The whirlwind of positivity that is erratic hip-hop artist Lil B, rolled into Surry Hills on with his show at Sydney’s live music hub The Standard.
Members of the rapper’s cult, The Taskforce, Bitch Mob, as well as regular believers coming to get ‘based’ (the positive philosophy Lil B promotes) slowly filled the room in preparation for his set.
Attendees from the show came in all shapes and sizes, but were tied together by the collective belief in the based life and the rituals that go with it. Clad in pink bandanas, with ‘TYBG’ (“Thank You Based God”) written across their knuckles, attendees milled about performing his trademark ‘cooking’ dance and happily chatting – few were left riding the walls.
Despite the start of the show running 25 minutes late the crowd only started to bustle a little, seeming to grow more enthusiastic than inpatient. If there is a testament to the message of this man, it was in the room that Saturday night.
The Based God, as he calls himself, came out onto the stage alerting the audience to the shortened set time of the night before launching into a high-energy, yet intimate set. Punters yelled back catch cries such as ‘Thank You Based God’, ‘Rare!’ and Lil B’s inflection of the exceedingly common phrase ‘swag’.
From his MySpace beginnings to his two official albums and a ridiculous number of mixtapes, it is estimated Lil B has released about 800 songs. As such his ‘sound’ is hard to nail down and ever-shifting.
On this night however it was very bass heavy with big beats, music made for enveloping rooms not coming out of headphones, with lyrics ranging from shallow hooks to earnest confessionals.
The crowd responded accordingly, alternating between enthusiastic moshing and arm waving; and cheering when he took time to preach the respect of women in between songs. His set rolled through all of his biggest hits, including ‘Wonton Soup’, ‘I’m God’, and ‘Love You’, with Lil B performing from the very edge of the stage frequently reaching out to the hands of audience members.
It then took a bizarre turn two-thirds of the way through when Lil B let revelers onto the stage. The stage was soon flooded with makeshift dancers, which wasn’t a problem until someone attempted to take his sunglasses. He then commanded the DJ to stop the music, before calling out to security multiple times whilst ranting about his sunglasses, his shoes, lack of security, and “protecting Lil B” (also another one of his catch-cry’s.).
The 20-minute spell would be a gig-ruiner for most artists, who would come off looking like the self-absorbed kin of some of some of music’s greatest prima donna’s. However in pure Lil B fashion the rest of the gig was a complete counter point with an engrossing performance and much audience interaction before he ended the gig in equally unique fashion.
Lil B finished his last song and stepped straight off the front of the stage into the crowd, taking time to interact with each person individually despite being surrounded by a potentially overwhelming number of fans.
The ring cleared slowly as he not only took photos but also chatted with everyone, as patient fans seemingly forgot the events of before. Or maybe they very well expect such things from their impulsive idol; who appears to either be erratic in a Kanye-esque way or a massive performance art piece/troll. Whatever the conclusion, the shortened set was a shame, because he is dynamic on stage.
