Lil B The Based God: The thin line between marketing genius and talent

There is something to be said about the power of the world wide web... and the something is Lil B the Based God. If you haven't heard of this man within the past six months, then you've clearly been living under a rock. But just in case you haven't, here's a briefing.

Lil B the Based God is a marketing genius. Now whether that genius occurred accidentally or purposely is debatable. He was able to utilize the internet in conjunction with the human nature to research the seemingly "strange" and created a strong fan base.

Using social networks (ie. facebook, twitter, tumblr, myspace and youtube) Lil B has developed two slogans, if you will, to help carry out his genius. "Based" and "Swag". Anyone familiar with marketing knows that using simple and catchy phrases to captivate a specific demographic is a common tool to promote. Not to mention the fact that the word "God" is included in is name. It makes him captivating. It makes you wonder "who is this guy?".

Using tactics like creating over 120 myspace pages (all including the word "based"), hashtagging his slogans on twitter and viral videos, Lil B created a platform to reach an overwhelming amount of internet users like never before. Are you still questioning his marketing genius?

Whether Lil B has actual talent or not is not something that his fans are concerned with. He is appealing. On top of that, he intrigues the listener with the contents of his music. Lyrics like, "Hoes on my d*ck 'cause I look like Jesus" admittedly is entertaining. But his appeal is not solely about entertaining lyrics, he is an overall interesting type of person (to say the least).

There is, however, something to be said about how quickly someone out of the norm can elevate themselves in a position to be relevant by tapping into people's curiosity. Those who are not fans of Lil B consider his fans to be "sheep" and the Based God "the herder" because of the loyalty that they have for this man. "Thank You Based God" can always be seen in a tweet of a fan.They also shout out things like, "Lil B you can f*ck my b*tch and my momma" at performances. And when questioned about how they could listen to an artist like Lil B, they simply reply with "'cause i'm based".

The World of Lil B the Based God is a world of inside jokes and "swag" and if you are not apart of that world, it might be hard for you to understand. What isn't misunderstood is how far a little marketing savvy could take you.

-Ricki Ryan