and as a human in America.
I'm not paying attention to Kevin Durant. I don't have any recollection of watching him play. I can't remember how he shoots free throws.
The Warriors are a lifestyle. I love every Warrior that stayed. They represented Oakland with pride. I love the Warriors. I love Oakland. I love the people.
I like the Bay Area because it's very diverse, and I'm in touch with the people.
I just want all people to be treated equally, all creeds. It would just make everybody's time on earth easier.
I don't really do anything unless it's from the heart - I don't like to joke on people, or distract them from something they love.
I followed the 1.2 million people with my hand. Never faked anything. Never bought any followers or anything like that. So anything on my social media is a hundred percent real.
I think for me, I get so much love that it balances or overpowers the hate. When I started making music, it was kind of flawless for me. I didn't get any hate early in my hip-hop career.
Now, is Lil B jealous of Kevin Durant on the basketball court? Hmm. Maybe. Maybe not. I love basketball. Do I wish I could play in front of all those people everyday, all day? Of course. I love basketball.
I want people to continue to be creative and to value creativity.
I got started when I was about 15, or 16. My first break through was the Vans song with my group The Pack. That became a worldwide thing.
I'll stand for the anthem, I don't have a problem standing for it.
So I got a lot of music because it's all different. I'm not just one side. I wanna show you the good, the bad, and the ugly. I wanna be as truthful as I can because I love music.
I definitely see myself as as much a feminist as I can try to be. I know I'm not perfect, but I definitely feel the connection with women. I feel them.
When I was younger, I was thinking of ways I could get respect so people wouldn't bother me. I was down for whatever. I ended up going to juvenile hall, facing a good amount of time for a first-time offense.
What I mean by being real is just when you are doing dance celebrations, sports celebrations, like the cooking dance or anything like that. When you're an artist, you want to always try your best to do the homework and see where it originated from.
I'm a product of the different - whether it be institutional racialism, whether it might be growing up in a low-income area, whether it might be, you know, coming from my mother, my father. I'm a totally different person from my mother and father, but once again I'm from them. We all have our different souls, but I'm from them.
Me and Clams have always kept it organic with the way we work. It's just always the right time. It's never no pressure. He always comes through if I need him. I always come through if he needs me, and we always meet at that right time.
I appreciate women so much. I think the part that they play is that I just admire women. I love every part of the woman. I think the woman is what is amazing.
I'm a funny guy. I want people to laugh. I laugh at myself, I make fun of myself. But at the end of the day everything that I say has a message in it.
When you're not hearing my voice, I'm working on art. So if you're not hearing me, I'm working for the people and getting inspired.
After I started based freestyling. Just spending a lot of time learning about myself and entering a higher level within my mind. I was exploring my mind, and I ended up finding the Based God.
On 'Platinum Flame,' I engineered the beats myself, so I produced and engineered them. So this is getting even truer to myself, how I truly feel.
I actually got an invite from the 87ers, the D-League affiliate for the 76ers.
I listen to music all the time. I need music and I love music and I appreciate it. It inspires me.
Growing up low income and poor, I didn't have the best relationship with money.
I want people to smile when they hear my name.
When I was growing up, man, I didn't know myself. I was striving for respect. Trying to be cool for the girls. I wasn't the biggest dude and I'm a nice guy.
I'm a real guy. I'm not money-laundering. I make money off music, and music is my source of income. It feels good. I'm not selling T-shirts, I'm not doing none of that other crap. Straight music.
Clams's music to me is where there's no boundaries. It was just exciting for my mind to be as free as Clams's music is.
Sometimes you don't go straight from high school or college and get to the NBA from there. Sometimes you have to go when you're a little bit older and try that other route like Jeremy Lin. And he made it.
I just like to see and put out what I think is beautiful. And put my swag on it, and my style, and how I feel.
I just gotta keep doing what I'm doing, and just continuing to grow and progress as an artist. People who are saying that about Lil B need to be innovative and not be tools.
I've seen a lot of people stealing from what I do. Some people show love and say thank you and tell me how I was an inspired for them.
Before the money or anything, number one, it was just to put out real music, real stuff with a passion, real art.
If one person reaches out to me, who am I not to reach back? Even if it takes me a year to reply, they do get that message and they feel it.
Everything, for me, is fueled off telling my story through music, because I have a lot to say, and it's some urgent things that I have to tell to the world, and help and heal. I know my part that I have to do through music.
My perspective of capitalism growing up in Berkeley, Calif. in a low-income project, growing up poor, is that capitalism wanted to destroy me, they wanted me to become a worker.
Rappers are definitely role models and definitely should get involved. They're involved in politics whether they like it or not.
I'm actually going to self-produce my next tape that I'm working on, 'Platinum Frame'. This going to be my second official mixtape.
If I can really sustain myself and become a powerful entity on the internet, it'll transfer into real life. So right now I'm putting everything into the net.
An artist should appreciate anybody that appreciates their art because really bro, without people I can't do anything.
When people are hitting you off Twitter, a lot of times they don't know who you are. They're just hopping on your character and they gon' be hopping on another rapper next. You gotta weed out the real and the fake.
I can't make Based God music all the time. The Based God is something that is better than Lil B and better than Brandon McCartney; he's something that I aspire to be.
I have a song that's called 'Rap Dreams, Hoop Dreams'. Besides education, everybody's got hoop dreams from day one in rap. Rap, sports, music have so much of an impact on the world.