‘Based’ but not apathetic

Perhaps more so than any other rapper since Lil Wayne, Lil B forced his way into hip-hop’s consciousness.

Lil B’s career spans 676-song mixtapes, over 150 MySpace pages and numerous collabs with Soulja Boy, all of which have been used as methods to the madness of the Based God — the middling-to-completely ironic nickname that 21-year-old Brandon McCartney uses when spreading his gospel of positivity.

But his biggest maneuver to date came at Coachella this year when he announced his next album was to be titled “I’m Gay.”

B had always been socially conscious, but even his most positively-charged raps of change were emphatically counteracted by a web of rhymes about celebrities, internet memes and cars filled with money.

Now, to suddenly throw yourself directly in the middle of hip-hop’s most combustible topic seems a little like falling on your own sword, though it’s actually called “I’m Gay (I’m Happy).”

And yet, the young Based God rises to the occasion, producing some of his best strings of rhymes and more cohesive subject matter than ever before.
That’s right kids, actual lyricism, courtesy of Lil B.

The album’s first song, “Trapped in Prison,” opens with the line, “Mental slavery/ niggas be hangin’ off the trees in the woods,” a reverse hashtag rap with connotations as dark and heavy as you’ll see anywhere else on the album.

Lil B’s stream-of-consciousness flow can be stop-and-start at times with awkward pauses that serve as a reset button between messages.

Here, those rhymes are more about race relations and poverty than celebrities and cash.

On “I Hate Myself,” Lil B raps over a slowed, softened version of the Goo Goo Dolls’
“Iris,” which is about identity and loneliness.

The artist turns to more positive territory on the standout “I Seen That Light,” an Eric Benet sampler that’s also a self-promoter.

What makes “I’m Gay” such an intriguing listen are Lil B’s earnest approach and honest lyrics.

His message sometimes fails to hold up when inspected closely, but when he almost desperately raps about respecting women on “Last Chance,” it’s hard not to like a guy who believes he’s standing for some higher standard with his message — no matter how weird that perception might be.