Over the past few weeks, I've had trouble ignoring the phenomenon that is Lil' B the Based God. The Bay Area native has a choke hold on the internet's fickle throat, and with his #based moniker he's made Twitter his personal stomping ground in little more than a year. That said, his music has always gone over my head, either due to my own doubting his musical ability or general ire towards his 'so ridiculous, it's genius' modus operandi. You can't deny the man's work ethic or his overall intelligence. Lately I've been seeing Lil' B tweets popping up on my timeline, and instead of questioning them, I found myself nodding in agreement. Maybe I'll never be a Lil' B fan. Maybe #based music is little more than a fad. Whatever the case, he has my ears, and after this feature with MTV's VICE, he might have a lot more in 2011. Check out exactly what #based music is, and the inspiration for his seemingly random song titles...
Okay, so it's not a letter (sue me). I got a chance to talk to Diggy Simmons over the phone about two weeks ago. As you may or may not know, he dropped a mixtape a month ago entitled 'The First Flight' (didn't post it in December because I wanted it to coincide with the interview; check the post right under this). If you take a listen, you can definitely see the young man going places. Look what he's got to say about his intro to music, what's driving him, whether he loves music or fashion more, and more. Oh yeah, and check some audio of me talking Diggy and sounding really, really, REALLY corny...
DW: Okay, Diggy, I checked out 'The First Flight' mixtape and I have to say I didn't expect this from you. What made you want to get into music?
DS: A lot of people thought it was an 'all of a sudden' type thing. And it's funny that people say that because I'm young still. They're like 'Why is this kid from Run's House rapping?' At the same time, the only thing they think I'm capable of doing is running around my house on a camera.
DW: So you weren't dead set on music first? It was more fanhood than everything?
DS: I've been rapping since I was 5 years old. And when I was around 7 or 8, my brother (JoJo) and I had a group together. We had a deal on the table, but it fell through, even though there were a couple of labels interested. When you're young, and you don't have anybody to guide you, you just go on with your life. I continued writing, but didn't take it seriously. Then this summer, I started rapping again because I had a lot on my chest that I wanted to get off. I was recording on GarageBand and collabing with my boys who would do the same. I ended up doing a remix to Asher Roth and Keri Hilson's 'She Don't Want a Man' and it got crazy feedback; people saying 'this is better than the original!' That's the first song I've released as a rapper. So my boy said I should do a mixtape.
I didn't really know everything that came with it and set an early release date from my blog. I thought I was just gonna hit the studio and do track after track after track, but realized that it's a process and ended up pushing it back a few times.
DW: Who are you a fan of in music right now? What are you bumping in your iPod?
DS: Right now I'm listening to a lot of J. Cole and Jay Electronica. I'm into real hip-hop like Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Lupe Fiasco, Andre 3000. Those are my real influences; any real lyricists out there.
DW: On your mixtape, your lead track was called 'Point to Prove'. What's setting you apart from every other rapper out there.
DS: Basically I'm trying to prove my own worth as an artist. If you didn't know, I'm an independent artist. Everyone thinks I need my father or my uncle to pull strings for me in the industry, but no one sees that I'm doing this by myself. Even on 'Point to Prove' I mentioned that my dad was probably hearing the track at the same time as the rest of y'all.
DW: So do you find yourself encountering a lot of the 'industry politics' as an independent artist? Or has it been pretty smooth getting the mixtape out and promoting it?
DS: As an independent artist, it's a gift and a curse. The gift is that people want to hear me, but the curse is that they're skeptical and would love to hate (laughter). Like 'why is this little kid in this big house rapping? What does he have to rap about?' To that I say, that I live in the riches, but they aren't mine. God willing, I will have that. But I do have things to talk about. I do hip-hop for the love of it right now so it's easier to be creative. And as far as labels go, I can't really go into that (more laughter), but everything's going good...
DW: So you're 14 years old. Do you see yourself sticking with the fashion and rapping, or going the traditional high school and college route??
DS: It all depends. The fashion and rapping is what I really want to do. At a young age a lot of people don't have a vision. Looking at the way everything is happening with the world, yes, college is important and so is education. Those will always be there. But with time, I don't know what's going happen, and it's really too early to call it.
DW: Now that 2009's out of the way and you dropped the first mixtape, what's in store for 2010?
DS: More music definitely. A lot of people are asking for a sequel to 'The First Flight'. I'm just focused on getting better and going harder. You know, I'm still young so I'm really trying to do more lyrically and in terms of wordplay. Sometimes I suprise myself with what I do (laughter). I like knowing that people are finally listening, because you can hear me grow up and learn more about me from them listening.
These days you don't learn from who you're listening to. I was talking to someone pretty important in the industry about that. A lot of people just talk about what they wear and what they have. How are you really supposed to get into an artist when they just talk about that? You can't relate to what they have. In fact, that's what's missing in the game: real content. I want to bring that to the game, in my own way.
DW: Let's get on to the fashion aspect of your career. I've seen a few shots of your brand, Chivalrous Culture. I heard it used to be called Space Cadet. Why the change?
DS: The business aspect of the name started falling through. If I wasn't on the show, most people wouldn't even know about it. A lot of people don't see how many changes go into building a brand. Pharrell, I'm sure the first name he came up with wasn't Billionaire Boys Club.
DW: Is the brand going to be more on the basic side or more on the refined side?
DS: It's going to be a mix of the couture, and the streetwear and the preppy; something that no one's ever seen before, but everyone is going to like. I've gotten inspiration from Lanvin and Ralph Lauren and of course BBC, so there are a lot of different styles going into my brand. Everybody wants a brand that they can wear for everyday, but at the same time break out the Louis V for a nice occasion. Not every label can give you that honestly.
DW: If you could write a letter to anybody, who would it be??
DS: God. Definitely God. Just asking for whatever I stand in need of.
Alright folks, there's the interview. If you want to download Diggy's mixtape, 'The First Flight', check the post directly below this one. Make sure you also follow his Twitter, his blog, Life of the Jetsetter, and keep it locked to Dear Whoever for more interviews, music, news, and of course the letters. Big shoutout to Cathryn Marie for setting the interview up...
