Last Friday (September 22nd), Lil B offered up a pretty hot take concerning his sound as a rapper versus the sonic originality of some of his peers. “Lil B the only rapper who doesn’t rap like the Migos or sound like future in 2017!! He is truly an original!!! – Lil B," said the Based God, a statement that did not go unnoticed by a large faction of the hip-hop community. However, there is one personality in particular whose response is more significant than the rest: Danny Brown.
A wholly unique musical voice, Brown was quick to post his retort to B's head-scratcher of a statement. "Never rapped like Migos or sounded like Future," he replied, no doubt voicing similar statements from a lot of artists who may have felt marginalized by Lil B. The Based God noticed the reply as well, responding in due time some sincere words for his fellow emcee: "Na u always been ur own man! Salute u - lil b."
It's doubtful that this exchange would hurt their rapport, with both men set to perform at the upcoming Bruiser Thanksgiving event in Detroit. This is Year No. 4 for the fundraising event, which is designed to help charities in the Motor City and in surrounding areas. Keeping with the charity theme, the Black Ken rapper has even offered to donate versus to artists who have had their creative livelihoods derailed by the aftereffects of Hurricanes Irma and Harvey.
As for his statement in Twitter, Lil B was definitely reaching at least a little bit. He may have a distinctive style, but to say that he's the only person in the hip-hop community who isn't operating in that homogeneous sonic space that he and others have lumped Migos, Future and most of the ATL scene into is self-centered at best. Like Brown, there are plenty of emcees who are plying their trade in unique and interesting ways, further deepening the scope of hip-hop records that are out and about these days. There's a certain kind of sound that might make you a mainstream chart success right away, but then again, trends like that have been around in music before hip-hop was even a thing. It's a case of old news in new packaging.